Head of Metabolic Analysis and Modelling - Plant Biology Institute
Join us at EIT:
At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, engineers, researchers, educators and innovators to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:
- Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
- Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
- Climate Change & Managing CO₂
- Artificial Intelligence & Robotics
This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real-world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas from lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org.
Welcome to the Plant Biology Institute:
The Plant Biology Institute, headed by Professor Steve Kelly, is a key part of the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) Oxford. The institute aims to develop impactful and commercially sustainable solutions for improving global food production and planetary health through pioneering plant science research.
The Plant Biology Institute will unite world-class researchers who are focused on expanding the frontiers of plant science. Our research is focused on enhancing our ability to feed the planet while simultaneously improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production. By embedding cutting-edge plant science research within an organisation that is focused on solving global challenges at scale, we aim to accelerate the timeline from discovery to global impact.
Areas of exploration include:
- Improved plant productivity, both indoors and outside.
- Reduced reliance on inputs including water, fertilisers, pesticides, and herbicides.
- Novel decarbonised plant-based production platforms for food and medicines.
- ·Advanced technologies that speed up discovery and deployment in plants.
Researchers will have access to state-of-the-art laboratory and plant growth facilities and have opportunities to collaborate with experts at the forefront of research on AI, automation, and generative biology across the EIT ecosystem. They will also work with global leaders in market development, commercialisation, and impact creation. The Plant Biology Institute has long-term substantial funding to support the unique scale and ambition of its vision.
Your Role:
At EIT we are seeking an accomplished leader to serve as Head of Metabolic Analysis and Modelling for the Plant Biology Institute. This pivotal role will shape a newly established and rapidly scaling Plant Biology Institute that aspires to become a global leader in delivering scientific breakthroughs with real-world impact.
The successful candidate will establish and lead PBI’s metabolic analysis, delivering analytical capabilities and workflows to support PBI’s trait and technology research groups.
This role requires close collaboration with research scientists working across a broad range of projects including plant and microbial metabolic engineering, plant breeding, plant phenotyping. The role will require working with other institutional stakeholders to scope, design, equip, and operate a new function within the research institute.
Your Responsibilities:
- Lead and develop the Institute’s metabolic analysis, delivering robust, scalable analytical frameworks to provide metabolite and metabolic modelling analysis to support plant biology research programmes.
- Define and implement a strategic vision for integrative metabolic analysis that aligns with the Institute’s scientific priorities and long-term goals.
- Drive the development and application of predictive models of plant metabolism, resource use, and productivity to inform experimental design and technology development.
- Design, implement, and maintain advanced analysis workflows and pipelines for the integration and analysis of multi-omics and high-throughput biological datasets.
- Develop reproducible, well-documented, and version-controlled analysis frameworks, supporting transparency, open science, and collaborative research.
- Ensure analytical platforms are robust, scalable, and interoperable, supporting both exploratory research and translational applications.
- Remain at the forefront of emerging methods in metabolic analysis, metabolic modelling, machine learning, and data-driven biology, identifying opportunities to apply new tools to accelerate discovery.
- Work closely with experimental scientists, Group Leaders, and technology teams across all of EIT to co-develop analytical approaches that directly support experimental programmes and strategic research questions in PBI.
- Translate complex computational outputs into clear biological insights, enabling informed decision-making across research and translational activities.
- Build sustainable capability in metabolic analysis, metabolic modelling and integrative analysis, fostering a culture of scientific excellence, collaboration, and continuous innovation.
- Manage resources - including personnel, equipment, and budgets - in coordination with the senior leadership team.
Requirements
Essential Skills, Qualifications & Experience:
- Advanced degree (PhD or equivalent experience) in metabolic analysis, systems biology, computational biology, bioinformatics, data science, applied mathematics, or a related field.
- Substantial experience leading metabolic analysis or modelling functions within a research-intensive or scientific environment.
- Proven expertise in metabolic modelling, constraint-based modelling, systems biology, or integrative multi-omics analysis.
- Strong technical background in programming and data engineering (e.g. Python, Linux environments, workflow management systems, databases, APIs).
- Experience designing and delivering scalable, end-to-end analytical solutions for complex biological datasets.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively across disciplines, translating computational outputs into actionable biological and strategic insight.
- Track record of building, mentoring, and leading high-performing teams.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to articulate the strategic value of modelling and analytics to diverse audiences.
Benefits
Our Benefits:
- Competitive salary + travel allowance + bonus
- Enhanced holiday + options to buy additional days
- Pension
- Life Assurance
- Income Protection
- Private Medical Insurance
- Hospital Cash Plan
- Therapy Services
- Perk Box
- Electric Car Scheme
- Childcare benefit
What we offer:
- Newly constructed, state-of-the-art laboratories and growth facilities, core scientific and operational support, and substantial core funding.
- A collaborative research environment with highly skilled team working at the cutting edge of plant science to create commercially sustainable solutions that tackle humanity’s biggest challenges, including enabling sustainable agriculture and improving the climate and ecosystem outcomes of food production.
- Opportunities for professional development including publication, conferences, IP portfolio creation, spin-out generation, and leadership development.