EMBL-EBI, funded by Wellcome, is hiring a User Research Officer to lead its Global Engagement programme’s work with biodata communities across Africa, Latin America, and South East Asia. Tax-free salary, family allowances, and a visa-exempt pathway into the UK all come with the role.
If your work has ever involved bridging the gap between powerful data resources and the communities who actually need them, this is the role you have been waiting for. EMBL-EBI, part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, has just opened applications for a User Research Officer, and it comes with something most UK job listings never offer: a genuine visa-exempt route into the country, thanks to EMBL’s special international status. No sponsorship stress. No endless paperwork. Just a clear, open door for the right candidate.
This is a role built for people who understand research, understand people, and know how to connect the two.
What the role actually involves
Reporting to EMBL-EBI’s Deputy Director and funded by Wellcome, this role sits inside the Global Engagement programme, working closely with senior colleagues across data services, training, and infrastructure. Your main focus will be understanding how life science data communities in low and middle income countries engage with biodata resources, and closing the gaps that keep them from getting full value out of those tools.
In practice, that means you would be:
- Mapping the current landscape of life science data communities across LMICs and identifying where engagement is falling short
- Coordinating outreach to existing and new biodata communities to understand their needs, pain points, and opportunities
- Working with EMBL-EBI service teams to share user research findings and flag new stakeholder needs
- Running user research activities that give underrepresented communities a real forum to be heard
- Advising the Global Engagement programme on potential partnerships and collaborations
- Building a framework for distributed user research across teams
This is not a desk job that stays behind a screen. It is a role with real influence over how global science infrastructure serves the people who rely on it most.
What they are looking for
EMBL-EBI wants someone with a solid understanding of biodata services and the communities that use them, plus real experience engaging with biodata scientific communities in Africa, Latin America, or South East Asia. You should be comfortable gathering requirements from different audiences and translating them for technical teams, and you need strong communication skills with a genuine appetite for building relationships. A technical background in bioinformatics, software, or research data services is a bonus, not a must-have, and experience running communication campaigns or managing scientific networks will strengthen your application.
Now, about that pay and package
The role sits at Grade 5 or Grade 6, paying £3,452.05 or £3,861.91 per month after tax depending on where you land, on a three year project based contract. On top of that, you get monthly family, child, and non-resident allowances, an annual salary review, private medical insurance for you and your immediate family, and 30 days of annual leave plus public holidays.
There is also a relocation package with an installation grant if you need it, a free shuttle bus, an on-site gym and nursery, and an active sports and social scene on campus. If you are relocating from outside the UK, you also get education grants for private schooling and financial support to travel home every second year.
The role is hybrid, with two days on-site (Monday and Tuesday) at the Wellcome Genome Campus in Hinxton, Cambridge.
Why this one matters
Opportunities that combine meaningful global impact with tax-free pay, family support, and a visa-exempt path into the UK do not come around often, and this one sits at the intersection of research, equity, and access, exactly the kind of work that shapes how science reaches the parts of the world that need it most. EMBL currently represents 76 nationalities and is actively looking to grow that number.
Applications close on 29th September 2026, and EMBL has confirmed it may close the role early if a strong candidate is found sooner. If this sounds like your lane, do not wait on it.
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