About Us
AbacusBio is a science consultancy business, that offers services and products to the agricultural, horticultural/ cropping, forestry and aquaculture sectors. The company has bases in Dunedin (New Zealand), Edinburgh (Scotland), and Edmonton (Canada); we are a vibrant business of 50 people with an informal atmosphere.
Consultants and business managers work on a project-to-project basis across a wide range of scientific and business advisory areas.
Our values are:
- Deliver Excellence Every Day: We take pride in the work we do. We go above and beyond to deliver exceptional impact for our clients and our world.
- Be True to Self and Kind to Others: We celebrate the uniqueness, values, and backgrounds of our team and clients. We are grounded, welcoming and all-round good people.
- Strong as a Global Team: We care about people. Our strength is teamwork and intellectual collaboration. We draw on global experience and diversity of thought for the benefit of our clients.
AbacusBio actively seeks to progress the careers of its staff members through both internal and external training opportunities. We offer flexible and, in some cases, remote working options, to support work and life balance for our team members.
The role
We are looking for a highly motivated Animal Geneticist to join our team. The successful candidate will work alongside AbacusBio’s global clients to improve outcomes across a range of animal breeding domains. This includes quantitative genetic/genomic analysis, developing economic evaluation tools for improving genetic merit, and participating in business development and account management.
Key areas of responsibility
These include:
- Handling, processing, and interpretation of datasets associated with animal performance and pedigree (including DNA/ genotype information).
- Genetic/genomic evaluation model design, testing, and validation, and analysis of research and commercial animal datasets for breeding value estimation.
- Contribute to developing economic evaluation tools for improving genetic merit, including selection indexes, and in breeding program simulation, modelling and design.
- Monitor and manage timely and accurate delivery of projects to clients and support the development of internal systems that do the same.
- Leverage existing international network and build a broader network in animal evaluation to the benefit of AbacusBio and our clients.
- Participate in third party conferences, workshops, and meetings to advance knowledge and provide leadership.
Whilst employed by AbacusBio, the candidate will be working with global clients, and interacting with colleagues in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.
Attributes
The successful candidate will be a self-starter, a problem solver, and a collaborator, internally and with AbacusBio’s clients. In addition, they will be able to identify needs and come up with appropriate solutions, leveraging their experience and working knowledge of quantitative/ statistical genetics and genomics methods applied in animals.
Strong interpersonal skills are required and the ability to communicate effectively with farmers, researchers/ scientists, business/ technical managers, and government organisations from diverse cultures and backgrounds. This includes verbal, written, and presented communication for colleagues internally and to AbacusBio’s clients.
Efficiency, pragmatism, and time management will be key skills. Responsibility for the operational aspects of project delivery will be expected and the ability to demonstrate previous experience in project delivery and/or leadership skills.
This position is open to being based in Edinburgh, UK or Dunedin, New Zealand (with hybrid working options available). The appointee will be working globally and interacting with colleagues across all our offices.
Qualifications and experience
The Animal Geneticist must have a science degree, along with a higher-level post-graduate qualification (PhD) and post-doc or equivalent experience in quantitative/ statistical genetics, bioinformatics, computational biology, or a related field. An in-depth knowledge of R and/ or SAS and/ or SQL, and/ or other data analysis tools is essential. Data analysis coding must be to best-practice standard and transferable to others (appropriately annotated/ documented).With your experience and knowledge, you are expected to have advanced skills in the use of statistical and mathematical software packages used by the company for genetic/ genomic analysis (e.g. ASReml, ASReml-R, MiX99, MixBLUP, BLUPF90, DMU) and be capable of writing and editing reports and documents as well as scientific papers.
Essential requirements:
- Post doctoral experience in quantitative genetics with a very good component of genomic methodologies
- A minimum of 3 years’ work experience in genetics
- Experience with genetic and genomic evaluations
- Experience in estimating genetic parameters
- Excellent numerical and statistical skills
- Coding to best-practice standard
- Large data handling experience
- Programming experience and the ability to learn new languages
- Good communication skills
- Good analytical/problem solving skills
- A team player
- Attention to detail
- A willingness to undertake international travel
- Ability and desire to work in a commercial environment is essential
Must be eligible to work in New Zealand.
Term of employment
This is a permanent, full-time position.
Location
The role is based in Dunedin, New Zealand.
There is an option to be remotely located for the right applicant.
How to apply
Applied Animal Geneticist Job in North Dunedin, Otago – SEEK
