Post Doctorate Research Associate - Microbial Ecology and Omics

Pacific Northwest National Laboratory • Sequim, WA

1d • 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 Doctorate 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 postdoc 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 postdoc will build and apply experimental systems and scalable phenotyping approaches to link small molecules (metabolites and lipids) to community function and ecosystem outcomes. This work involves environmental samples, bacterial and fungal strains and communities, and plant/soil microcosms. The postdoc 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, with the option of extending the appointment for up to three years.

Requirements

• Candidates must have received a PhD within the past five years (60 months) or within the next 8 months from an accredited college or university.
• Ph.D. degree in Biological Sciences, Microbiology, Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering or closely related fields.
• Strong biological knowledge of microbial community metabolism.
• Additionally, the candidate should be safety-oriented, possess excellent communication skills (oral and written), be collaborative, and have a desire to learn and develop new concepts and research techniques.
• The ability to critically think, problem-solve, and execute routine research tasks independently is essential.
• Strong organization and communication skills are needed to work efficiently in a team environment and to effectively demonstrate project success.

Nice To Haves

• Prior experience with experimental approaches involving non-model, environmental/host-associated microbial strains and communities (isolation, co-culture, synthetic communities, microcosm systems) is highly desired.
• Experience maintaining and managing microbial strain collections, including their use in experimental studies, is highly desired.
• Experience integrating multi-omics datasets and interpreting complex biological data is highly desired.
• Experience with sequencing-based approaches (metagenomics or metatranscriptomics) and/or interest in data-driven approaches (e.g., predictive modeling or machine learning) is a plus.
• Experience with scalable or high-throughput experimental approaches, including familiarity with automation, is a plus.
• An ideal candidate will have experience designing and executing experiments to investigate interkingdom interactions (eg. bacterial-fungal or plant-microbe systems) and uncover molecular mechanisms underlying emergent community or holobiont-level outcomes.

Responsibilities

• Demonstrate strong expertise in experimental microbial and chemical ecology and biological data interpretation.
• 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 preparation of manuscript drafts.
• Lead manuscripts and maintain a strong publication record in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.
• Interact, communicate, and problem-solve with a diverse team of multi-disciplinary research staff across PNNL.
• Maintain clear, organized laboratory records, including detailed experimental notes and standardized metadata to ensure reproducibility and enable integration of datasets across experiments.
• Present research at national conferences.
• Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting.
• Contribute to the development of research proposals.

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.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Education Level: Ph.D. or professional degree
• Number of Employees: 1,001-5,000 employees