PDRA in Metabolomics and Marine Biotechnology

Location: SAMS, Oban

Contract Type:Fixed Term : 2.5 years

Working Pattern:Full Time

Salary : £32,546 - £34,132 per annum

Closing date: Monday 12th October 2026

The Role :

The successful candidate will join a dynamic marine biotechnology team focused on the 'up-cycling' of marine waste streams into high value metabolites and products (such as lipids and pigments). This research will focus on developing novel cultivation strategies for marine heterotrophic protists grown on different waste streams, optimising growth and metabolite production. Additionally, the role will use proteomics to analyse the extracellular enzyme composition of the different marine protists and may use genomic data to 'reverse-engineer' cultivation media design.

The candidate will be working at SAMS as part of the three-partner  Marine Mass Cascade  (Ma Ma Cas ) project funded as part of the Green ERA-HUB  Sustainable Production and Utilisation of Biomass  call. Consequently, it is expected that the candidate will be available to travel to EU partners for project meetings. The candidate should be comfortable writing and presenting reports, with an ambition to publish their cutting-edge science.

The candidate will also have a wider role helping deliver marine microbiology and biotechnology research at SAMS and contribute to a vibrant laboratory environment. Finally, depending on the candidates' interests, the post holder may contribute to teaching on the SAMS undergraduate and postgraduate degree programmes.

We are looking for a motivated Post-Doctoral Researcher with an enthusiasm for developing biotechnological solutions to problems. A PhD related to metabolomics, lipidomics and/or fermentation is essential. It is desirable for you to have demonstratable experience cultivating marine organisms and scaling production up to 10 L bioreactor scale, and/or direct experience using HPLC, GC-MS and GC-FID in your research. An interest in synthetic biology and bioinformatics will be helpful.

You should be comfortable working in the laboratory, and able to work collaboratively as part of a small research team.

• flexible & hybrid working options
• purchase of additional annual leave
• shopping discounts
• Cycle 2 Work scheme
• purchases of technology through salary sacrifice
• Payroll Giving
• Pensions Plus
• access to portals to support health and wellbeing
• a sabbatical scheme
• free car parking with access to electronic charging points
• access to a number of training & development courses

We are proud to provide a wide variety of benefits year-round, offering options to best support our staff, such as: flexible & hybrid working options, purchase of additional annual leave, shopping discounts, Cycle 2 Work scheme, purchases of technology through salary sacrifice, Payroll Giving, Pensions Plus, access to portals to support health and wellbeing, a sabbatical scheme, free car parking with access to electronic charging points as well as access to a number of training & development courses.

Our relatively small, caring community is an ideal environment for making friends, forming collaborations, and supporting each other to do the work that we really care about. Oban and surrounding areas provide a fantastic base to live and work, and we offer a wide range of employee benefits, support and inclusive culture, making SAMS a great place to work.

Our employees are the heart of our business. Recruiting and retaining the right people is the key to our success. Rewarding our employees is therefore an important component of our employment package and we have a wide range of benefits on offer to staff to support your work and lifestyle.

We are a Disability Confident Employer. Where a candidate requires reasonable adjustments as part of…