Bioinformatician, SIF Seastar Pigments

About Us

We are a world-class visitor attraction and leading science research centre. We use the Museum's unique collections and our unrivalled expertise to tackle the biggest challenges facing the world today. We care for more than 80 million objects spanning billions of years and welcome more than five million visitors annually and 16 million visits to our website.  

Today the Museum is more relevant and influential than ever. By attracting people from a range of backgrounds to work for us, we can continue to look at the world with fresh eyes and find new ways of doing things.

We employ 1100 staff in a variety of roles, all united by our vision of a future where people and planet thrive. We need everyone to have the passion and drive to help us with our mission to create advocates for our planet and inspire millions to care about the natural world.

Diversity and inclusion matter to us.

Our vision is of a future where both people and the planet thrive. Diversity is one of our core values and we strive to build a workplace where everyone feels a sense of belonging. All new staff who join us learn about the importance of diversity and inclusion to the Museum and how to contribute to creating an inclusive environment.

We know we have more to do, but we are committed to ensuring that everyone who works at the Museum feels they can thrive and feel valued and respected.

About the role

The Natural History Museum has an exciting opportunity for a bioinformatician to research the evolution of colour in marine seastars. Heritable colour polymorphisms, where alternate colour morphs occur within a single species and are genetically controlled, provide an unparalleled opportunity to rigorously assess the role colour plays in the evolution of species. However, until now there has been little possibility of investigating colour polymorphisms in marine invertebrates as the pigments responsible for colours in this group are rarely known and even less is known about their synthesis or inheritance. The seastar Linckia laevigata is a rare exception to this rule, with a ten-year NHM project providing ample groundwork. In this study you will contribute to an ongoing project, working with the Lead Investigator Williams, in the Life Sciences department. Working with Nanopore and Illumina transcriptomes, you will identify genes responsible for colour in this iconic species, including orange and purple. You will undertake robust and well-documented analyses, identify key genes involved in the synthesis of colour, untangle the effects of cryptic species and contribute to manuscripts. You will work with NHM colleagues and have the opportunity to attend the 12th European Conference on Echinoderms (July, London).

About you

We are looking for a highly motivated bioinformatician to join a research group working on the evolution of colour in marine invertebrates. You should have a strong track record of analysing transcriptome data and experience developing reproducible pipelines, working with non-vertebrate datasets. You should be confident working both collaboratively and independently and have an interest in working in echinoderms. To apply, please provide details of how you fit the person specification, providing examples of projects where you have shown competencies relevant to the role, and highlighting your passion for biodiversity and why you are an excellent fit for this project.

Thriving at the Museum: the way we work

We are proud to work at the Museum and have identified the qualities we all need to embody to reach our shared ambition. This sits alongside the Museum’s values and forms the framework for the way we work.

Find out more here

What we offer

• 27.5 days holiday plus 8 bank holidays (full time equivalent)
• Generous defined contribution Natural History Museum Pension Scheme (employer contribution 4 - 10%)
• Season ticket, bicycle and rental loan
• Life insurance
• Free admission to our exhibitions and many other paid exhibitions at museums, galleries and institutions across London and the UK.
• Staff discount at our Museum shops and cafes
• We offer a wide variety of training initiatives and opportunities to build skills. Investing in staff development is important to us, and we are ambitious about helping staff to grow and fulfil their potential.
• Affordable membership to the Civil Service Sports Council which offers a range of benefits including an extensive list of special offers and reduced entry fees at a selection of cinema chains, theme parks, theatres, retailers and supermarkets. It also provides entry to up to 300 English Heritage sites and other national treasures. For more details, visit https://www.cssc.co.uk
• Membership to our Sports and Social Association (for a small fee), which includes access to our in-house gym and clubs such as football, softball, table tennis and tennis and classes in Middle Eastern dance, yoga and Tai Chi

Hybrid working

We are working towards a vision where both people and planet thrive, and nothing gives a greater connection with this, than seeing first-hand, the visitors, scientific research and collections that all of our work is inspired by and working side by side with the teams delivering the visitor experience and events.  We also recognise the benefits and flexibility that hybrid working brings. We operate a hybrid working model that requires regular, weekly attendance for this role, with the precise pattern of days on site and worked from home to be agreed with your manager.