Job Description

Acknowledgement of Country

CSIRO acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land, sea and waters, of the area that we live and work on across Australia. We acknowledge their continuing connection to their culture and pay our respects to their Elders past and present. View our vision towards reconciliation

Role highlights

• Apply large language models and multi‑agent AI to accelerate crop breeding
• Integrate genomic, phenotypic and environmental data to improve selection outcomes
• Join CSIRO – Australia’s leading scientific research organisation!

About CSIRO

As Australia's national science agency, CSIRO is solving the greatest challenges through innovative science and technology. Many of our iconic innovations were once considered impossible until someone, just like you, joined us and took on the challenge.

Visit CSIRO.au for more information.

The opportunity

CSIRO Early Research Career (CERC) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide opportunities to scientists and engineers who have completed their doctorate and have less than three years of relevant postdoctoral work experience. These fellowships aim to develop the next generation of future leaders of the innovation system.

CSIRO’s Agriculture & Food Breeding Innovations Group seeks a forward‑thinking expert in statistical machine learning to translate complex biological datasets into actionable AI‑driven insights. You will enhance genomic selection and breeding outcomes, supporting accelerated crop breeding and pre‑breeding platforms for Australia’s crops industry. You will collaborate with CSIRO researchers and external partners including the University of Queensland, Australian National University, University of Western Australia and leading breeding companies, with occasional domestic and international travel.

This is a unique opportunity to work at the intersection of machine learning, crop genetics, and biological data science, contributing to high-impact research that supports accelerated crop improvement and strengthens Australia’s agricultural industries.

Your high-level duties will include:

• Develop and apply AI-driven strategies, including the use of LLMs and collaborative multi-agent systems, to support decision-making in crop breeding.
• Translate biological data - particularly genomic, transcriptomic, and phenotypic information - into machine-readable formats to support the development of AI models. Lead the integration of these models into crop breeding pipelines to enhance the accuracy and interpretability of genomic predictions.
• Carry out innovative, impactful research of strategic importance to CSIRO that will, where possible, lead to novel and important scientific outcomes.
• Recognise and exploit opportunities for innovation and the generation of new theoretical perspectives, and progress opportunities for the further development or creation of new lines of research, including performing systematic literature surveys of research relevant to the field.

Role particulars

Location and office arrangements: Canberra, ACT or Brisbane, QLD

Salary: AU$103,390 - AU$113,251 pa (pro rata for part-time), plus 15.4% superannuation

Tenure & work schedule: Specified term of 3 years, Full-time

Reference: 101763

As the successful candidate, you will bring:

Essential criteria

• A doctorate (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD). The doctorate must be in a relevant discipline area, such as statistical machine learning, computational and quantitative biology, generative AI models. Please note: To be eligible for this role you must have no more than 3 years (full-time equivalent) of relevant research experience.
• Demonstrated experience in developing and deploying AI/ML systems, including LLMs and multi-agent frameworks, in a scientific or biological context.
• Demonstrated ability to undertake original, creative and innovative research that expand the scale and performance of existing methods by generating and pursuing novel ideas and solutions to scientific research problems.
• Evidence of advanced programming skills in languages and statistical software packages relevant to biostatistics and bioinformatics (e.g. R, Python, Fortran, Matlab, SAS, Stata or equivalent) and experience in the use of high-performance computer resources and parallel computation.

For full details about this role, and other criteria, please review the

Setting you up for success

We are committed to providing a recruitment process that is fair, equitable and accessible to everyone. We recognise that it may be helpful for us to adjust our process to make it equitable for your individual situation. Please contact careers.online@csiro.au and let us know how we can support you.

Life at CSIRO and flexible work arrangements

We work flexibly at CSIRO, offering a range of options for how, when and where you work. We can discuss flexible work arrangements with you during the recruitment process. CSIRO also offers a range of leave entitlements, benefits and career development opportunities. To find out more, visit Careers at CSIRO

Inclusion and belonging

Solving Australia's greatest challenges takes a diversity of minds and lived experiences. We know diverse teams are more effective and deliver more innovative outcomes. As an equal employment opportunity organisation, we are committed to creating diverse and inclusive teams where people feel they belong. We recognise true diversity encompasses all ages, abilities, cultures, faiths, levels of education, genders, sexualities, diversity of thought and much more. We focus on hiring people who share our values of People First, Further Together, Making it Real and Trusted.

CSIRO holds Gold Status for the Australian Workplace Equality Index for LGBTQIA+ inclusion, and a Science in Australia Gender Equity Bronze Award.

Eligibility

Applications for this position are open to Australian/New Zealand Citizens, Australian Permanent Residents, and Australian temporary residents currently residing in Australia who have a valid working visa for the duration of the specified term (no visa sponsorship required).

Appointment to this role is subject to provision of a national police check and may be subject to other security/medical/character requirements.

Child safety

CSIRO is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people involved in our activities and programs. View our Child Safe Policy

How to apply

Please apply online and submit a cover letter (maximum 2 pages) and CV that best demonstrates your motivation and ability to meet the essential requirements of this role.

Applications close

30 January 2026, 11:00pm AEDT