Principal/Senior Bioinformatician

Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

We have an exciting opportunity for a Principal / Senior Bioinformatician to lead/support the day-to-day running of our bioinformatics support service within the Cancer, Ageing, Somatic Mutation Informatics Team (CASM IT) for a 3 year fixed term contract.

Researchers come to us with a wide range of requests, from running automated high-throughput pipelines and troubleshooting results to exploring new computational methods, optimising large-scale analyses, developing novel software, or transitioning their work into a production environment. You will manage and improve how we support them, ensuring they receive timely, high-quality advice while also identifying opportunities to refine training, documentation, and tooling to better meet the needs of the Programme.

You will be responsible:

• Overseeing and coordinating our helpdesk and bioinformatics support, ensuring researchers get the right help at the right time.

• Working directly with multi-omics data (e.g., somatic and germline analyses, RNA-seq, single-cell, spatial transcriptomics, methylation, CRISPR).

• Driving innovation, identifying and evaluating emerging techniques and technologies that could enhance our science.

• Advising on best practices, helping researchers apply the latest tools and approaches to their work.

• Contributing to workflow optimisation and benchmarking, ensuring CASM IT’s tools and pipelines are efficient and sustainable.

• Communicating complex scientific and computational concepts to both researchers and operational teams, acting as a bridge between research and development.

• Supporting manuscript writing, ensuring analyses and methods are well-documented and publication-ready.

• Developing training resources and workshops, equipping researchers with the skills to work more effectively with their data.

About Us:

CASM IT is a collaborative and dynamic team, working closely with researchers to ensure they have the right expertise, resources, and guidance to make the most of their data. You’ll work alongside bioinformaticians, software developers, and wet-lab researchers, helping to integrate and improve the tools and approaches they rely on. Our infrastructure includes high-performance computing and large-scale storage, supporting complex, data-intensive research in cancer genomics, single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, and multi-omics research.

This role offers you the chance to make a real impact on how bioinformatics is supported across the Programme. If you enjoy solving diverse research challenges, driving innovation, and working closely with researchers, we’d love to hear from you!

About You:

We’re looking for a highly motivated bioinformatician or computational biologist with strong communication and problem-solving skills. You should be comfortable working independently while also collaborating closely with researchers and software developers.

This role offers you the opportunity to shape and grow CASM IT’s bioinformatics support within a world-leading institute. You will work closely with scientists working at the cutting edge of cancer biology and multi-omics research, helping them unlock insights through advanced computational methods.

Essential Skills:

• MSc (or equivalent experience) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biosciences, Physics, or a related field.

• Strong experience working with multi-omics datasets, particularly in cancer genomics, single-cell, RNA-seq, or methylation analysis.

• Demonstrable in Python and/or R for bioinformatics data analysis.

• Solid UNIX/Linux and Bash scripting skills for working in HPC and cloud environments.

• Strong scientific writing skills, with experience contributing to papers, reports, or documentation.

• Excellent communication skills, capable of translating technical concepts for both scientific and operational audiences.

• Self-motivated and able to work independently, managing priorities in a dynamic environment.

Additional Skills for Principal Bioinformatician:

• PhD (or equivalent experience) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biosciences, Physics or a related field

• Proficiency in Python and/or R for Bioinformatics data analysis

• Influencing skills

Desirable Skills:

• Experience with gene editing technologies (e.g., CRISPR).

• Knowledge of machine learning and/or statistical methods for bioinformatics.

• Experience developing and maintaining computational workflows (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake, or equivalent).

• Experience troubleshooting bioinformatics issues for researchers.

• Familiarity with HPC environments and cloud computing for bioinformatics workflows.

Other Information:

Salary per annum (dependent upon skills and experience):

Senior Bioinformatician (grade 2): £44,905-£53,349

Principal Bioinformatician (grade 1): £53,717-£63,815

Application Process:

Please apply with your CV and a cover letter outlining which role you would like to be considered for and how you meet the criteria set out above.

Closing Date

15th April 2025

Hybrid Working at Wellcome Sanger:

We recognise that there are many benefits to Hybrid Working; including an improved work-life balance, with more focused time, as well as the ability to organise working time so that collaborative opportunities and team discussions are facilitated on campus. The hybrid working arrangement will vary for different roles and teams. The nature of your role and the type of work you do will determine if a hybrid working arrangement is possible.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion:

We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Disability and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others.

We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That’s why we’re committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive.

Our Benefits:

We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute.

Sanger Institute became a signatory of the International Technician Commitment initiative In March 2018.  The Technician Commitment aims to empower and ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.