Bioinformatics Specialist

University of British Columbia · Vancouver · CA$8,811–CA$13,202/month (stated in the posting)

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Note: Applications will be accepted until 11:59 PM on the Posting End Date.

This position is subject to the satisfactory completion of required background checks.

At UBC, we believe that attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce is key to the successful pursuit of excellence in research, innovation, and learning for all faculty, staff and students. Our commitment to employment equity helps achieve inclusion and fairness, brings rich diversity to UBC as a workplace, and creates the necessary conditions for a rewarding career. 

Job Summary
The BC Children’s Hospital Research Institute (BCCHR) is developing a centralized bioinformatics core to support the unique needs of the foundational and translational research conducted by its members. We require a bioinformatician to take on a dual service/development role of the BCCHR Bioinformatics Core (the “Core”).

The Bioinformatics Specialist is responsible for developing and overseeing the Core, including establishing and utilizing centralized analysis pipelines, conducting bioinformatics-based needs assessments across the Institute, communicating and marketing the Core, and managing compute and data management systems. This individual will research, analyze, implement solutions to support and enhance BCCHR activities, and provide excellent service to its users.

Organizational Status
Reports to the BCCHR Director - Research Informatics and works in collaboration with the BCCHR Associate Director - Foundational Science, BCCHR IT, and the users of the Core (researchers, staff, students, or industry clients) as well as collaborators at affiliated organizations.

Work Performed

• Provides leadership, visioning, and guidance for bioinformatics data analysis at BCCHR. This includes assessing bioinformatics needs across BCCHR to inform pipeline needs, training requirements, project support requirements, and institutional strategic planning.
• Determines which analytical services will best help the BCCHR in discussion with the advisory committee, based on volume and potential impact of service needs.
• Establishes Bioinformatic Core services and service standards.
• Develops SOPs and maintain proper documentation.
• Performs internal marketing and promotion of the Core.
• Acts as a liaison between technical groups and stakeholders across the BCCHR and UBC to coordinate system needs (both onsite and offsite).
• Leads strategic planning in conjunction with BCCHR Leadership and Advisory committee to address priorities, service costs, and cost-recovery expectations.
• Acts as the lead analyst/programmer for software development, and lead architect for data management and database solutions. Provides design input and strategic technical suggestions in these areas to Institute leadership to maintain an end-to-end system that efficiently houses, analyzes, and disseminates high-quality data and results.
• Develops tests for all software developed by creating test data and inputs and testing code.
• Monitors and analyzes systems issues and provides recommendations for all systems supported infrastructure as part of regular operations.
• Writes and maintains systems documentation including user and technical manuals.
• Develops pipelines including for genomic, transcriptomic, and proteomic data.
• Implements data management tools including relational database management applications for efficient storage and retrieval of all results from all samples used in the research work.
• Contributes to team interactions by consultation, collaboration, teamwork, and task sharing. Works to ensure that experimental design includes data management and analysis considerations.
• Conducts and supports bioinformatics and statistical analyses and interpretation of sequencing data (e.g., DNA and RNA) in internal and collaborative research projects using appropriate software tools and custom-written programs and scripts.
• Documents and communicates analysis results in written and oral form.
• Offers guidance to researchers for project-specific protocol adaptations. Evaluates technology through vendor collaborations.
• Advises researchers on study design and analytic approaches via consultation meetings as requested.
• Maintains appropriate professional designations and up-to-date knowledge of current information technology techniques and tools.
• Develops and implements innovative strategies as technology evolves.
• Works with BCCHR partners at other local sequencing centres to address client needs, as required.
• Performs tasks as needed not described above in consultation with the BCCHR Director - Research Informatics and BCCHR Associate Director - Foundational Science.

Consequence of Error/Judgement
Errors would have significant impact to the integrity and reputation of the BCCHR and UBC, and the research of its users. Errors in judgement would affect the BCCHR’s ability to recruit, support, and retain talented researchers, staff, and students. Errors would have a significant impact on the BCCHR’s ability to receive grant funding.

Supervision Received
Works independently under the supervision of the BCCHR Director - Research Informatics, under broad goals and objectives developed in conjunction with the BCCHR Associate Director – Foundational Science and a User Advisory Group. Responsible for independently developing and implementing projects based on the goals and objectives of the listed BCCHR Directors and User Advisory Group.

Supervision Given
Expected to manage and advise part-time junior bioinformatics personnel. May supervise or participate in supervision of more junior personnel such as non-union technical staff, undergraduate research assistants, or Co-Op students.

Minimum Qualifications
Post-graduate degree in Statistics. Minimum of five years of related experience in integrative analysis, or the equivalent combination of education and experience.

- Willingness to respect diverse perspectives, including perspectives in conflict with one’s own

- Demonstrates a commitment to enhancing one’s own awareness, knowledge, and skills related to equity, diversity, and inclusion

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, or a related discipline with substantial training in computational and statistical analysis of biological data preferred.
• Five years of related bioinformatics experience, or the equivalent combination of education and experience. Leadership experience in this area is a benefit.
• Experience working in Linux/UNIX operating system environment. Proficiency in one or more of bash scripting, Python, R, and Bioconductor.
• Experience with tools and informatics approaches for short- and long-read DNA sequencing,      transcriptome sequencing, and proteomics.
• Experience using AI to develop/edit bioinformatic pipelines and processes.
• Familiarity with Git or other code versioning management software.
• Familiarity with bioinformatics tools for sequence analysis: e.g.,QC suites, aligners, assemblers, gene expression.
• Experience working with high-performance computing or other Linux cluster environment or cloud computing systems.
• An understanding of parallelization using job schedulers such as PBS Pro or SLURM.
• Eager to learn new things and contribute to a dynamic research environment. Demonstrates strong technical, analytical, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to plan and carry out multiple tasks and projects, to prioritize and organize effectively, to work under pressure, and to meet established timelines.
• Ability to work independently and in a team environment.
• As this position also involves extensive personal interaction as well as via phone and email, excellent written and verbal English communication skills are critical.
• Familiarity with sequencing instrumentation hardware and software requirements for data collection.
• Familiarity with the following is an asset:
  • Commercial cloud computing environments: e.g., Google, Amazon
  • UBC ARC’s Sockeye high-performance computing platform
  • Software architecture and design skills such as UML
  • Experience with C/C++ or Java
  • Knowledge of RDBMS systems MySQL or Oracle, experience in database administration
  • Web application configuration experience with PHP, Tomcat, and Apache
  • Continuous integration systems such as Bamboo, Jenkins, and OpenShift
  • Experience with statistical and computational approaches to the analysis of genomic and genetic data sets, including conducting and publishing biological research, experimental design, and/or domain-specific knowledge including human genetics, microbial ecology, and immunology
    

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