Job Description
The Senior Bioinformatics Scientist , serving as Assistant Director of the BTI Bioinformatics Core, is a leadership-level role requiring a Ph.D. in a biological or computational discipline and 8-15 years of relevant experience (inclusive of doctoral work). Reporting to the Director of the BTI Bioinformatics Core, this position provides scientific and technical leadership as the Core's primary "go-to" expert for methodological guidance, code standards, QC frameworks, and pipeline development, while mentoring Bioinformatics Scientist s and supporting Core infrastructure. The role is split between 50% scientific oversight, project guidance, and code review and 50% hands-on computational biology analyses for the Rare Brain Tumor Program. The ideal candidate demonstrates deep technical expertise, collaborative leadership, and a commitment to open, reproducible science, with substantial pediatric oncology genomics experience, strong biological insight, and the ability to both embrace learning CNS tumor biology and guide the computational direction of multiple PIs' research programs.
Qualifications: Minimum Education Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Biological or computational discipline (Required)
Minimum Work Experience 8 years 8-15 years in applied bioinformatics, genomics, and computational work (can be inclusive of relevant computational Ph.D. dissertation years) (Required)
Required Skills/Knowledge Technical Skills
• Advanced proficiency in UNIX/Linux environments.
• Expert-level programming and data analysis skills in R, Python, or equivalent.
• Deep experience with NGS, microarray, multi-omics, and other high-throughput platforms and their application to specific biological questions.
• Expertise with a broad range of bioinformatics tools, pipelines, and genomic databases, such as GATK, UCSC Genome Browser, Bioconductor, ENCODE, NCBI, Kids First, gnomAD, ClinVar, OMIM, HGMD, and COSMIC.
• Demonstrated expertise in GitHub, containerization (Docker, Podman, and/or Singularity), and workflow automation.
• Strong grasp of workflow management tools (e.g., Snakemake, Nextflow, WDL, CWL).
• Expertise using high-performance computing (HPC) environments and/or cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud) for large-scale analyses.
• Ability to develop user-facing bioinformatics applications using tools such as RShiny or Python Streamlit.
Scientific & Analytical Skills
• Demonstrated ability to design and execute robust statistical analyses across diverse genomic and proteomic data types.
• Deep expertise interpreting and visualizing results in biological or clinical contexts.
• Deep domain expertise in at least one disease area or biological system through publications, pipelines, tools, and/or open-source contributions.
• Experience writing scientific manuscripts, figure and methods development, and manuscript authorship.
Collaborative and Professional Skills
• Ability to lead complex interdisciplinary projects and guide teams from analysis to publication.
• Strong mentorship skills and demonstrated ability to train junior scientists and analysts.
• Excellent organizational, communication, and presentation skills.
• Proven ability to interact effectively with investigators, clinicians, laboratory staff, peers, and institutional leadership.
• Commitment to open and team science practices, including transparency, reproducibility, shared documentation, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Familiarity with project management tools and methodologies such as Scrum, Agile, Jira, GitHub Projects, Trello, or Asana to coordinate timelines, tasks, and deliverables across teams.
Functional Accountabilities Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)- Uphold the highest ethical standards and integrity in all scientific activities.
- Ensure data privacy and patient confidentiality standards.
- Maintain reproducibility and transparency in code, workflows, and documentation.
- Properly cite software tools, data sources, and collaborators.
- Comply with institutional policies and federal regulations governing research and data use.
Bioinformatics Analysis & Method Development
- Lead the development and implementation of novel and optimized workflows for large-scale -omic datasets.
- Design rigorous statistical frameworks that align with study goals and clinical hypotheses.
- Collaborate with investigators to determine the most effective computational approaches to complex problems with biological context.
- Contribute significantly to high-impact publications and grant proposals.
Technical Oversight & Troubleshooting
- Resolve advanced, multi-layered bioinformatics and workflow issues independently.
- Design scalable, sustainable solutions to recurring analysis or infrastructure challenges.
- Serve as technical advisor to junior bioinformatics staff, providing design, optimization, and troubleshooting support.
Scientific Communication & Grant Support
- Lead preparation of figures, written analysis, and supplemental methods for manuscripts, grants, and collaborators.
- Clearly present findings and strategy in lab/collaborator meetings, present journal clubs, and attend scientific conferences.
- Provide strategic guidance to principal investigators on computational planning in proposals.
Leadership Collaboration and Mentorship
- Partner with investigators, clinicians, project leads, and other bioinformatics staff to define project goals, analysis strategies, coordinate data workflows, and support scientific goals.
- Lead multidisciplinary bioinformatics collaborations from project inception through delivery.
- Mentor junior scientists and analysts in bioinformatics methods, code quality, and scientific interpretation.
- Foster a culture of scientific rigor, reproducibility, and learning.Contribute reusable, well-documented code to team repositories.
- Coordinate timelines and deliverables using project management tools (e.g., Jira, GitHub Projects, Asana) and collaborative workflows.
Innovation, Open Science, & Community Engagement
- Contribute to and lead the development of open-source software, reproducible workflows, and institutional tooling.
- Stay abreast of innovations in bioinformatics tools, databases, and standards.
- Organize and develop training workshops, tutorials, and best-practice guides to advance team-wide and institutional bioinformatics capacity.
- Deepen domain-specific expertise (e.g., pediatric cancer, neurodevelopment, rare disease) through literature synthesis, collaborations with subject matter experts, and community engagement.
- Represent the organization in consortia, workshops, and national/international scientific forums.
- Guide institutional practices in reproducibility, open science compliance, and infrastructure sustainability.
- Use domain knowledge to improve study design and analytical approaches to biological or clinical questions.
Organizational Accountabilities
Organizational Accountabilities (Leader)
Deliver
- Set and clearly communicate team goals and priorities in alignment with departmental goals and budgets
- Develop the budget and assign resources to meet the team goals
- Provide the resources and guidance required for employees to perform effectively
- Develop procedures to ensure high safety and quality, and course-correct as needed
- Identify customers' needs and ensure service excellence in meeting those needs
Engage
- Be the link between the department and the team in defining the strategies to meet team goals
- Provide prompt and clear feedback to staff and support their performance
- Ensure team adherence to organizational regulations
- Manage the working environment to promote productivity and motivation
- Represent the team in clearing obstacles to high performance
- Hire staff and develop their capabilities
- Monitor and promote strong employee engagement
Grow
- Encourage and share new ways of making the right work easier to do
- Recognize and share incremental improvements in operations
- Promote the success of organizational and department initiatives by clearly aligning programs to the mission
Job Tags
Full time, Work experience placement,