Bioinformatician

Joining GPAS Ltd as a Bioinformatician presents a unique and exciting opportunity to contribute to the development, evaluation, and deployment of groundbreaking bioinformatic solutions within a real-world context. We are on the lookout for exceptional talent and someone who embodies our passion, has the technical capability and sees the vast potential for global application of our products. As an essential member of our dynamic, agile team, you will display excellence, versatility and a collaborative spirit, reporting to the CSO.

You'll engage closely with our partners at the University of Oxford, demonstrating a mission-driven attitude and adaptability to fulfil our collective objectives. Your contributions will not only be valued but encouraged, as we seek your input on enhancing our offerings, platform, and operational practices. This role promises an opportunity to make a real difference in the world though bioinformatic and cloud-based analysis for patient, hospital and public health benefit. 

Responsibilities will include: 

• Develop code, implement and evaluate computational/bioinformatic methods and tools to support research and development in infectious disease genomics including species prediction, AMR determination, and outbreak and relatedness information.
• Creating analysis pipelines and validating various tools’ performances.
• Understand various sequencing devices and data types as well have a good enough understanding of upstream laboratory processes. 
• Be familiar with current genomic repositories such as ENA, GenBank, GISAID etc.  
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including academics, clinicians, computer scientists, biostaticians, and biologist to develop and implement data-driven strategies.  
• Stay abreast on the latest developments in bioinformatics and computational biology.  
• Be innovative and take initiate to introduce new ideas and approaches.  
• Manage and mentor team members, setting performance goals and providing regular feedback. 

Requirements

We are looking for someone who is highly motivated, proactive, and passionate about our mission. An organised self-starter with an eye for detail and an interest in how bioinformatic applications can be used to improve health. 

Ideally, we’d love you to have experience of the following: 

• A PhD or Master’s qualification in computer science, bioinformatics, computational biology, microbiology, mathematics, genetic epidemiology, genomics, machine learning or equivalent. 
• Strong programming skills in languages such as Bash, Python, R, Nextflow, Snakemake  etc.  
• Experience in infectious disease genomic analysis.  
• Having a scientific understanding of infectious disease genomics.
• 1-3+ years of experience in bioinformatics and computational biology. 
• An established or upcoming bioinformatic publication history. 
• Experience with large-scale genetic data analysis using bioinformatics tools and pipelines. 
• Proven leadership and management skills and excellent communication skills. 
• Ability to work effectively in a high-growth, fast-paced, dynamic environment. 

Desirable: 

• Experience using docker and working with cloud computing.  
• Experience with regulatory guidelines and systems e.g. FDA, CE, UKCA, EUCAST.  
• Familiarity with machine learning and data visualization techniques.   
• Experience working in a biotech or pharma industry setting. 
• A track record of launching an academic product in the commercial market.

Benefits

We’re a close knit, collaborative team. We’re building a team with a people-first culture. Joining GPAS is an opportunity to help shape a cutting-edge technology with the capability to dramatically improve clinical diagnostics and treatment. Benefits include: 

• Competitive industry salary 
• Additional employer contribution to the workplace pension scheme
• Enhanced sick pay  
• Group life cover  
• Employee assistance programme 
• Generous company holiday allowance, with carry-over into the next year and additional compassionate leave 
• Staff training budget
• Cycle to work scheme 
• Volunteering days 
• Access to Bright Exchange that provides special offers from a wide range of companies