Bioinformatician

Ellison Institute, LLC; Oxford; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A cutting-edge research institute in the UK is seeking a Bioinformatician to lead the design and optimization of bioinformatics pipelines. The ideal candidate should have a PhD or equivalent experience and demonstrate hands-on expertise in building machine learning models and handling large datasets. This role emphasizes collaboration among teams to develop AI solutions for significant challenges in health and beyond. Benefits include enhanced holiday pay, private medical insurance, and a supportive work environment.

Benefits

Enhanced holiday pay

Pension

Life Assurance

Private Medical Insurance

Electric Car Scheme

Qualifications

• Experience in bioinformatics, computational biology or related area.
• Proven success in implementing approaches for real-world problems.
• Hands-on experience with large datasets.

Responsibilities

• Design and optimize bioinformatics pipelines.
• Transform biological data for AI training.
• Collaborate within a multi-disciplinary team.

Skills

Bioinformatics expertise

Software engineering

Communication skills

Machine Learning interest

Data analysis

Education

PhD or equivalent experience in relevant discipline

Tools

Python

Kubernetes

HPC environments

Job description

At the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT), we’re on a mission to translate scientific discovery into real world impact. We bring together visionary scientists, technologists, policy makers, and entrepreneurs to tackle humanity’s greatest challenges in four transformative areas:

• Health, Medical Science & Generative Biology
• Food Security & Sustainable Agriculture
• Climate Change & Managing CO₂
• Artificial Intelligence & Robotics

This is ambitious work - work that demands curiosity, courage, and a relentless drive to make a difference. At EIT, you’ll join a community built on excellence, innovation, tenacity, trust, and collaboration, where bold ideas become real‑world breakthroughs. Together, we push boundaries, embrace complexity, and create solutions to scale ideas for lab to society. Explore more at www.eit.org

Requirements

We’re looking for a Bioinformatician who will apply their strong expertise in bioinformatics and software engineering to advance EIT’s programmes. You will collaborate with Applied and Research Scientists, Engineers, subject matter experts, users, and leadership to build AI solutions in our endeavor to respond to humanity’s most challenging problems.

Day-to-Day, you might:

• Design, implement, and optimize state-of-the-art bioinformatics pipelines
• Transform and enrich large‑scale biological data for training AI models incl. assembly, quality control, phylogeny and annotations
• Design biologically relevant tasks for training ML models and build corresponding evaluation data sets and metrics
• Design protocols for experimental model validation in collaboration with internal and external partners
• Collaborate effectively within a multi‑disciplinary team and work closely with subject matter experts to incorporate domain expertise and user needs
• Build robust, scalable, and re‑usable pipelines, maintaining high standard of code quality and transparency
• Communicate the design, function, performance, and output of bioinformatics pipelines to internal and external stakeholders

What Makes you a Great Fit

• PhD or equivalent experience in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Microbiology, Genetic Epidemiology, Genomics or a related discipline.
• Extensive experience as a Bioinformatician including proven success in implementing state‑of‑the‑art approaches on real‑world problems, e.g., genome assembly, alignment, phylogeny and molecular evolution, genome annotation, and gene enrichment analysis
• Hands‑on experience analysing genomics, (spatial‑)transcriptomics, proteomics data
• Experience working with large datasets and building robust, scalable pipelines to transform them
• Hands‑on‑experience building Machine learning models using bioinformatics approaches (e.g., kmers) and keen interest in Machine Learning
• Proficiency in Python and experience adhering to best‑practice coding practices
• Experience with containerization, relevant workflow management tools and parameter management
• Excellent communication skills including the ability to convey technical concepts to audiences of a variety of backgrounds

It would be Great to also have

• Proven ability to work in fast‑paced, dynamic environments like start‑ups (e.g., willingness to take up multiple roles, high degree of autonomy)
• Experience in Machine Learning and tackling challenges in biological and molecular discovery
• Experience with Kubernetes and cloud platforms or HPC environments (e.g., Slurm)
• Familiarity with both long‑ and short‑read technologies (e.g. ONT, Illumina)

Benefits

We offer the following salary and benefits:

• Enhanced holiday pay
• Pension
• Life Assurance
• Income Protection
• Private Medical Insurance
• Hospital Cash Plan
• Therapy Services
• Perk Box
• Electric Car Scheme

Why work for EIT

At the Ellison Institute, we believe a collaborative, inclusive team is key to our success. We are building a supportive environment where creative risks are encouraged, and everyone feels heard. Valuing emotional intelligence, empathy, respect, and resilience, we encourage people to be curious and to have a shared commitment to excellence. Join us and make an impact!