Production Bioinformatics Engineer @ Sydney

Employer: Garvan Institute of Medical Research

Closing date: 21-12-2019

Brief position description: The Garvan Institute of Medical Research (Garvan) is one of Australia’s leading medical research institutes, with over 600 scientists, students and support staff. Its mission is to make significant contributions to medical research that will change the directions of science and medicine and have major impacts on human health. Garvan’s research encompasses immunology, bone biology, neuroscience, diabetes and metabolism, cancer, and genomics and epigenetics. These research activities are organised within four themes: Cancer, Inflammatory Diseases, Healthy Aging, and Genomics, and two Centres: the Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics and the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics.

The Kinghorn Centre for Clinical Genomics (KCCG) advances the use of genomic information in patient care by employing world-leading DNA analysis technology and expertise in genetics, pathology and bioinformatics to deliver and interpret genome sequences for research and clinical use. The KCCG is closely affiliated with the Garvan-Weizmann Centre for Cellular Genomics (GWCCG), Australia’s only multidisciplinary facility for cellular genomics.

As part of KCCG’s core strategic aims, the Genomic Technologies Group extends and complements Garvan’s capabilities in genomic, transcriptomic, and epigenomic research by implementing, evaluating, and refining new and existing technologies for both clinical and research applications.

The Opportunity
The Production Bioinformatics Engineer will be responsible for the management of next generation sequencing (NGS) data and the efficient implementation of data analysis pipelines for KCCG. This role will support the objectives of the group by implementing efficient analytic workflows and best practices for the generation and processing of next-generation sequencing data. The role will also involve close collaboration with researchers from different divisions to provide them with custom bioinformatics support.

This is a two year fixed term position with the possibility to extend.

Key Responsibilities
Transform research-grade bioinformatics analysis workflows into products that are robust, transparent and reassuring;
Responsible for researching, planning, implementing, testing, and optimising bioinformatics software tools for NGS data that meet the analysis needs for laboratory research scientists;
Ensure that NGS pipelines are consistently, reliably, efficiently, and correctly processing data;
Perform initial stage analysis on next-generation sequencing data;
Work closely with Garvan’s Data Intensive Computer Engineering (DICE) group regarding the building of software pipelines that will run on DICE’s HPC and OpenStack computing environment, Australia’s supercomputing facility, the National Computational Infrastructure (NCI), as well as on commercial clouds (AWS, Google, and Azure);
Responsible for documenting and communicating pipeline processes and building the team knowledge base;
Provide bioinformatics support and training to end-users (transforming data from sequence to information meaningful for laboratory research scientists);
All staff are required to comply with Garvan’s Work Health & Safety (WHS) Policy and work in accordance with the WHS management system at all times;

About You
The successful candidate should possess the following:
BSc, BE, or higher in software engineering, biomedical engineering, biotechnology, bioinformatics, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience;
Excellent knowledge and experience with Unix and basic system administration (e.g. installing 3rd party software);
Fluency in programming;
Experience with source code management tools
Strong analytical, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills;
Ability to contribute to preparation of written reports and oral presentations;
Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work cooperatively with other team members;
Excellent organisational and time management skills.

Desirable skills:
Experience with NGS data analysis;
Familiarity with one or more of the following: Python, bash, C/C++, Java, Perl;

How to Apply
To apply for this position, please submit your application with a CV, cover letter and academic transcripts. As we will be reviewing applications as they are received, we encourage you to submit yours as soon as possible.

Only applicants with full working rights in Australia are eligible to apply for this role.

Job website: http://garvan.wd3.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/garvan_institute/job/Sydney/Production-Bioinformatics-Engineer_PRF5285-1

Contact name: Shree Chattopadhyay

Contact email: shreec@garvan.org.au