European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI)

Hinxton, UK | Posted: 4 years ago

We are looking for an experienced, enthusiastic ‘full-stack web guru’ as our Web Development Team Leader at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI). They will lead a team of 11 web developers and UX designers driving the development of websites that serve millions of users throughout the world. We are located at the Wellcome Genome Campus in the UK’s fast-growing technical cluster near Cambridge in the UK.

Your role:
This exciting leadership position offers many opportunities to flex your technical and organisational skills to explore new ideas, working and collaborating in an incredibly rich international environment. The scope of our Web Development team goes beyond developing the central EMBL-EBI website, project sites and Intranet – it is the institute’s primary source of consultation for usability research. As Web Development Team Leader, you would lead a flexible, agile team in responding to the needs of a broad range of stakeholders throughout the institute, including scientists, engineers, developers and communications professionals.

Our Web Development team is responsible for building, maintaining and evolving author-supportive content management systems, and delivering the content through a range of well-presented digital channels. Our approach is based on user-centric design and usability testing, as this ensures we implement functional, research-supportive experiences. It is absolutely essential that you have experience with user-centric design, and value it as much as we do, and to work with the team to increase adoption across the institute. The team uses a range of open source web CMS (e.g. Jekyll, WordPress, Drupal) and bespoke applications (PHP, JavaScript) deployed into an increasing container based infrastructure, so you will need to remain up to speed with an evolving technical landscape. We offer a range of opportunities to support you and your team in brushing up your skills as technologies change.

This role calls for you to spend the majority of your time managing, mentoring, developing and overseeing the work of the team, ensuring a high level of customer satisfaction, across a portfolio of products and projects delivering information and services to a diverse user community. One of the most important qualities you will bring to this role is an affinity for building strong working relationships with colleagues working in different disciplines – some of whom may be regular collaborators on other sites. You will also need to demonstrate hands-on experience in gathering requirements, web design and web development so that you can mentor and develop your team appropriately.

As Team Leader you will need to be very organized, with managerial duties including financial and strategic planning as well as personnel and project management. This position also offers an opportunity to contribute to the wider technical strategy of the institute, and to collaborate with other groups on applying for grants to fund our research-supportive infrastructure. It also requires occasional travel, mainly within Europe.

EMBL-EBI offers much more than a single website, as a look through our data service pages will show. As Web Development Team Leader, you’ll steer our Web Guidelines Committee, a key source of input for major elements of style, and contribute to our Web Content Committee, which explores and triages everything from changes in information architecture to microcopy. Most of your interactions will be with content-generating teams that deliver scientific data services. Your team also works closely with other teams in our Technical Services Cluster, which is led by Steven Newhouse.

You have:

• Experience in managing a mixed technical web development team encompassing developers and designers;


• Experience with user-centric design and development of streamlined user journeys;


• Documented experience in the successful delivery of web sites (including requirements gathering, design and development);


• Familiarity with agile management practices (e.g. Kanban or Scrum) and their role in managing a team and projects;


• Proficiency in building web sites/services with HTML, JavaScript, PHP or other languages for cloud native infrastructures (e.g. CI/CD, Containers, Private/Public Clouds);


• Demonstrated experience in building professional relationships on all levels within an organization (i.e. senior management, interns, peers);


• Experience in managing conflicting, complex, deadline-driven priorities;


• Excellent verbal and written English communication skills;


• Demonstrable problem-solving skills;


• Degree-level or equivalent qualification/experience in a computational, engineering or related scientific discipline;


• Adaptability to different working styles, both independently and as part of a team.

You might also have

• Experience working in an academic/research environment;


• Knowledge of how to build and deliver large-scale, performant web sites;


• Familiarity with the European scientific community;


• Experience communicating and working with expert users in a niche area (e.g. bioinformatics).

Why join us

At EMBL-EBI, we help scientists realise the potential of ‘big data’ in biology by enabling them to exploit complex information to make discoveries that benefit mankind. 

Working for EMBL-EBI gives you an opportunity to apply your skills and energy for the greater good. 

As part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), we are a non-profit, intergovernmental organisation funded by 20 member states and two associate member states. 

We are located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK, and our 600 staff are engineers, technicians, scientists and other professionals from all over the world.

EMBL is an inclusive, equal opportunity employer offering attractive conditions and benefits appropriate to an international research organisation. The remuneration package comprises a competitive salary, a comprehensive pension scheme and health insurance, educational and other family related benefits where applicable, as well as financial support for relocation and installation. For more information about pay and benefits please visit our website.

We have an informal culture, international working environment and excellent professional development opportunities but one of the really amazing things about us is the concentration of technical and scientific expertise – something you probably won’t find anywhere else.

If you’ve ever visited the campus you’ll have experienced first-hand our friendly, collegial and supportive atmosphere, set in the beautiful Cambridgeshire countryside. Our staff also enjoy excellent sports facilities including a gym, a free shuttle bus, an on-site nursery, cafés and restaurant and a library.

What else you need to know

To view a copy of the full job description please visit our website 

To apply please submit a covering letter and CV through our online system. 

Applications are welcome from all nationalities and this will continue after Brexit. For more information please see our website. Visa information will be discussed in more depth with applicants selected for interview. 

EMBL-EBI is committed to achieving gender balance and strongly encourages applications from women, who are currently under-represented at all levels. Appointment will be based on merit alone. 

Applications will close on 30 July 23:00 GMT on the date listed above. 

Interviews will take place on Monday 2 September. If you are unable to make this date, we still encourage you to apply, but kindly request that you indicate in your covering letter that you will be unable to make this date.