Sr. Bioinformatics Research Scientist

University of Florida•Gainesville, FL

6d•Onsite

About The Position

The University of Florida Health Cancer Institute (UFHCI) is an NCI-designated cancer center comprising more than 350 basic, translational, and population-based scientists and clinicians who conduct research for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of cancer. A central collaborative research model encourages translation of basic laboratory findings into novel therapies, and the multidisciplinary membership of the Institute is its strength. Researchers are drawn from across UF, including six colleges within the Health Science Center — Medicine, Nursing, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Public Health and Health Professions, and Veterinary Medicine — as well as the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, Health and Human Performance, Journalism and Communications, and Agricultural and Life Sciences. Research is organized around four programs: Cancer Control and Population Sciences; Cancer Targeting and Therapeutics; Immuno-Oncology and Microenvironment; and Mechanisms of Oncogenesis. UFHCI invites applications for a senior staff bioinformatician in the Biostatistics and Computational Biology Shared Resource (BCB-SR). The position reports to the Associate Director for Cancer Quantitative Sciences and Director of the BCB-SR and works within the Bioinformatics Unit alongside biostatisticians and other computational scientists. The Bioinformatics Unit provides analytical support to UFHCI members. The successful candidate will work directly with cancer researchers from experimental design through analysis, interpretation, and publication. The position carries a broad and changing project portfolio, substantial investigator contacts, and regular co-authorship on peer-reviewed publications. This is a professional position ideal for candidates with advanced training, education, and experience in bioinformatics, computational biology, or similar fields. Employees in these roles operate as part of our collaborative research enterprise and are fundamental to the progress of cancer research being conducted at the University of Florida.

Requirements

Master's degree in appropriate area of specialization and two years of experience or a bachelor's degree and four years of experience.
Terminal degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, genetics, molecular biology, computer science, or a closely related field.
Demonstrated experience analyzing high-throughput sequencing data, evidenced by publications, preprints, dissertation work, or a public code portfolio.
Proficiency in R and/or Python and working knowledge of the Linux command line and shell scripting.
Strong written and verbal communication skills, and the ability to work effectively with a broad range of collaborators, including investigators, trainees, industry sponsors, partners at other institutions, and UFHCI staff.

Nice To Haves

Experience in a shared resource, or other collaborative setting managing multiple concurrent projects and deadlines.
Experience with high-performance computing environments and job schedulers such as SLURM.
Experience with workflow systems (Nextflow, Snakemake, or WDL), containerization (Apptainer/Singularity, Docker), and version control (Git).
Experience with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics analysis.
Working knowledge of applied statistics relevant to genomics, including generalized linear models, mixed models, multiple testing correction, and multi-omic integration.
Familiarity with public data resources and repositories such as TCGA, GTEx, ENCODE, GEO/SRA, and dbGaP.
Experience with compiled languages (C++, Rust), SQL, or relational database design.
Experience developing and releasing software packages (Bioconductor, CRAN, PyPI, or equivalent).
Experience contributing to federal grant applications.
Familiarity with handling protected health information and controlled-access data under HIPAA and dbGaP data use agreements.

Responsibilities

Analyze high-throughput genomics data in support of UFHCI investigators, including bulk and single-cell RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, DNA methylation assays (WGBS, EM-seq, RRBS), ChIP-seq, and whole-genome or whole-exome sequencing.
Consult with investigators on experimental design, feasibility, and analysis plans before data are generated, and contribute analysis plans, preliminary data, and written text to grant applications.
Develop, adapt, and maintain reproducible analysis pipelines and software on UF's HiPerGator high-performance computing cluster, using workflow managers, containers, and version control.
Integrate multi-omic, clinical, and publicly available data sets; develop or adapt statistical and computational methods where existing tools are inadequate.
Interpret results in collaboration with investigators and contribute figures, methods sections, and manuscript text to publications and presentations.
Maintain organized project documentation, code repositories, and data management practices, and track service requests and effort for shared-resource reporting.
Contribute to training and outreach for cancer center members and trainees, including workshops, tutorials, and individual instruction.
Maintain current knowledge of the field through seminars, journal clubs, and scientific meetings, and evaluate emerging methods and tools for adoption by the unit.