Research Data Engineer

An excellent opportunity is available for a Research Data Engineer to join the Snow Centre for Immune Health at Australia’s pre-eminent biomedical research institute.

About the position

The Snow Centre for Immune Health (SCIH) has a global mission to improve the lives of people with immune diseases, using a new approach to immune health. The centre, co-led by WEHI and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, will bring together leading Australian and international researchers with a shared mission to transform how we research and treat the immune system. Our goal is to accelerate discoveries into the underlying features and markers of immune health, to identify disease causes early and target appropriate treatment. The centre has been established in partnership with the Snow Medical Research Foundation.

The role will be embedded within the Research Computing Platform (RCP), which is located in the Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Division at WEHI, and comprises a multidisciplinary team of software engineers with expertise spanning software engineering, high performance computing, bioinformatics, and data engineering. The RCP team develops advanced tools and pipelines that not only streamline research workflows but also hasten the delivery of research outcomes.

The Research Data Engineer will report to the Head of RCP and contribute to the design, development and implementation of SCIH’s bioinformatics pipelines and research data management tools and services aimed to maximise time for research, improve workflow efficiencies, increase research data compliance, and help to standardise data, associated metadata, and their related processes.

We seek a candidate with a broad experience of modern research software technologies or a demonstrated ability of independently mastering new technical skills. The ideal candidate will demonstrate exceptional communication skills—both written and oral—excellent interpersonal abilities, and adeptness in managing stakeholder relationships.

Selection Criteria

Personal qualities:

• Ability to independently learn complex concepts across multiple domains.

• Attention to details and problem-solving skills.

• Thrives in a culture of continuous improvement; open and honest, with a keenness to identify and rectify mistakes promptly.  

• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, capable of engaging across various academic disciplines.

• Highly collaborative, with a knack for leveraging external skills and knowledge for organizational benefit.

• Naturally curious, opportunistic, and eager to acquire new knowledge.

Knowledge and skills (Essential):

• Open-source Contributions:

  • Please provide links to GitHub account or open-source projects, you have significantly contributed to, along with a description of your role in these projects.

• A graduate or postgraduate degree in a bioinformatics, computationally intense discipline or equivalent experience.

• Technical Proficiency: Experience with at least some of the following.

  • Programming languages such as Python, R, … etc

  • Web technologies such as REST, HTML, CSS, JavaScript

  • Cloud technologies and containers

  • High-Performance Computing, batch systems, such as Slurm or PBS

  • Workflow systems such as Nextflow, Prefect.io, CWL, etc

• Experience in bioinformatics

• Research experience in data-intensive or computationally intensive life science areas.

• Experience in a research environment

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Terms of Appointment
This position is available for 2 years in a full-time capacity. Salary is Research Support Employee Level 7 ($104,969 - $113,630) depending on experience. Up to 17% superannuation and very attractive salary packaging options are available.

General enquiries can be directed to Dr Julie Iskander – iskander.j@wehi.edu.au

A position description is available here.

How to Apply
Please apply by uploading your CV, cover letter and a document addressing the key selection criteria in pdf format.

Application Closing Date:  Friday 29 August 2025