Computer Analyst– Sankaran Lab

Howard Hughes Medical Institute•Boston, MA

10d•$65,600 - $82,000•Onsite

About The Position

The Sankaran Laboratory uses human genetics to study hematopoiesis and how this process goes awry in human disease. We are particularly interested in gaining molecular insights into how hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells can effectively produce mature blood and immune cells. We integrate modern human genetic studies with functional studies, employing a variety of innovative genomic technologies and more traditional hematopoietic assays. Additionally, we develop genomic tools, including cellular barcoding approaches and single-cell technologies, to enable higher-resolution studies of human hematopoiesis in health and disease. This role will help drive forward our quantitative and computational research. The Computer Analyst will work closely with our computational lead and fellow scientists, playing a key part in expanding the lab's capacity and speed in tackling computational challenges. The ideal candidate thrives on taking ownership of well-defined, modular projects, writes clean, well-documented, reproducible code, and brings a critical eye to interpreting results within their research context. As the candidate grows in the role, they will gain increasing independence, while knowing when to loop in the computational lead or PI on trickier problems.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in computer-related field; or an equivalent combination of education and related work experience.
Demonstrated programming or scripting experience in Python, R, and/or Bash.
Experience with Linux/Unix environments, command-line tools, and collaborating through Git version control.
Strong attention to detail and ability to identify inconsistencies or unexpected results in computational analyses.
Ability to learn unfamiliar computational tools and workflows independently.
Ability to manage multiple concurrent projects and prioritize tasks in consultation with the computational lead, communicate progress, and meet agreed-upon deadlines.

Nice To Haves

Experience working with large datasets or computational workloads on HPC or cloud platforms is a plus.
Experience with workflow-management systems such as Nextflow is a plus.
Experience with data visualization and statistical analysis.
Demonstrated experience with reproducible computational research practices is a plus.

Responsibilities

Execute and monitor computational workflows (HPC/Cloud) using established tools and pipelines under the guidance of the computational lead.
Generate research outputs (tables, figures, summary statistics) and communicate progress, findings, and issues to the team in a timely manner.
Assist lab members with troubleshooting and routine tasks.
Perform quality checks, troubleshoot routine computational errors, and escalate non-routine problems to the computational lead with relevant logs, diagnostics, and observations.
Develop, document, and improve computational workflows, automation scripts, and reproducible research practices.
Depending on experience and interests, the position may provide opportunities to develop increasingly independent computational analyses and contribute to research publications.
Be comfortable asking questions when requirements are unclear, documenting their work, and communicating unexpected results rather than simply producing an output without verification.
Meet regularly with the computational lead, as well as the lab PI (at least biweekly) to review ongoing work and strategize.