Research Scientist, Bioinformatics & Computational Genomics

Advanta is a global seed business adapting to rapidly increasing food insecurity and climate change by providing farmers with innovation and new technologies. As part of UPL Group, Advanta aims to deliver high quality seeds with excellent agronomic practices and crop protection solutions. Advanta operates in over 80 countries under global brands of Advanta, Alta and Pacific Seeds. Advanta holds a leadership position in tropical and sub-tropical geographies in corn, grain and forage sorghum, sunflower, canola, rice, and a variety of vegetables. With over 60 years' experience in plant genetics, Advanta provides seeds technology that ensures crop performance and farmers prosperity.

We are seeking a motivated and detail-oriented individual to join our dynamic, fast-growing, and diverse team in a high-throughput genotyping and molecular laboratory. This role supports the crop breeding program at Advanta Seeds and is ideal for recent PhD graduates who enjoy working at the lab bench, including designing, troubleshooting, and improving assays using KASP and TaqMan technologies, while also applying bioinformatics to support marker design and validation at scale. The successful candidate will begin with a strong wet-lab focus and will gradually expand their responsibilities into bioinformatics and computational analysis.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and support computational pipelines for genomic data processing and analysis.

• Perform sequence analysis, read processing, and variant discovery from next-generation sequencing datasets.

• Generate high-quality variant datasets, including VCF files, for downstream research and breeding applications.

• Perform genome assembly analyses (including scaffold-level assembly where applicable) and compare assemblies and genomic regions across multiple reference genomes.

• Identify SNPs and other sequence variants relevant to research and breeding objectives.

• Ability to design primers informed by comparative genomic analysis across multiple reference genomes.

• Support difficult marker-related problems by providing sequence-based analysis and computational interpretation.

• Retrieve, organize, and analyze genomic and associated metadata from relational databases, including SQL-based systems.

• Write scripts and automated workflows in Python, R, bash, or similar languages to streamline analysis and reporting.

• Document methods, results, and workflows clearly and reproducibly, and present findings to internal teams.

• Work independently on assigned analyses while coordinating with the manager and relevant collaborators as needed.

• Support projects across multiple crops, with the ability to perform analysis across species.

Required Qualifications

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, Genetics, Plant Biology, or a closely related field.

• Strong computational genomics background with hands-on experience in several of the following areas:

• • variant calling

• • genome assembly

• • pipeline development

• • primer design

• Strong programming skills, with the ability to independently develop and troubleshoot scripts and workflows in a Linux environment.

• Proficiency in Python and at least one additional analysis language or environment such as R or bash.

• Experience working in Linux-based computational environments.

• Experience handling large-scale genomics datasets.

• Experience generating, processing, and interpreting sequence-based outputs such as assemblies, alignments, and VCF files.

• Experience comparing genomic data across multiple references, assemblies, or sequence datasets.

• Working knowledge of molecular biology sufficient to support marker and primer design decisions, even if the role is not bench-based.

• Familiarity with relational databases and the ability to retrieve and manipulate data using SQL.

• Strong organizational skills, scientific judgment, and the ability to manage multiple tasks with limited supervision.

• Strong written and verbal communication skills and the ability to document analyses clearly.

• Cultural sensitivity and ability to work effectively in a diverse team environment.

• Must be legally authorized to work in the United States. Advanta does not offer employment sponsorship for this position.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in plant genomics, crop genetics, or computational support of breeding programs.

• Experience analyzing data from multiple crop species or transferring analysis strategies across species.

• Experience with comparative genomics across diverse germplasm or multiple reference genomes.

• Experience building reproducible workflows for routine genomic analysis.

• Experience supporting molecular marker development through computational sequence analysis.

• Ability to grow into an increasingly independent role and take ownership of technically demanding analyses.

We work as one team to create meaningful impact. We share common goals, support each other, and collaborate across functions to achieve the best outcomes. Our focus is on understanding our customers' needs, anticipating future challenges, and developing innovative solutions that add real value.

We are one team, for maximum impact. One team with shared goals. We all play for the team and no one plays against the team. We have a laser-like focus on what our customers need and want, on anticipating their future needs and on how we can create innovative solutions and experiences for them.

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