Research Scientist

Important messages

The Public Health Agency of Canada is looking to recruit top talent to conduct research for the National Microbiology Laboratory in the following 2 streams:

Stream 1: Viral Zoonotic Diseases Research Scientist

Stream 2: Viral Hepatitis and Bloodborne Pathogens Research Scientist

Work environment

The Public Health Agency of Canada's National Microbiology Laboratory (NML) provides scientific expertise and laboratory capacity for infectious disease monitoring, detection, investigation and outbreak response to support national and international public health action. NML strives to be the employer of choice for Canadian and international scientific and non-scientific staff. Our employees contribute leadership, ingenuity, expertise and innovation to safeguard the health of Canadians and the global community.

Intent of the process

This process will initially be used to fill 1 position on a permanent basis. The result of this selection process will be to create a pool of qualified candidates from which future permanent and/or temporary vacancies at the Public Health Agency of Canada may be filled.

Positions to be filled: Number to be determined

Information you must provide

Your résumé.

You must meet all essential qualifications in order to be appointed to the position. Other qualifications may be a deciding factor in choosing the person to be appointed. Some essential and other qualifications will be assessed through your application. It is your responsibility to provide appropriate examples that illustrate how you meet each qualification. Failing to do so could result in your application being rejected.

In order to be considered, your application must clearly explain how you meet the following (essential qualifications)

Common to both streams:
Stream 1: Viral Zoonoses Research Scientist
Stream 2: Viral Sexually Transmitted and Blood-borne Infections Research Scientist

Graduation with an acceptable doctoral degree from a recognized post-secondary institution in a field of the microbiology, infectious diseases, immunology or a related field with a minimum of 2 years post-doctoral studies.

Degree equivalency

Recent and significant experience* in research involving human viral pathogens
Recent and significant experience* in collaborative research with universities or industry, or government laboratories
Experience in supervising students or staff; management of human resources (budgetary or planning for a laboratory)
Experience in writing and publishing peer-reviewed research communications and conference/meeting presentations (Productivity or recognition)

*Recent and significant experience refers to an acceptable combination of breadth, depth and complexity of tasks that can normally be acquired over a period of two (2) years or more within the last five (5) years

Stream 1:
Experience in diagnostic laboratory testing.

If you possess any of the following, your application must also clearly explain how you meet it (other qualifications)

ASSET QUALIFICATIONS:
Stream 1: Viral Zoonoses Research Scientist
Stream 2: Viral Sexually Transmitted and Blood-borne Infections Research Scientist

Stream 1:
Experience performing molecular and serological procedures for arboviruses.
Experience working in a high containment laboratory.
Experience with animal models for viral pathogens.

Stream 2:
Experience with human hepatitis viruses, enteroviruses, gastroenteritis viruses, influenza, respiratory viruses or vaccine preventable viruses.
Experience in sexually transmitted and bloodborne infections, emerging pathogens, respiratory viruses, vaccine preventable viruses or transplantation-associated viruses.
Experience in metagenomics or the development and use of bioinformatics pipelines for viral infections, vaccine surveillance, molecular epidemiology, outbreak analysis and infection control.
Experience in diagnostic laboratory testing.

The following will be applied / assessed at a later date (essential for the job)

English essential

Information on language requirements

Common to both streams:
Data Information Collection and Analysis
Protection of Health and well-being
Quality/Service Improvement or Risk Assessment
Biomedical Investigation and Intervention
People Management
Leadership
Collaboration and Partnerships
Communication
Knowledge Transfer
Demonstrating Integrity and Respect
Thinking Things Through
Showing Initiative and Being Action Oriented

The following may be applied / assessed at a later date (may be needed for the job)

Common to both streams:
Emergency Preparedness and Response
Surveillance
Self and People Development.

ORGANIZATIONAL NEEDS:
Selection for appointment may take into consideration employees who have been or will be impacted by organizational restructuring. Appointments may be made based on the department's commitment to employment continuity of indeterminate employees and no involuntary job loss.

The Public Health Agency of Canada is committed to Employment Equity. In order to
ensure a diversified workforce, preference may be given to candidates self-identifying as
belonging to one or more of the following Employment Equity groups: aboriginal peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minority groups provided the candidate meets all essential qualifications listed on the job opportunity notice and any applicable asset qualification(s).

OPERATIONAL REQUIREMENTS:
Willing and able to work overtime (all streams).
Willing and able to travel in order to participate in meetings, training and potential outbreak and emergency response (all streams).

Conditions of employment

Secret security clearance
Medical clearance

Candidates must meet and maintain the above condition(s) of employment throughout their employment.

Other information

Applications submitted by email will not be accepted. You must apply on-line. To submit an application on-line, please click on the button "Apply online" below. Persons with disabilities preventing them from applying on-line are asked to contact 1-800-645-5605.

All communication received from candidates throughout the staffing process may be used to assess qualifications on the Statement of Merit Criteria.

Salary ranges:
SE-RES-01 - $53,161 - $69,942
SE-RES-02 - $66,010 - $98,880
SE-RES-03 - $83,421 - $109,760
SE-RES-04 - $99,904 - $121,834
SE-RES-05 - $109,390 - $133,410

Please note: SE-RES staffing is considered “incumbent based staffing”. Therefore, the level of the successful candidate will not be determined until the advertised process is complete and a successful candidate is chosen.

Candidates should be prepared to provide proof of citizenship.

Candidates should be prepared to provide proof of education (copy of degree/diploma). If you have obtained education outside Canada, you will be required to submit proof of evaluation of Canadian equivalency.

A Written Exercise, Interview and Reference Checks may be conducted.

Candidates must meet the essential qualifications to be appointed to a position. Asset qualifications could be used at the screening stage. Please ensure that your responses to the screening questions and your resume clearly indicates how you meet these qualifications.

For this selection process, it is our intention to communicate with candidates via email for screening and assessment purposes. This will include communication of screening results and invitations to written tests and interviews. To that end, candidates must include a valid email address in their application. It is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that this address is functional and that it accepts messages from unknown users (some email systems block these types of email). It is also the candidate’s responsibility to ensure accurate information is provided and updated as required.

For the purpose of this staffing process, only candidates selected for further assessment will be contacted.

The primary assessment location will be in Winnipeg, MB. Candidates from outside the federal public service who are invited to written exams and/or interviews may be responsible for travel and accommodation expenses.

Persons are entitled to participate in the appointment process in the official language of their choice. Applicants are asked to indicate their preferred official language in their application.

The Public Service of Canada is committed to building a skilled, diverse workforce reflective of Canadian society. As a result, it promotes employment equity and encourages candidates to indicate voluntarily on their application if they are a woman, an Aboriginal person, a person with a disability or a member of a visible minority group.

The Public Service of Canada is also committed to developing inclusive, barrier-free selection processes and work environments. If contacted in relation to a job opportunity or testing, you should advise the Public Service Commission or the departmental official in a timely fashion of the accommodation measures which must be taken to enable you to be assessed in a fair and equitable manner. Information received relating to accommodation measures will be addressed confidentially.

Preference

Preference will be given to veterans and to Canadian citizens, in that order.

Information on the preference to veterans

We thank all those who apply. Only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.