Posting Title
Postdoctoral Researcher – Synthetic Biology for Plastics Upcycling.
Location
CO - Golden.
Position Type
Postdoc (Fixed Term).
Hours Per Week
40.
COVID-19 Safety Protocols
Employment at NREL is contingent upon your compliance with all NREL and U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) safety protocols and mitigation efforts directed at the COVID-19 pandemic.
Working at NREL
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), located at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains in Golden, Colorado is the nation's primary laboratory for research and development of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.
From day one at NREL, you’ll connect with coworkers driven by the same mission to save the planet. By joining an organization that values a supportive, inclusive, and flexible work environment, you’ll have the opportunity to engage through our eight employee resource groups, numerous employee-driven clubs, and learning and professional development classes.
NREL supports inclusive, diverse, and unbiased hiring practices that promote creativity and innovation. By collaborating with organizations that focus on diverse talent pools, reaching out to underrepresented demographics, and providing an inclusive application and interview process, our Talent Acquisition team aims to hear all voices equally. We strive to attract a highly diverse workforce and create a culture where every employee feels welcomed and respected and they can be their authentic selves.
Our planet needs us! Learn about NREL’s critical objectives, and see how NREL is focused on saving the planet.
Note: Research suggests that potential job seekers may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements. We encourage anyone who is interested in this opportunity to apply. We seek dedicated people who believe they have the skills and ambition to succeed at NREL to apply for this role.
Job Description
The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado, is the nation's primary laboratory for research, development, and deployment of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies. The NREL mission is to develop renewable energy and energy efficient technologies and practices, advance related science and engineering, and transfer knowledge and innovation to address the nation’s energy and environmental goals. This position is within the Renewable Resources and Enabling Sciences Center, which is part of the Bioenergy Science and Technology Directorate. The center has strong thrusts in polymer design and upcycling, separations, synthetic biology and bioconversion, analytical sciences, computational modeling, and lignocellulosic chemistry and catalysis.
The Postdoctoral Researcher will work on highly collaborative and interdisciplinary projects, including within the Bio-Optimized Technologies to keep Thermoplastics out of Landfills and the Environment (BOTTLE™) Consortium (https://www.bottle.org/index.html ).
The Postdoctoral Researcher will design, construct, evolve, and evaluate engineered bacterial strains for the upcycling of plastics. This work will involve metabolic engineering, synthetic biology, cell biology, and systems biology approaches.
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Basic Qualifications
Must be a recent PhD graduate within the last three years.
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Additional Required Qualifications
The successful candidate will be able to:
- Work safely and independently in a laboratory setting, with a strong safety record
- Develop research goals and tasks for established project directions
- Design, execute, and troubleshoot experiments
- Problem solve to overcome technical challenges
- Analyze data to generate strong conclusions, including via application of statistical tests
- Collaborate productively with others both within and across disciplines
- Communicate effectively, with the ability to present technical results to a broad audience including at scientific conferences and internal meetings
- Write and publish high-impact peer-reviewed papers
- Display respect to peers and stewardship of shared laboratory spaces
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience designing synthetic operons, constructing plasmids, and building genetically engineered bacterial strains
- Experience generating and analyzing systems biology datasets, including proteomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics.
- Experience generating and analyzing next-generation DNA sequencing datasets
- Experience applying rigorous statistical analyses to large datasets
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Annual Salary Range (based on full-time 40 hours per week)
Job Profile: Postdoctoral Researcher / Annual Salary Range: $71,300 - $117,600
NREL takes into consideration a candidate’s education, training, and experience, as well as the position's work location, expected quality and quantity of work, required travel (if any), external market and internal value, including seniority and merit systems, and internal pay alignment when determining the salary level for potential new employees. In compliance with the Colorado Equal Pay for Equal Work Act, a potential new employee’s salary history will not be used in compensation decisions.
Benefits Summary
Benefits include medical, dental, and vision insurance; short-term disability insurance*; pension benefits*; 403(b) Employee Savings Plan with employer match*; life and accidental death and dismemberment (AD&D) insurance; personal time off (PTO) and sick leave; and paid holidays. NREL employees may be eligible for, but are not guaranteed, performance-, merit-, and achievement- based awards that include a monetary component. Some positions may be eligible for relocation expense reimbursement.
* Based on eligibility rules
Submission Guidelines
Please note that in order to be considered an applicant for any position at NREL you must submit an application form for each position for which you believe you are qualified. Applications are not kept on file for future positions. Please include a cover letter and resume with each position application.
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EEO Policy
NREL is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard basis of age (40 and over), color, disability, gender identity, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, national origin/ancestry, race, religion, creed, sex (including pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding), sexual orientation, and any other applicable status protected by federal, state, or local laws.
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