Open Position: Bioinformatician / NGS Specialist

The Cluster of Excellence TERRA "Terrestrial Geo-Biosphere Interactions in a Changing World” ( https://www.terra-cluster.org ) is an interdisciplinary research initiative of geoscientists, biologists and computer scientists at the Universities of Tübingen and Hohenheim and the Senckenberg Institution of Biodiversity and Earth System Research in Frankfurt. It investigates interactions between the living and non-living worlds in changing environments, from microorganisms to the globe, in the past, present and future. TERRA starts on January 1, 2026 and is currently funded until December 2032. Together with the Department of Biology at the University of Tübingen we invite applications for the position of a:

Bioinformatician / NGS Specialist

(m/f/d; TV-L E 13, 100 %) starting 01.01.2026 until 31.12.2032

We are looking for an enthusiastic and skilled colleague that will support the research in TERRA, in particular the work done in the Molecular Biodiversity Lab (MBL), a new central infrastructure accessible to several research groups and projects focused on leveraging high-throughput molecular methods for studying biodiversity (e. g. genetic diversity of mostly non-model plants and animals, or diversity of microbial communities). Your responsibilities will include (1) to advise different research groups in the design and statistical analysis of NGS studies, (2) to support these groups with the use of existing and development of new bioinformatics pipelines, (3) to facilitate cross-talk between data generation (wet lab) and data analysis, (4) contribute to scientific publications, and (5) coordinate the management and storage of MBL data through the TERRA Data:HUB and Quantitative Biology Center (QbiC) Tübingen. The working language in TERRA is English.

Candidates for this position must hold a degree (MSc or PhD) in biology, bioinformatics, population genomics, or another relevant area, and should have competences in several of the following areas:

• hands-on experience with setting up and running bioinformatics pipelines for NGS data
• understanding the experimental design and statistical analysis of NGS studies,
• management & documentation of NGS data/code, incl. public archiving and collaborative workbooks
• understanding of NGS wet lab protocols
• experience with contributing to genomics-focused scientific publications

We are looking for a team player with an interest in the broader questions and research topics in TERRA. We offer a dynamic and interdisciplinary research environment in a unique, beautiful city with a high quality of life, as well as the chance to interact with a diverse and international research team.

The University of Tübingen is committed to equity and diversity and actively promotes equal opportunities. Equally qualified candidates with disabilities will be given preference in the hiring process. Full-time positions are generally suitable for job sharing. Your application should include a letter of motivation, CV, and certificates . Only complete applications can be taken into consideration. Please submit a single pdf (max. 10 MB) to bewerbung@geo.uni-tuebingen.de under the heading "Application: Your Name [TERRA-07]”. The deadline for applications is October 15, 2025.

For questions concerning this position please contact:
Oliver Bossdorf, oliver.bossdorf@uni-tuebingen.de