Director of Computational Biology

Barrington James; Greater London; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Barrington James is helping a London-based AI-Native TechBio company recruit a Director of Computational Biology to build and lead a high-impact team at the intersection of biology, data science, and machine learning.

You will shape our computational strategy, translate complex biological questions into tractable analytical problems, and drive discoveries from bench to insight, setting scientific direction and hiring decisions.

Qualifications

• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Genomics, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Significant experience leading computational biology or bioinformatics teams in biotech/pharma or research environments.
• Strong publication record or computational work influencing experiments or decisions.
• Expertise in genomics, proteomics, single-cell analysis, structural biology, or ML applied to biology.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead the computational biology strategy, aligning with R&D and business goals.
• Build, mentor, and grow a team of computational biologists, bioinformaticians, and ML scientists.
• Partner with wet-lab biology, chemistry, clinical, and data engineering teams to embed computational thinking.
• Drive design and application of methods spanning genomics, multi-omics, structural biology, and ML for target discovery and validation.
• Own the computational infrastructure, tooling, and data strategy underpinning the science.
• Represent computational biology externally with academics, investors, and scientific boards.
• Translate ambiguous biological problems into clear, well-scoped computational projects with measurable outcomes.

Skills

PhD in Computational Biology

Team leadership

Publications/impact

Genomics/Proteomics/ML in biology

Education

PhD in Computational Biology

Job description

We've been exclusively engaged by our client, a London-based AI-Native TechBio company, to find their next Director of Computational Biology. The company uses computational and experimental biology together to find new therapeutic targets in areas of high unmet medical need. Founded by a team of scientists and engineers who were frustrated by how disconnected "wet" and "dry" biology usually are, they've built their lab and software stack side by side from day one. Every computational model is grounded in data they generate themselves, and every experiment is informed by what the models find.

About the Role

We're looking for a Director of Computational Biology to build and lead a high-impact team at the intersection of biology, data science, and machine learning. You'll shape our computational strategy, translate complex biological questions into tractable analytical problems, and help drive discoveries from bench to insight. This is a rare opportunity to build a function from a position of real influence — setting scientific direction, hiring the team, and shaping how computation is embedded across the organisation.

What You'll Do

• Define and lead the computational biology strategy, aligning it with broader R&D and business goals
• Build, mentor, and grow a team of computational biologists, bioinformaticians, and ML scientists
• Partner closely with wet-lab biology, chemistry, clinical, and data engineering teams to embed computational thinking across the pipeline
• Drive the design and application of methods spanning genomics, multi-omics integration, structural biology, and/or machine learning for target discovery and validation
• Own the computational infrastructure, tooling, and data strategy that underpins the science
• Represent computational biology externally — with academic collaborators, investors, and scientific advisory boards
• Translate ambiguous biological problems into clear, well-scoped computational projects with measurable outcomes

What We're Looking For

• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Genomics, Computer Science, or a related field
• Significant experience leading computational biology or bioinformatics teams, ideally in biotech, pharma, or a research-intensive environment
• A strong publication record and/or a track record of computational work that directly influenced experimental or clinical decisions
• Deep fluency in at least one core area (e.g. genomics, proteomics, single-cell analysis, structural biology, or ML/AI applied to biology), with working knowledge across others
• Proven ability to build and scale teams, including hiring, mentoring, and setting technical directionComfort operating at both a strategic level (roadmaps, cross-functional alignment) and a hands-on level when needed
• Excellent communication skills — able to make complex computational work legible to biologists, and biological nuance legible to computational colleagues

Nice to Have

• Experience working with large-scale multi-omics or clinical datasets
• Familiarity with cloud-based computational infrastructure (AWS/GCP) at scale
• Prior experience in a startup or scale-up environment
• Contributions to open-source scientific software