Job Description

• Klosterneuburg (Vienna), Austria
• Full Time (40h/w) – Limited for 5 years (permanent contract possible after tenure-like evaluation)
• > € 79,000* gross/year
• Application Deadline: Evaluations of applications starts November 23rd, 2025 until filled

About the Position
ISTA (www.ista.ac.at) is seeking a highly skilled Staff Scientist in Computational Structural Biology to support and advance the Institute’s structural biology research through the development and implementation of novel computational approaches. Staff Scientists at ISTA (www.ista.ac.at) pursue research projects with professors, serving as collaborators with expertise normally not present within research groups. This position addresses the growing need for expertise in image processing, deep learning, and structural bioinformatics, particularly within the context of cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), electron tomography (cryo-ET), and structure prediction.
As structural biology expands toward in situ cellular complexity and high-throughput computational exploration of predicted protein structures, this role is central to unlocking new insights and methods for the ISTA community.

Role and Responsibilities
The Staff Scientist will:
• Develop and maintain cutting-edge computational workflows for cryo-EM and cryo-ET data analysis, including 2D/3D image processing, segmentation, and quantitative annotation.
• Design tools for structural identification and protein interaction analysis in cellular contexts.
• Integrate structural prediction methods (AlphaFold, FoldSeek, DALI, Boltz, etc.) into pipelines for interaction discovery, homolog identification, and clustering.
• Collaborate closely with experimental research groups and shared scientific units (SSUs), especially the Electron Microscopy Facility, the Scientific Computing Facility, and the Imaging & Optics Facility.
• Act as a computational hub for multiple structural biology research groups and promote cross-group knowledge sharing and innovation.
• Provide advice and training on computational techniques, and guide researchers through complete structure determination workflows.
• Conceive and implement conceptually novel image processing approaches based on unmet needs in the field.

Your Profile
Essential Qualifications
• Ph.D. or postdoctoral experience in computer science, structural biology, or a related discipline.
• Proven expertise in (cryo-)EM image analysis, including Single Particle Analysis (SPA) and subtomogram averaging (STA).
• Experience with structural bioinformatics, including structure prediction tools and downstream analysis.
• Strong UNIX/Linux and HPC environment skills.
• Programming proficiency (Python, C++, Shell scripting, or similar languages).
• Experience in multidisciplinary scientific collaboration and data-centric research.

Preferred Skills and Attributes
• Experience with cryo-ET workflows and cellular-scale structural determination.
• Proficiency in neural networks, deep learning, and AI-based computational methods.
• Ability to independently drive research and software development initiatives.
• Exceptional communication skills, both written and oral.
• Aptitude for working on multiple concurrent projects and interfacing with diverse scientific domains.
• Strong collaborative mindset and proven ability to work within and across research teams.
• Prior work in high-level research environments is a plus.

Why This Role Matters
This position will:
• Help ISTA remain at the forefront of technological and methodological innovation in structural biology.
• Enable sustainable and scalable development of reusable computational tools.
• Address critical unmet needs in processing increasingly complex data from cryo-EM and structural prediction.
• Facilitate in silico discovery and system-level understanding of macromolecular function.

The staff scientist will collaborate with several research groups including those led by Alicia Michael, Florian Schur, Jack Bravo, Carrie Bernecky, Paul Schanda, Martin Loose, and Florian Praetorius.

If you're excited to shape the future of computational structural biology and contribute to groundbreaking research at ISTA, we encourage you to apply.