Technical Assistant (m/f/d) 100 % “Bonobo Database Contributor”

The Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior at its sites in Konstanz and Radolfzell offers an international, interdisciplinary, and cooperative environment that opens up unique research opportunities. The goal of our basic research is to develop a quantitative and predictive understanding of the decisions and movements of animals in their natural environment.

The Department of the Ecology of Animal Societies at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior would like to fill two positions as Technical Assistant. The workplace will be in Konstanz, Germany.

Technical Assistant (m/f/d) 100 % “Bonobo Database Contributor”

The project

The Bonobo Behavioral Ecology Research Group

has been studying individual life histories and social relationships of wild bonobos (Pan paniscus) for over 20 years. It is focusing on the ecological and social factors that determine behavior within and between neighboring groups. Similarly, studies are conducted on interspecific relationships, analysing the role of individual species within this complex ecosystem comprising predators, prey and competitors. At the moment, our group consists of two senior researchers, one postdoc, three PhD students, several independent scientists, one database manager, several MSc students; as well as an international team in the host country DRC, including research assistants collecting data year-round at our field site in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The position is intended to continue with the implementation and expansion of the project’s database, including the development of efficient pipelines for the cleaning, storage and accessibility of long-term data.

Job requirements

Essential requirements:

• Experience in collecting observational data on mammalian behavior
• Advanced programming skills in R, including the performance of statistical analyses
• Proficiency in MS Excel and Access, including the creation of SQL queries
• Handling, processing and analysing large datasets and multiple data streams
• Excellent organisational skills and attention to detail
• Ability to work independently after an initial introduction to tasks
• Good written and spoken English; French is a plus
• Training as a technical assistant or comparable qualification

Additional skills that would be an asset, but are not necessary:

• Knowledge of the German language
• Experience with relational databases
• Previous work with primate data, ideally ‘focal and party-follow’ studies, as well as ‘ad libitum’ data.
• Experience with imaging and image-processing techniques
• Experience with legacy data storage (audio, video and documents)

We offer

The position will start November 1, 2026 and is limited to 24 months. We offer an interesting job in an open-minded team, and a responsible and varied workplace embedded in a growing interdisciplinary and international research institute.

The successful candidate will work in a dynamic and highly international research environment. Our working language is English. The payment for the position is made in accordance with your experience and qualification of the collective agreement for the public service (TVöD-Bund).

The Max Planck Society endeavors to employ more severely disabled people. Applications of severely disabled persons are expressly welcome. The Max Planck Society strives for gender and diversity equality. We welcome applications from all backgrounds.

Are you interested? Then we are looking forward to receiving your application until September 30, 2026.

Please include the following documents:

• Letter of motivation
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Reference letter of previous activity

Please submit your application documents under the following link:

Online Application

• Questions about this position will be answered by Barbara Fruth,

[email protected]