Senior Computational Microbiologist

Senior Computational Microbiologist

Title: Senior Computational Microbiologist - 100% Start date: 01.01.2027 (flexible) Work location: Wagistrasse 18, 8952 Schlieren Work model: 100% onsite

At CellX Biosolutions AG , an innovative ETH spin-off, we develop microbial solutions to degrade persistent environmental pollutants such as PFAS and pesticides. Our mission is to bring the world's first commercial bacterial solution for PFAS remediation from the lab into real-world industrial application.

Role Overview We are looking for a Senior Computational Microbiologist to build and lead our in-house computational and molecular microbiology capability from the ground up. You will establish a mechanistic and metabolic understanding of how our bacterial strains and communities degrade PFAS and other persistent chemicals. You will translate this understanding into a computational pipeline that predicts strain performance and guides the rational design of synthetic microbial communities for specific use-cases. This role bridges computation and experiment. You will work hands-on with sequencing data (Illumina, Oxford Nanopore & PacBio) as well as other omics and analytical data streams. You will also design the experiments that validate computational predictions in our strains. You will supervise a Laboratory Technician who supports wet-lab and sequencing workflows. This is a senior, high-impact, 100% onsite role with the freedom and responsibility to shape CellX's data-inferred product development as we move from the lab to the field.

Main Responsibilities Team leadership & supervision

Bioinformatics pipeline development

Metabolic understanding & PFAS degradation

Experimental validation & strain development

Predictive modeling & synthetic community design

Collaboration, field & regulatory support

• Senior Computational Microbiologist
• Supervise and mentor our Laboratory Technician involved in the project, coordinating wet-lab, cultivation, and sequencing workflows (Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, PacBio) to ensure high-quality data for downstream analysis
• Set priorities and quality standards for sample preparation, sequencing, and data handover between wet lab and bioinformatics
• Design, build, and maintain an in-house bioinformatics pipeline covering genome assembly, annotation, and comparative genomics from short-read and long-read sequencing data
• Evaluate and integrate the best available tools and methods, including AI/ML approaches, for genome mining, functional annotation, and strain characterization
• Ensure the pipeline is reproducible, scalable, and not limited to current technologies, so it can incorporate new sequencing and omics data types as they become relevant
• Establish a metabolic-level understanding of how our bacterial strains degrade PFAS, identifying the genes, enzymes, and pathways involved
• Build and apply genome-scale metabolic models to predict degradation capability and metabolic potential across strains
• Design and run experiments, including genetic tools and functional assays, to validate predicted degradation genes and pathways
• Develop genetic tools for non-model environmental bacteria to support strain characterization and improvement
• Design and implement models that predict and learn from strain-level genomic and functional data to prioritize the most promising strains
• Develop a framework to guide how synthetic microbial communities should be assembled per use case, based on predicted strain function and interaction potential
• Work closely with our R&D team to align bioinformatics outputs with experimental and pilot-project needs
• Monitor applied strains in pilot and field deployments
• Contribute technical documentation for regulatory and biosafety approval of our microbial products
• Contribute bioinformatics analyses and insights to internal reports and, where relevant, client deliverables