Lead Bioinformatics Engineer (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments – with patients and participants at the heart of it all.

Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

Our Lead Bioinformatics Engineer is an experienced bioinformatician with strong competencies in software engineering, data engineering and/or infrastructure.

This role is expected to provide technical expertise and leadership across multiple squads in the bioinformatics directorate. 

In particular, this Lead role will play a key part in shaping and driving genomic healthcare in Genomics England by leading the exploration of variant annotation tooling, process and data validation efforts across the healthcare service. As such, an interest and expertise in variant annotation and the practical issues of these system will be highly beneficial.

Additionally, the successful candidate will lead the development of best practices across the chapter and directorate to ensure the delivery of high-quality, scientifically valid, production-ready code and contributes to their adoption across the company. 

The post holder will be responsible for the recruitment, mentoring and line management of core and senior bioinformaticians across the Healthcare Tribe.  

Everyday responsibilities include:  

• Provide technical leadership at the chapter level and across multiple squads.  
• Participate in Chapter and Directorate managerial meetings and associated tasks.  
• Lead on design decisions for projects across the chapter.  
• Provide Subject Matter Expertise in collaboration with the Scalable Tech service. 
• Foster internal and external networks of collaborators to avoid duplication of efforts, bring innovation and promote knowledge sharing.
• Define best practices for the chapter.  
• Bring innovative thinking in bioinformatics and software engineering across the chapter and directorate.  
• Proactively keeping up to date with the relevant areas of bioinformatics, genomics, software engineering and data engineering practices.  
• Lead and manage recruitment across the chapter.  
• Manage and lead an inclusive, high performing team, ensuring that we have the right skills in place to deliver our mission.  

Skills and experience for success:  

We anticipate the ideal candidate will have:  

• Experience of leading, motivating and engaging team members in an inclusive manner.  
• Experience in variant annotation tooling, particularly development of annotation tools. 
• Highly proficient in at least one programming language (e.g. Python), with a willingness to adapt and learn new languages as needed.  Experience with Java would be beneficial. 
• Experience in creating and productionising data/bioinformatics pipelines using workflow orchestrators (Nextflow preferred) and container technologies.   
• Experience in developing CI/CD pipelines in a git repository/version control system.   
• Experience in developing cloud infrastructure and have a good understanding of cloud services (AWS preferred). 
• Track record of cross-functional or cross-disciplinary collaboration.  
• Ability to break down complex genomic problems to multiple stakeholders so decisions can be made together. 
• An open and collaborative mindset for cross disciplinary problems solving – be that bug triage across multiple squads or a large-scale technology evaluation of multiple solutions for a national roll out.  
• Familiarity with best practices in relevant areas, willingness to champion best practices in the squad e.g., software engineering, organization, and adherence to these best practices. 
• Ability to make reasoned assessments, supported by evidence, experience, or knowledge, in order to propose/challenge proposals and make decisions.  

MSc equivalent or higher in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Bioinformatics or equivalent experience.  

Salary from: £72,500

Closing date for applications -  Friday 18th July.

Being an integral part of such a meaningful mission is extremely rewarding in itself, but in order to support our people, we’re continually improving our benefits package. We pride ourselves on investing in our people and supporting them to achieve their career goals, as well as offering a benefits package including: 

• Generous Leave: 30 days’ holiday plus bank holidays, additional leave for long service, and the option to apply for up to 30 days of remote working abroad annually (approval required).
• Family-Friendly: Blended working arrangements, flexible working, enhanced maternity, paternity and shared parental leave benefits.
• Pension & Financial: Defined contribution pension (Genomics England double-matches up to 10%, however you can contribute more if you wish), Life Assurance (3x salary), and a Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & Development: Individual learning budgets, support for training and certifications, and reimbursement for one annual professional subscription (approval required).
• Recognition & Rewards: Employee recognition programme and referral scheme.
• Health & Wellbeing: Subsidised gym membership, a free Headspace account, and access to an Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Equal opportunities and our commitment to a diverse and inclusive workplace 

Genomics England is actively committed to providing and supporting an inclusive environment that promotes equity, diversity and inclusion best practice both within our community and in any other area where we have influence. We are proud of our diverse community where everyone can come to work and feel welcomed and treated with respect regardless of any disability, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, religion, sexual orientation, or social background. 

Genomics England’s policies of non-discrimination and equity and will be applied fairly to all people, regardless of age, disability, gender identity or reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, being pregnant or recently becoming a parent, race, religion or beliefs, sex or sexual orientation, length of service, whether full or part-time or employed under a permanent or a fixed-term contract or any other relevant factor.  

Genomics England does not tolerate any form of discrimination, harassment, victimisation or bullying at work. Such behaviour is contrary to our virtues, undermines our mission and core values and diminishes the dignity, respect and integrity of all parties.  Our People policies outline our commitment to inclusivity. 

We aim to remove barriers in our recruitment processes and to be flexible with our interview processes. Should you require any adjustments that may help you to fully participate in the recruitment process, we encourage you to discuss this with us. 

Blended working model

Genomics England operates a blended working model as we know our people appreciate the flexibility that hybrid working can bring. We expect most people to come into the office a minimum of 2 times each month. However, this will vary according to role and will be agreed with your team leader. There is no expectation that people will return to the office full time unless they want to, however, some of our roles require full time on site attendance e.g., lab teams, reception team. 

Our teams and squads have, and will continue to reflect on what works best for them to work together successfully and have the freedom to design working patterns to suit, beyond the minimum. Our office locations are: Canary Wharf, Cambridge and Leeds.

Onboarding background checks

As part of our recruitment process, all successful candidates are subject to a Standard Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check.  We therefore require applicants to disclose any previous offences at point of application, as some unspent convictions may mean we are unable to proceed with your application due to the nature of our work in healthcare.