The Swiss Federal Institute for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research WSL is part of the ETH Domain. Approximately 600 people work on the sustainable use and protection of the environment and on the handling of natural hazards.

The Biodiversity and Conservation Biology research unit, investigates the diversity of life in its various forms, from genetic to the diversity of species and ecosystems as well as their interactions. For 2 years, starting in Spring 2026, the Community Ecology research group is looking for a

This position offers an exciting opportunity to participate in an international research project on “Integrating Soil Biodiversity to Ecosystem Services (SOB4ES)”. SOB4ES is a large EU Horizon project testing cost-effectiveness of soil biodiversity indicators and the provision of soil biodiversity-based ecosystem services to build better land management solutions that effectively implement the EU Soil Strategy (www.sob4es.org). In collaboration with international partners, your role in this project will be to explore soil microbial diversity and functions and ecosystem services across European land-use types and biomes. Your will analyse microbial biodiversity and functions datasets, preparing manuscripts, and publishing them in peer-reviewed scientific journals. You will also present the research outputs at local and international conferences and engage with stakeholders.

You hold a PhD degree in biology or environmental sciences, with a strong background in microbiology, genetics or ecology. You have experience with bioinformatics (such as running metabarcoding and metagenomic data pipelines) and data analyses (including advanced statistical models) and wish to develop your knowledge and experience in that field. Fluency in English (both oral and writing), ability to supervise junior team members, excellent communication skills and a collaborative mindset are also key to success in this role.