Associate Director, Bioinformatics

Job Title: Associate Director, Bioinformatics

Career Level - E

Introduction to Role:

Join AstraZeneca, a pioneering bio-pharmaceutical company that's not afraid to do things differently. We're seeking a highly skilled Bioinformatics engineer with a strong desire to enable multi-omics biology in drug discovery and development. You'll be part of our Predictive AI & Data department within the Clinical Pharmacology and Safety Sciences (CPSS) function. This is a unique opportunity to work with industry leaders, contribute to the development of future drugs across many diseases, and grow beyond what you thought possible. 

The candidate will partner with CPSS scientists and interact across the R&D therapeutic area units spanning multiple strategic global locations to enable safe and efficacious therapeutic drug candidates. The candidate will use computational approaches to generate biological insights, enable new computational capabilities, and will drive many computational efforts focused on advancing understanding of drug safety and efficacy, thus accelerating the development of novel therapeutic drugs for patients in need. The position is a rare opportunity to gain experience in a variety of computational approaches relating to and work with industry leaders, while publishing and contributing directly to the development of future drugs across many diseases.  

Accountabilities:

• Responsible for strategic implementation and the development of advanced predictive modelling of liver, cardiac and other target organ toxicities

• Build in silico capabilities to advance multi-omics technologies that measure transcripts, proteins, and metabolites to discover novel mechanisms of action for our compounds 

• Drive hypothesis generation by applying computational biology approaches, data integration, and combining biological knowledge 

• Implement new predictive capabilities using computational biology to translate omics data into biological insights, for predictive safety 

• Collaborate with academic research groups, leverage external grants and contribute to publications in peer-reviewed journals 

• Help educate and train AstraZeneca colleagues in omics data interpretation and related areas 

• Support junior members of staff and postdocs 

Essential Skills/Experience:

• PhD in computational biosciences (e.g., computational biology, bioinformatics, genomics or computer science) is preferred; or MSc (or equivalent) with experience in independent research in high-throughput omics data will also be considered 

• Extensive experience in multiple large-scale omics data types, including transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, epigenetics, genomics or CRISPR gene editing data analysis. Skill-sets in additional computational biology domains are a plus. 

• Experience in leading the development of predictive models in biomedical assets, applying ML/AI techniques and statistical analysis for biological questions 

• Profound understanding of data science approaches applied to omics data types

• Strong proficiency in programming skills in R and/or Python

• Team player mindset and ability to explain complex topics to scientists from other disciplines 

• Demonstrated evidence of leading projects in highly collaborative cross-functional teams 

• Prior experience in the biopharmaceutical industry and general understanding of drug development and pharmacology 

• Ability to communicate effectively (written and spoken) in English 

Desirable Skills/Experience: 

• Experience in independent scientific research 

• Background in computational toxicology and predictive safety, with knowledge of molecular mechanisms of disease or human biomedicine, particularly in a drug safety context 

• Knowledge of drug discovery or pharmaceutical development, including new modalities Car-T, ADC, cell and gene therapies, oligonucleotide-based therapeutics. 

• Excellent ability to work on multiple projects at the same time 

When we put unexpected teams in the same room, we unleash bold thinking with the power to inspire life-changing medicines. In-person working gives us the platform we need to connect, work at pace and challenge perceptions. That's why we work, on average, a minimum of three days per week from the office. But that doesn't mean we're not flexible. We balance the expectation of being in the office while respecting individual flexibility. Join us in our unique and ambitious world.

Why AstraZeneca? 

At AstraZeneca when we see an opportunity for change, we seize it and make it happen, because any opportunity no matter how small, can be the start of something big. Delivering life-changing medicines is about being entrepreneurial - finding those moments and recognizing their potential. Join us on our journey of building a new kind of organization to reset expectations of what a bio-pharmaceutical company can be. This means we’re opening new ways to work, pioneering cutting edge methods and bringing unexpected teams together. Interested? Come and join our journey. 

So, what’s next? 

Are you ready to bring new ideas and fresh thinking to the table? Brilliant! We have one seat available and we hope it’s yours. 

Date Posted

Closing Date

AstraZeneca embraces diversity and equality of opportunity.  We are committed to building an inclusive and diverse team representing all backgrounds, with as wide a range of perspectives as possible, and harnessing industry-leading skills.  We believe that the more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.  We welcome and consider applications to join our team from all qualified candidates, regardless of their characteristics.  We comply with all applicable laws and regulations on non-discrimination in employment (and recruitment), as well as work authorization and employment eligibility verification requirements.