Microbiologist

Job description

Job Position : Research Microbiologist
Function : Beauty & Personal Care, Science & Technology
Salary : Circa £34,000

Benefits : Unilever Pension Scheme, Private Healthcare, Agile working

Location : Port Sunlight, Wirral, North West UK.

About the Role

Unilever's purpose is to make sustainable living commonplace. We work to create a better future every day, with brands and services that help people feel good, look good, and get more out of life. Our vision is to double the size of the business, whilst reducing our environmental footprint and increasing our positive social impact. Innovative science and technology, including microbiology, sits at the heart of our ability to deliver our goal of sustainable, responsible growth.

Recent years have seen massive advances in microbiological sciences, such as next-generation sequencing, multi-omics technologies and high-throughput screening, that are offering unprecedented insights into how microbiology affects key consumer conditions relevant to Unilever. Exploiting these new capabilities is a significant challenge and will require Unilever to fully leverage an external network of expert scientists in partnership with specialists located within the company.

Working as a research microbiologist, the successful candidate will join a fast-moving, multi-disciplinary team of researchers responsible for translating fundamental insights into the human associated microbiome, its activity and biochemistry into winning marketplace innovations supporting Unilever's Beauty and Personal Care (BPC) business.

Generating new insights into the role of microbes in consumer-relevant conditions such as axillary malodour, gingivitis, dandruff and acne, and translating these insights into novel microbial control strategies, is of central importance to Unilever R&D and as such we are able to offer a position for a skilled microbiologist passionate about the human-associated microbiome and its potential as a therapeutic target.

The applicant must have hands-on working experience in the safe use of Class II microorganisms, molecular biology techniques and in-vitro assay development. Additionally, it would be preferred if the candidate has experience in skin or oral microbiology, microbial physiology, biochemistry, bioinformatics and data analysis.

The candidate should be able to grasp various concepts in Bioscience, generate hypotheses, apply critical thinking to experimental design and data analysis, and present conclusions clearly to different stakeholders as required. The candidate should also be well versed with computer usage for scientific literature surveying, compiling results, and the preparation of graphs, presentations and technical reports. The candidate should be willing to work as part of an extended international team and should possess good interpersonal skills.

Key responsibilities of the role will include:

· Working to high standards and in accordance with appropriate safety procedures
· Providing expert technical support as part of a global team
· Applying existing assays and developing novel in-vitro assays
· Experimental design, data interpretation and record keeping
· Identification of lead material(s) through in-vitro biological assays
· Proposal of new technical solutions, and evaluation of their feasibility, leading to clear recommendations to the project leader on the best solutions for a specific technical challenge
· Development of prototypes and evaluation in experiments relevant to consumer use
· Maintaining an up-to-date awareness of scientific literature and the activities of relevant research groups
· Recommending collaborative partnerships with relevant academic and commercial entities

Main Requirements

· BSC, MSc or PhD in Microbiology or closely related discipline, alternatively relevant research experience also acceptable
· Practical laboratory working experience in microbial culture, technology testing & in-vitro methodology
· Experience in microbiology, biochemistry, molecular biology, sequencing, microbial physiology & bioinformatics
· Aptitude for teamworking and creative thinking
· Experience with use of standard computer packages for data analysis and literature searching
· Good verbal and written communication skills

Critical S uccess Factors for the Job

Key Skills

Relevant Experience

· Logical and incisive intellect
· Able to perform high quality research with good experimental design, data analysis and reporting
· Able to communicate effectively with team members and stakeholders

· PhD or MSc (if candidate is strong in other relevant areas
· Proven expertise in relevant Biological sciences
· Experience in antimicrobials and/or technology screening