Galaxy Workflow Expert

The post holder will be responsible for leading community support, user training, and workflow curation for Galaxy as a core component of the BioFAIR Methods Commons (MC) concierge service.

BioFAIR is a UK federated digital research infrastructure designed to connect existing services, communities, and expertise to build a cohesive national ecosystem for Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, and Reproducible (FAIR) data. As one of the BioFAIR Spokes, the MC will provide access to trusted and robust analysis platforms, workflows, and tools to UK life scientists. Within this ecosystem, Galaxy serves as an open-source, web-based platform that makes complex computational research accessible, reproducible, and transparent.

Based within the Data Science group at the Earlham Institute (EI), this role operates as part of the User Support and Community Delivery team within the larger BioFAIR MC team across EI, the University of Manchester, and Seqera. The role contributes directly to the team's tiered Concierge Service, delivering support across the entire Galaxy workflow lifecycle through intensive co-development with Exemplar Use Cases, premium support for complex projects, self-service onboarding, and lighter-touch community outreach.

Engagement will be managed using Client Relationship Management (CRM) processes to track cohesive user journeys, backed by community engagement initiatives and AI-assisted support.

The post holder will also lead Galaxy activities within the Workflow Observatory, the quality-assurance layer built into Workflow Hub, to curate, test, benchmark, and endorse FAIR workflows for inclusion in the BioFAIR Workflow Collection, whilst contributing guides, playbooks, and training materials to the Knowledge Hub. Additionally, the post holder will contribute to the Horizon Europe ESG4

Stars project, specifically focusing on profiling and optimising Galaxy tools to maximise their energy and runtime efficiency.

Internal: BioFAIR MC team;
Data Science group; NBI Research computing; ESG4

Stars project contributors; and other researchers at the Earlham Institute.
External: BioFAIR Hub and Spoke partners (including the University of Manchester and Seqera); academic research organisations; global Galaxy community networks (e.g. Galaxy Training Network, IUC and IWC); and international ESG4

Stars consortium partners.

• Provide technical and scientific support to researchers using Galaxy across the workflow lifecycle, diagnosing, debugging, and resolving tool execution errors through the tiered MC concierge support framework.
• 40 Collaborate with embedded Exemplar Use Cases, Pathfinders, and BioFAIR Fellows to design, build, version, and publish high-quality workflows on Workflow Hub, ensuring adherence to FAIR standards and metadata packaging.
• 25 Execute Galaxy tool profiling, computational resource benchmarking, and workflow refactoring for the Horizon Europe ESG4
  
  Stars project to reduce compute footprint and energy consumption of computational research.
• 20 Author and update user-focused training materials, playbooks, and tutorials for the Galaxy Training Network and the BioFAIR Knowledge Hub, delivering workshops, clinics, and community outreach events.
• 15 As agreed with the line manager, any other duties commensurate with the role.

Requirement Importance A degree (BSc/MSc) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Molecular Biology, or a related biological/quantitative discipline, or equivalent professional experience Essential A PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Molecular Biology, or a related quantitative or biological discipline, or equivalent high-level professional experience Desirable

Requirement Importance Knowledge of computational workflow management systems (ideally Galaxy), including tool integration techniques and workflow design Essential Proficiency in modern programming and scripting languages used in scientific data analysis (e.g. Python, Bash, or R) Essential Working knowledge of biological data analysis (e.g. bioimaging, genomics, or other omics) Essential Understanding of FAIR workflow principles and metadata standards (e.g. RO-Crate) Desirable Familiarity with tool profiling, benchmarking, or energy-efficient computing practices Desirable

Requirement Importance Proven experience in developing, running, debugging, and publishing scientific workflows Essential Experience providing direct user support, training, or bioinformatics consultancy to scientific researchers Essential Experience with quality assurance, benchmarking, or optimising software tools and algorithms Desirable Experience working within collaborative open-source communities or research consortia Desirable

Requirement Importance Good interpersonal skills, with the ability to work well as part of a distributed team Essential Good written…