Pay Grade/Pay Range: Minimum: $57,200 - Midpoint: $74,300 (Salaried E9)
Department/Organization: 750501 - Alabama Water Institute (AWI)
Normal Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am to 5:00pm; occasional early, evening, or weekend hours.
Job Summary: The Biological Sciences Researcher II oversees biological sciences research projects and assumes responsibility for the day-to-day activity supporting project. Makes significant contributions to the planning and design of research and creative projects. Assists in short- and long-term planning and project goals. May assist with research and creative proposals and dissemination of project findings.
Additional Department Summary: The Alabama Water Institute (AWI) at the University of Alabama brings together researchers across disciplines to address the most pressing water challenges facing Alabama, the nation, and the world. Within AWI, the CONSERVE Research Program partners with the USDA Agricultural Research Service through the Innovative Water Systems Program to improve agricultural water use and watershed health in heavily agricultural regions such as West Alabama.
The CONSERVE Future Ecologies Directorate uses genomics to understand how plants, microbial communities, and ecosystems respond to changing water and land use. Its work spans plant and animal genome assembly and comparative genomics, population and conservation genomics, herbarium and museum genomics, and environmental metagenomics, linking genomic data with ecological models of watershed health.
This position leads the wet-laboratory genomics operations: isolating high-quality DNA and RNA from plant, animal, and environmental samples, moving samples efficiently through genome and metagenome sequencing, running the laboratory's automation, and keeping the laboratory's instruments, inventory, and safety programs running. This is an opportunity to join a growing, collaborative research program at the interface of genomics, agriculture, and water resources.
Renewal of position is contingent on availability of funding.
Required Minimum Qualifications: Bachelor's degree and four (4) years of biological sciences or closely related research experience; OR master's degree and two (2) years of biological sciences or closely related research experience; OR doctoral degree and some biological sciences or closely related research experience. Post-Baccalaureate degree is highly preferred (Master’s degree or higher).
Skills and Knowledge: Strong organizational skills and attention to detail in sample tracking, record keeping, and inventory management. Knowledge of nucleic acid quality control methods (e.g., Qubit, NanoDrop, gel and pulsed-field electrophoresis, TapeStation/Fragment Analyzer/Femto Pulse/LightBench). Familiarity with next-generation sequencing workflows and library preparation (PacBio and/or Illumina). Knowledge of laboratory safety practices, including chemical handling, hazardous waste, and cryogen use. Ability to operate, maintain, and troubleshoot common molecular biology equipment, and willingness to learn to program and operate laboratory automation. Ability to manage multiple projects and deadlines and to prioritize work across collaborating teams. Ability to train and guide students, and to communicate clearly with faculty, partners, vendors, and core facilities. Proficiency with spreadsheets and electronic lab notebooks or sample-tracking databases.
Preferred Qualifications: Master's degree in biology, molecular biology, genetics, plant science, microbiology, or a related field. Experience with PacBio HiFi workflows: isolating HMW DNA for long-read sequencing (including from challenging plant tissues), preparing PacBio libraries, and operating a PacBio sequencer (Vega, Revio, or Sequel II/IIe). Experience programming and operating automated liquid-handling and library-preparation systems such as the Hamilton Microlab Prep (or similar platforms, e.g., Hamilton STAR, Beckman Biomek, Tecan, Opentrons) and automated extraction systems (e.g., KingFisher). Experience isolating DNA and/or RNA from plant, microbial, or environmental samples, and troubleshooting difficult extractions. Experience preparing Illumina sequencing libraries. Experience with Hi-C, RNA-seq, amplicon, or shotgun metagenomic sample preparation. Experience extracting DNA from soil, water, or sediment, or recovering degraded DNA from herbarium and other natural history museum specimens. Experience managing a research laboratory, including procurement, equipment service contracts, and safety compliance. Experience with Linux command-line basics, sequencing data transfer, and metadata standards for public data archiving (e.g., NCBI SRA). Experience supporting federally funded research (e.g., USDA, NSF, NIH), including sample chain of custody and reporting.
Background Investigation Statement: Prior to hiring, the final candidate(s) must successfully pass a pre-employment background investigation and information obtained from social media and other internet sources. A prior conviction reported as a result of the background investigation DOES NOT automatically disqualify a candidate from consideration for this position. A candidate with a prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags will receive an individualized review of the prior conviction or negative behavioral red flags before a hiring decision is made.
Equal Employment Opportunity: The University of Alabama is an Equal Employment/Equal Educational Opportunity Institution. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment or volunteer status without regard to any legally protected basis and will not be discriminated against because of their protected status. Applicants and employees of this institution are protected under Federal law from discrimination on several bases. More information is available in the EEOC’s Know Your Rights: Workplace discrimination is illegal poster.
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