The mission of SFA is to ensure and secure a supply of safe food for Singapore.

The National Centre for Food Science (NCFS) supports SFA’s vision of ensuring safe food for all by being a national reference laboratory on food science, conducting food safety monitoring to generate scientific data for risk assessment, enforcing food regulations to protect consumer health and ensuring food safety in partnership with stakeholders across the entire food and supply chain to address emerging food safety and security concerns. NCFS also builds up food safety science infrastructure & competencies for new and emerging foodborne hazards.

The officer will be a Scientist of Virology team under the Food Science Rapid Response Department (FSRRD) to conduct Virology food safety testing and analysis and research activities on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the NCFS. Based on the operational needs of the department, the officer may also perform cross-functional roles or deploy to other teams/department to broaden the knowledge and skillsets in related scopes to be trained for technically competency and operational readiness to support any potential emerging threat or response operations.

Scope / Duties

The officer is responsible for the following:

• Conduct food safety testing and method development in areas of Virology, Microbiology and AMR study with effective use of resources.
• Provide solutions and perform tasks that strengthen laboratory productivity via automation and/or digitisation. 
• Conduct literature search for preparation of technical papers and provide updated scientific knowledge to support operations, policy making, and guideline development for both the surveillance and testing of Virology and AMR.
• Analyse results from study project and showcase the scientific achievements through scientific publication in peer-reviewed journals and delivery of presentation on specialised areas in national and international platforms.
• Implement laboratory quality assurance programmes, including conduct internal quality control testing and participate in international proficiency testing to ensure that the laboratory practices are in full compliances with ISO/IEC 17025:2017 quality standard.
• Propose and execute procurement plan of scientific equipment and laboratory supplies based on the laboratory operation needs, ensuring full compliance with financial rules and regulations.
• Carry out related duties and roles as assigned by supervisor to maximize laboratory efficiency.

Qualifications/ Other Requirements

• BSc, MSc or PhD in Biological Science, Microbiology, Virology, Molecular Biology, or other relevant disciplines.
• Possess knowledge in Microbiology, Virology and Molecular Biology techniques for the testing and identification of foodborne pathogens and/or AMR testing.
• Must have a positive attitude and a team player.
• Able to work in a fast-paced environment and deliver results within deadline. 
• Possess the ownership, aptitude, and agility to excel on any assigned project/task.
• Must be meticulous, proactive inclination to problem-solving and able to contribute beyond the technical training provided.
• Possess knowledge in quality assurance program or ISO 17025:2017 but not a must.
• Possess critical thinking and good writing skills to deliver project proposal plan, SOP, scientific report, and publication.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills.
• Computer literacy, with good knowledge or interest in statistical and data analytics software.

Other Information

• Work Location: National Centre for Food Science, Techquest, 7 International Business Park, Singapore 609919.

We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be notified for the interview.