PhD student

Job Reference

47_26_LS_CG_R1

Position

PhD student - Phylogenomics (R1)

Closing Date

Sunday, 15 February, 2026

Reference:
47_26_LS_CG_R1

Job title:
PhD student - Phylogenomics (R1)

About BSC
The Barcelona Supercomputing Center - Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS) is the leading supercomputing center in Spain. It houses MareNostrum, one of the most powerful supercomputers in Europe, was a founding and hosting member of the former European HPC infrastructure PRACE (Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe), and is now hosting entity for EuroHPC JU, the Joint Undertaking that leads large-scale investments and HPC provision in Europe. The mission of BSC is to research, develop and manage information technologies in order to facilitate scientific progress. BSC combines HPC service provision and R&D into both computer and computational science (life, earth and engineering sciences) under one roof, and currently has over 1000 staff from 60 countries.

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We are particularly interested for this role in the strengths and lived experiences of women and underrepresented groups to help us avoid perpetuating biases and oversights in science and IT research. In instances of equal merit, the incorporation of the under-represented sex will be favoured.

We promote Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, fostering an environment where each and every one of us is appreciated for who we are, regardless of our differences.

If you consider that you do not meet all the requirements, we encourage you to continue applying for the job offer. We value diversity of experiences and skills, and you could bring unique perspectives to our team.

Context And Mission
The Computational Genomics group, led by ICREA professor Toni Gabaldón, is looking for a PhD candidate to work in the context of phylogenomics.

The Life Sciences Department at the BSC integrates the independent research of senior scientists that work on various aspects of computational biology, ranging from bioinformatics for genomics to computational biochemistry and text mining. The Computational Biology group ), which is jointly affiliated to the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), is involved in multiple projects covering a wide range of topics including evolutionary and comparative genomics, phylogenomics, and metagenomics. One of the central projects of the group is funded through an Moore-Simons fundations project (LECA-TIME) and is focused on understanding the timing and modularity in the acquisition of genes in the Last Eucaryotic Common Ancestor (see Pittis and Gabaldón 2016, Vosseberg et. al In this context we are looking for a motivated postdoc with expertise in phylogenetics and evolutionary biology to work in a phylogenomic projects aimed at faithfully reconstructing the evolutionary history of thousands of gene families, to discover ancient trends in gene family evolution. The candidate will work in collaboration with other researchers in the Comparative Genomics Group of the Life Sciences Department as well as other research groups at the BSC and IRB. The work is in the framework of the research lines of the group, involving in the study of the origin of eukaryotes, their genomes, and their evolution, including the development of new tools and approaches.

The Researcher will work in a highly sophisticated HPC environment, will have access to state-of-the-art systems and computational infrastructures, and will establish collaborations with experts in different areas both at international and local levels, in particular. The Researcher's tasks will involve applying state of the art phylogenetic methods for the reconstruction of evolutionary processes and the discovery of selective processes and constraints that drive the evolution of gene families in the ancestral eukaryotes.

Key Duties

• Development and application of state-of-the-art phylogenomic analysis methods for the study of relevant evolutionary processes.
• Perform phylogenetic and comparative analysis of large datasets of protein families from diverse organisms.
• Inference of functional properties of proteins, based on their sequence, reconstruction of potential metabolic properties of ancestral organisms.
• Inference of ancestral evolutionary processes, including horizontal gene transfer, directional selection, gene loss and duplication.
• Explore novel applications for the evolutionary analysis of gene families, including the development of novel computational tools and approaches.
• Preparation and presentation of scientific articles.
• Collaborate in the preparation and presentation of scientific projects.
• Establish and maintain collaborations with national and international researchers.

Requirements

• Education

• Master degree in a topic related to comparative and evolutionary genomics (or equivalent).

• Essential Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Experience in molecular evolution, and phylogenomics.

• Knowledge of evolutionary concepts and processes.

• Familiarity with metabolism and cell biology of diverse eukaryotes.

• Additional Knowledge and Professional Experience

• Knowledge and experience in phylogenetic tools (IQ-tree or similar, ETE3, etc..)

• Knowledge and experience in protein evolution.
• Programming: Python.
• Use of HPC cluster.

• Fluency in spoken and written English.

• Competences

• Capacity to explore new research lines.

• Good communication and presentation skills.
• Ability to work both independently and within a team.

Conditions

• The position will be located at BSC within the Life Sciences Department
• We offer a full-time contract (37.5h/week), a good working environment, a highly stimulating environment with state-of-the-art infrastructure, flexible working hours, extensive training plan, restaurant tickets, private health insurance, support to the relocation procedures
• Duration: Open-ended contract due to technical and scientific activities linked to the project and budget duration
• Holidays: 22 days of holidays + 6 personal days + 24th and 31st of December per our collective agreement
• Salary: we offer a competitive salary commensurate with the qualifications and experience of the candidate and according to the cost of living in Barcelona
• Starting date: 01/03/2026

Applications procedure and process
All applications must be submitted via the BSC website and contain:

• A full CV in English including contact details
• A cover/motivation letter with a statement of interest in English, clearly specifying for which specific area and topics the applicant wishes to be considered. Additionally, two references for further contacts must be included. Applications without this document will not be considered.

Development of the recruitment process
The selection will be carried out through a competitive examination system ("Concurso-Oposición"). The recruitment process consists of two phases:

• Curriculum Analysis: Evaluation of previous experience and/or scientific history, degree, training, and other professional information relevant to the position. - 40 points
• Interview phase: The highest-rated candidates at the curriculum level will be invited to the interview phase, conducted by the corresponding department and Human Resources. In this phase, technical competencies, knowledge, skills, and professional experience related to the position, as well as the required personal competencies, will be evaluated. - 60 points. A minimum of 30 points out of 60 must be obtained to be eligible for the position.

The recruitment panel will be composed of at least three people, ensuring at least 25% representation of women.

In accordance with OTM-R principles, a gender-balanced recruitment panel is formed for each vacancy at the beginning of the process. After reviewing the content of the applications, the panel will begin the interviews, with at least one technical and one administrative interview. At a minimum, a personality questionnaire as well as a technical exercise will be conducted during the process.

The panel will make a final decision, and all individuals who participated in the interview phase will receive feedback with details on the acceptance or rejection of their profile.

At BSC, we seek continuous improvement in our recruitment processes. For any suggestions or comments/complaints about our recruitment processes, please contact

For more information, please follow this link.

Deadline
The vacancy will remain open until a suitable candidate has been hired. Applications will be regularly reviewed and potential candidates will be contacted.

OTM-R principles for selection processes
BSC-CNS is committed to the principles of the Code of Conduct for the Recruitment of Researchers of the European Commission and the Open, Transparent and Merit-based Recruitment principles (OTM-R). This is applied for any potential candidate in all our processes, for example by creating gender-balanced recruitment panels and recognizing career breaks etc.

BSC-CNS is an equal opportunity employer committed to diversity and inclusion. We are pleased to consider all qualified applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability or any other basis protected by applicable state or local law.

For more information follow this link

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