University assistant predoctoral

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The University of Vienna is a community of almost 11,000 individuals, including approximately 7,700 academic staff members, who passionately pursue answers to the profound questions that shape our future. They represent individuals driven by curiosity and a relentless pursuit of excellence. With us, they find the space to try things out and unfold their potential. Are you inspired by their passion and determination? We are currently seeking a/an

University assistant predoctoral

52 Faculty of Chemistry

Job vacancy starting: 10/01/2026 | Working hours: 30,00 | Classification CBA: §48 VwGr. B1 Grundstufe (praedoc)

Limited contract until: 09/30/2030

Job ID: 5970

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The Department of Biological Chemistry at the Faculty of Chemistry announces a 4-year position for a university assistant (prae-doc) on the topic of developing chemical tools for investigating microbial interactions (research group Microbial Biochemistry, Böttcher lab). Our research group is currently looking for highly talented and highly motivated PhD students (prae-doc) with a strong background in Synthetic Chemistry, Chemical Biology, and/or Pharmacology, and/or Microbiology to join our Microbial Biochemistry Research Group at the University of Vienna. Our vision is to develop customized chemical tools to selectively target viability, virulence and behavior of individual species in a complex microbiome which would open the possibility of chemical microbiome engineering in the future. Explore and teach at the University of Vienna, where more than 7,500 academics thrive on curiosity in continuous exploration and help us better understand our world. Does this sound like you? Then join our accomplished team!

Your personal sphere of influence:

As an university assistant praedoc, you will complement/complete the research team around exploring chemical strategies for the customized modulation of bacterial population behavior with the goal of selectively interfering and controlling growth, motility, virulence and species interactions of human pathogens and commensals. You will also take over tasks such as leveraging the chemical interactions of commensal and pathogenic bacteria to exploit the potential of the privileged structures of natural products by synthetic organic chemistry as drug candidates against bacterial infections. What makes us special as a team is that we hereby focus mainly on novel anti-infective compounds including inhibitors of virulence and specific pathogenesis-associated targets as well as species selective antibiotics.

Your future tasks:

You actively participate in research, teaching & administration, which means:

You are involved in research projects and scientific studies on the aforementioned topics with the possibility of writing a dissertation.

Design and synthesis of antimicrobial compounds.

Application of chemical tool for microbial target investigation.

Biological assay development.

Target identification and/or natural product isolation and inhibitor discovery

We expect you to finalize your dissertation agreement within 12-18 months.

You work on your dissertation and its completion.

You hold courses independently within the scope of the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement.

You take on administrative tasks in research, teaching and administration.

Preparation of research reports, manuscripts for publications and oral presentations.

Supervision and training of students and staff members.

This is part of your personality:

Completed Master's degree or Diploma, in the field of chemistry, chemical biology, medicinal chemistry or similar.

Basic experience in academic writing and with research methods (e.g. drug design, synthesis of compound libraries)

Didactic competences / experience with e-learning

Excellent command of written and spoken English (C1 Level)

Very good organization skills, precision and diligence in laboratory work.

Highest level of motivation.

You should be a team player with high social skills

What we offer:

Work-life balance: Our employees enjoy flexible working hours and can partially work remotely.

Inspiring working atmosphere: You are a part of an international academic team in a healthy and fair working environment.

Good public transport connections: Your workplace is easily accessible by public transport.

Internal further training & Coaching: Opportunity to deepen your skills on an ongoing basis. There are over 600 courses to choose from – free of charge.

Fair salary: The basic salary of EUR 3.776,10 (on a full-time basis) increases if we can credit professional experience.

Contract: The employment duration is 4 years. Initially limited to 1.5 years, the employment relationship is automatically extended to 4 years if the employer does not terminate it within the first 12 months by submitting a non-extension declaration.

Equal opportunities for all: We welcome every additional/new personality to the team!

It is that easy to apply:

With your scientific curriculum vitae / letter of intent

With your summary of research interests / ideas for a prospective doctoral project proposal (max. 2 p.)

Master Degree / Diploma

At least two references

Via our job portal/ Apply now - button

If you have any questions, please contact:

Thomas Böttcher

thomas.boettcher@univie.ac.at

We look forward to new personalities in our team!

The University of Vienna has an anti-discriminatory employment policy and attaches great importance to equal opportunities, the advancement of women and diversity. We place particular emphasis on enhancing women’s representation among the academic and general university staff, particularly in leadership roles, and therefore expressly encourage qualified women to apply. Given equal qualifications, preference will be given to female candidates.

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Application deadline: 07/30/2026