The University of Oslo is Norway’s oldest and highest rated institution of research and education with 26 500 students and 7 200 employees. Its broad range of academic disciplines and internationally esteemed research communities make UiO an important contributor to society.
Department of Biosciences (IBV) is one of nine departments at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Research in the department is organised in five sections covering topics within biochemistry, molecular biology, physiology, cell biology, genetics, aquatic biology, toxicology, ecology, and evolutionary biology. The Department also operates Finse research station, the Biological research station in Drøbak and UiO's research vessel. Education across these topics is offered for around 300 bachelor, 170 master, and 75 PhD students. With 48 permanent professors/associate professors, post-docs, researchers, technical, and administrative personnel, the Department has a total staff of 260 from more than 30 different countries. The Department aims to maintain high international standards within both research and teaching. The new bachelor program in bioscience is the first of its kind to include programming and computational modelling as core elements.
About the position
Position as Head Engineer in ancient DNA available at the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences.
The position is permanent with external funding for a period of 4 years.
Starting date: 01.09.2026.
Place of work is Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences at Blindern, Oslo.
Job description
The position is part of the project Ecological Archaeologies of the Afrotropics (EcoArch), funded by the European Research Council (ERC Synergy Grant 101224871). More information about the project can be found here. The appointed candidate will work within the overarching goal of the project EcoArch to disentangle the drivers of landscape and climate change in the Afrotropics since the introduction of domesticated food economies. The project will collect and analyse diverse types of data for the reconstruction of changes in climate, biodiversity and wildfires across different biomes and examine the role of human activities in shaping the landscape. The engineer will primarily be responsible for and perform sedimentary ancient DNA laboratory work together with the other team members. In addition, she/he will administrate the EcoArch project on our HPC cluster and assist with the bioinformatic analyses. The engineer will be integrated in the research group, engage in the data analyses and have the opportunity to join as co-author on relevant publications.
The successful candidate will join our Biodiversity & Palaeogenomics research group with master students, PhD fellows and postdocs. The group is part of the Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, Department of Biosciences.
What skills are important in this role?
Qualification requirements:
In this role you must have / We want you to have
The position requires relevant education from a university or university college, in the field of evolutionary biology, ecology, palaeoecology, biomolecular archaeology or a similar subject, at equivalent to a Bachelor degree. A PhD degree is desired. Extensive practical competence may replace the educational requirement.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
Ancient DNA laboratory work competence (DNA extraction, PCR, library building)
Experience with analysing high-throughput sequencing data in a HPC environment
Desired qualifications:
Experience working with large and complex datasets
Experience with data management
All candidates and projects will have to undergo a check versus national export, sanctions and security regulations. Candidates may be excluded based on these checks. Primary checkpoints are the Export Control regulation, the Sanctions regulation, and the national security regulation.
Personal skills
We seek a highly motivated, enthusiastic person who can work in a structured and organized manner. The candidate should have a keen eye for detail and accuracy, as well as an interest in learning and staying updated with new methodologies and protocols. The candidate must have strong interpersonal and communication skills and the competence to work both independently and in close collaboration with others.
Employment in the position is based on a comprehensive assessment of all qualification requirements applicable to the position, including skills.
We need different perspectives in our work
UiO is an open and internationally oriented comprehensive university that strives to be an inclusive and diverse workplace and academic environment. You can read more about UiO’s work on equality, inclusion, and diversity at uio.no.
We will do our best to accommodate your needs. Relevant adjustments may include modifications to working hours, task adaptations, digital, technical, or physical adjustments, or other practical measures.
If you have an immigrant background, a disability, or CV gaps, we encourage you to indicate this in the job application portal. We always invite at least one qualified candidate from each group for an interview. In this context, disability is defined as an applicant who identifies as having a disability that requires workplace or employment-related accommodations. For more details about the requirements, please refer to the Employer portal (Norwegian).
The selections made in the job application portal are used for anonymized statistics that all state employers include in their annual reports.
More information about gender equality initiatives at UiO can be found here.
A workplace with good development and career opportunities.
Membership in the Statens Pensjonskasse, which is one of Norway's best pension schemes with beneficial mortgages and good insurance schemes.
Salary in position as Head Engineer, position code 1087 in salary range NOK from 580 00 to 690 000, depending on competence and experience. From the salary, 2 percent is deducted in statutory contributions to the State Pension Fund.
Read more about the benefits of working in the public sector at Employer Portal.
Application
Your application should include:
Cover letter demonstrating personal suitability, experience, and motivation for the position
CV (complete overview of education and work experience)
Copies of educational certificates, transcript of records
Names and contact details of 2-3 references (names, relation to candidate and telephone number)
Application with attachments must be submitted via our recruitment system Jobbnorge, click "Apply for the position".
When applying for the position, we ask you to retrieve your education results from Vitnemålsportalen.no. If your education results are not available through Vitnemålsportalen, we ask you to upload copies of your transcripts or grades. Please note that all documentation must be in English or a Scandinavian language.
General information
The best qualified candidates will invited for interviews.
Applicant lists can be published in accordance with Norwegian Freedom of Information Act § 25. When you apply for a position with us, your name will appear on the public applicant list. It is possible to request to be excluded from this list. You must justify why you want an exemption from publication and we will then decide whether we can grant your request. If we cannot, you will hear from us.
