Post Bachelor Research Associate - Microbial Ecology and Omics

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Sequim, WA

1d • $28 - $36 • Onsite

About The Position

At PNNL, our core capabilities are divided among major departments that we refer to as Directorates within the Lab, focused on a specific area of scientific research or other function, with its own leadership team and dedicated budget.
Our Science & Technology directorates include National Security, Earth and Biological Sciences, Physical and Computational Sciences, and Energy and Environment. In addition, we have an Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, a Department of Energy, Office of Science user facility housed on the PNNL campus.
The Earth and Biological Sciences Directorate (EBSD) leads critical research in four areas: Atmospheric, Climate & Earth Sciences, Biological Sciences, Environmental Molecular Sciences, and Global Change. Our vision is to develop a predictive understanding of biological and Earth systems in transition. We aim to understand energy and material flows within the integrated Earth system; to understand, predict, and control the response of biosystems to environmental and/or genomic changes; and to Model the Earth system from the subsurface to the atmosphere.
The Biological Sciences Division has 17 collaborative, interdisciplinary biology-based teams to tackle major challenges in ecosystem sustainability, bioenergy, human health, and national security. Teams use unique field sites, advanced instrumentation, and integrated computational approaches to explore molecular-scale processes. Strategic efforts focus on advancing molecular measurement capabilities, uncovering the structure and function of molecular dark matter, identifying control points in complex systems, and developing domain-aware AI to accelerate discovery and hypothesis-driven research.
The Translation Omics Group at PNNL is seeking a Post Bachelor Research Associate to join our multi-disciplinary team with a focus on uncovering molecular mechanisms governing microbiome function and host outcomes in plant-soil systems. The Post-Bac will work across synergistic DOE and internally funded projects to identify the molecular basis of microbiome function and enable function-driven design and control of microbial communities. The research integrates field-derived datasets with controlled laboratory experiments to uncover mechanisms linking microbial community dynamics, host-microbe interactions and environmental conditions. The Post-Bac will conduct experiments to link small molecules (metabolites and lipids) to community function and ecosystem outcomes. This work involves processing environmental samples, culturing bacterial and fungal strains and communities, and maintaining plant/soil microcosms. The Post-Bac will generate and analyze high quality, structured datasets that enable predictive understanding of microbial communities. The candidate will have the opportunity to leverage world class mass spectrometry capabilities available at PNNL.
This on-site position is located at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) campus in Sequim, Washington.
This is a full-time, limited-term employment position. The duration of this appointment is two years.

Requirements

• Candidates must have received a Bachelor’s degree within the past 24 months or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.
• Strong biological knowledge of metabolism.
• Strong organization and communication skills are needed to work efficiently in a team environment and to effectively demonstrate project success.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor’s degree in Biological Sciences, Microbiology, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering or closely related fields.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate expertise in experimental microbial and chemical ecology and biological data interpretation.
• An ideal candidate will have experience executing experiments to investigate interkingdom interactions (e.g., bacterial-fungal or plant-microbe systems) and uncover molecular mechanisms underlying emergent community or holobiont-level outcomes.
• Conduct independent research and take initiative in the completion of tasks important to the projects. These include generating and processing samples, collection and analysis of data, timely reports on research progress and contributing to manuscript drafts and technical presentations.
• Maintain clear, organized laboratory records, including detailed experimental notes and standardized metadata to ensure reproducibility and enable integration of datasets across experiments.
• Interact, communicate, and problem-solve with a diverse team of multi-disciplinary research staff across PNNL.
• Present research at national conferences.
• Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting.

Benefits

• Employees and their families are offered medical insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, robust telehealth care options, several mental health benefits, free wellness coaching, health savings account, flexible spending accounts, basic life insurance, disability insurance, employee assistance program, business travel insurance, tuition assistance, relocation, backup childcare, legal benefits, supplemental parental bonding leave, surrogacy and adoption assistance, and fertility support.
• Employees are automatically enrolled in our company-funded pension plan and may enroll in our 401 (k) savings plan with company match.
• Employees may accrue up to 120 vacation hours per year and may receive ten paid holidays per year.
• Research Associates excluded.
• All benefits are dependent upon eligibility.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Entry Level
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees