Who we are:
At Wild Bio we are radically enhancing crops to feed the world sustainably and promote a wilder planet. Wild plants have had half a billion years to evolve natural solutions for thriving in almost every environment on Earth. Our proprietary genetics platform harnesses these wild innovations to enhance the world's most important crops. Wild-enhanced crops would simultaneously boost farm yields and promote gigaton-scale carbon mitigation strategies. If you're looking for a start-up that has enormous potential for impact on growers, consumers, and the planet, please read on.
Wild Bio is a well-funded, fast-paced Oxford University spin-out working from state-of-the-art labs and offices at Milton Park, Oxfordshire. We are about to enter an exciting phase of growth and are looking for a driven, and curious Computational Biology Systems Engineer to join us and significantly contribute to delivering the change we believe in.
Our values:
Our work is guided by three core values that define who we are and how we approach our mission:
* Curiosity:
We fuel our desire to explore the unknown, pushing the boundaries of knowledge and sparking innovation. We ask questions, seek answers, and embrace lifelong learning.
* Community:
We believe in the strength and support gained through collaboration and inclusion. As part of a global community, we nurture connections to drive meaningful impact for both people and planet.
* Courage:
We face challenges head-on, take calculated risks, and stand up for our beliefs. Our bravery propels us to take action, even in the face of adversity.
If these values resonate with you, we invite you to join our team of passionate scientists and innovators working at the cutting edge of bioscience.
The role:
We are seeking a Computational Biology Systems Engineer to own, operate, and evolve the computing and data infrastructure that supports our biological research and development programs. This is a hands-on technical role with primary responsibility for maintaining reliable, secure on-site servers and storage, while improving how R&D data is organised, accessed, and used across teams. The role will also support data- and compute-intensive workflows, including AI and machine-learning–driven analyses.
Detailed responsibilities:
* Own the design, administration, and evolution of R&D compute and data infrastructure, spanning on-premise servers, storage, networking, and core services, with an explicit remit to define the appropriate balance between on-prem and cloud compute as research needs evolve.
* Ensure high availability, performance, and scalability of systems supporting data- and compute-intensive research workflows, including bioinformatics, modelling, and AI / machine-learning workloads.
* Establish clear, usable structures for R&D data storage and access, improving transparency, discoverability, and trust in datasets across teams, guided by scientific workflows, data reuse, and long-term maintainability rather than technology for its own sake.
* Enable AI-ready infrastructure, including storage, data access patterns, and compute environments that support reproducible analytics, model training, and future scaling of ML-driven research.
* Support and optimise computational pipelines running on internal infrastructure, working closely with scientists to ensure workflows are robust, efficient, and well-documented.
* Partner with R&D leadership to define and execute infrastructure strategy, translating scientific priorities into concrete decisions around hardware, cloud usage, data systems, and technical roadmaps.
* Implement and maintain sensible security, access control, backup, and recovery practices to protect research data and company IP while preserving ease of collaboration.
* Lead cross-functional technical initiatives and act as the primary technical interface with third-party IT providers, hardware vendors, cloud providers, and software suppliers.
Knowledge and Skills:
* Strong experience managing large-scale research or scientific data, across both file-based systems and structured data (e.g. relational or similar databases).
* Strong experience administering, or working with administrators of, Linux-based servers and on-premise compute and storage infrastructure, including performance tuning, capacity planning, and reliability.
* Hands-on experience managing large-scale research or scientific data, across both file-based systems and structured data (e.g. relational or similar databases).
* Demonstrated ability to improve data organisation, metadata, and transparency, enabling researchers to confidently find, understand, and reuse data.
* Experience supporting data- and compute-intensive workloads, including analytics, modelling, or AI / ML pipelines in research or technical environments.
* Comfort designing and operating hybrid infrastructure
* Proficiency with scripting and automation (e.g. R, Python, Nextflow, SQL) and confidence working close to the operating system and infrastructure layer.
* Ability to work effectively with scientists and R&D leadership, translating ambiguous research needs into pragmatic, maintainable technical solutions.
* Experience in life sciences, biological research, or laboratory-adjacent environments is strongly preferred.
* Comfort operating as a senior individual contributor, leading technical initiatives and influencing decisions without formal line-management responsibility.
* Proactive and self-directed, willing to identify gaps, propose solutions, and take ownership of unassigned but important work.
* Collaborative and trustworthy, able to build strong relationships across disciplines through clarity, honesty, and good judgement.
* Curious and resilient, with an interest in experimenting, learning, and evolving infrastructure as scientific needs change.
* Motivated to grow technically and to share knowledge, contributing to a culture of strong technical foundations across the R&D organisation.
* Take initiative where needed with tasks that have not been assigned. Collaborate effectively in a multi-disciplinary environment, building relationships, and gaining trust through honesty, compassion, and authenticity.
* A curious and courageous mindset – someone who enjoys trying new things and taking initiative in a fast-paced environment.
* A desire to develop your skills, share your knowledge, and support the growth of your teammates.
Benefits:
* Group life cover x 4 of base salary
* Pension scheme with a 5% Company contribution
* Private medical insurance including dental and optical
* Enhanced maternity and paternity leave
* Regular company socials
* Complimentary refreshments throughout the week
* Team meals including breakfast on a Monday and lunch each Friday, creating opportunities for informal networking and team bonding
* Training and development opportunities
* Flexible working opportunities
* Opportunity to work with cutting edge science
Location
We're headquartered in Milton Park, a business and technology park in Oxfordshire. While we do offer flexible and hybrid working, we are also a small, fast-paced team working on cutting-edge science, and we believe the relationships forged and the work we do in-person will be crucial for our success. For this reason, we are asking that applicants be able to work on-site at least three to four days a week.
The successful candidate will be required to provide proof of eligibility to work in the UK.