Bioinformatics & Data Scientist or Postdoctoral Researcher- Furman lab

Buck Institute for Research on Aging; Novato (CA); On-site; USD 80,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Paid parental leave

Generous paid time off

401(k) with 5% employer match

Job summary

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is hiring a full-time Bioinformatics and Data Scientist or Postdoctoral Researcher in Novato, California. This role involves analyzing diverse biological datasets with a focus on understanding human aging and biological resilience.

The ideal candidate should have a PhD in a relevant field, strong skills in bioinformatics, R and Python, and at least 2 years of experience. The salary range is $80,000–$85,000 with a supportive work environment and generous benefits.

Qualifications

• Strong background in both human biology and bioinformatics.
• Minimum of 2 years of professional experience in research.
• Experience analyzing biological or biomedical datasets.

Responsibilities

• Perform bioinformatics and data science analyses on diverse datasets.
• Curate, organize, and prepare data for analysis.
• Support data harmonization across projects.

Skills

Bioinformatics

Statistics

Computational Biology

Human Omics Data Analysis

Scientific Communication

R

Python

Bash Scripting

Education

PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Data Science or related field

Job description

Position Summary

The Buck Institute for Research on Aging is seeking a full-time Bioinformatics and Data Scientist or Postdoctoral Researcher to join a collaborative research team focused on aging, multi‑omics, computational biology, and translational data science. This position offers a unique opportunity to work in an academic research environment with a close‑knit, interdisciplinary team while collaborating with leading experts in aging biology, bioinformatics, clinical research, and computational science. The successful candidate will contribute to a five‑year government‑funded project focused on advancing computational and multi‑omics approaches to better understand human aging, biological resilience, and healthspan. This role will support broader nationwide efforts to develop data‑driven approaches that may ultimately improve how aging and age‑related disease risk are measured, modeled, and addressed.

The ideal candidate will have strong experience in bioinformatics, statistics, computational biology, human omics data analysis, and scientific communication. The position is well suited for an independent, highly motivated scientist who enjoys working across disciplines and contributing to both discovery‑driven and translational research.

Key Responsibilities

Analyze, curate, and manage research data

• Perform bioinformatics and data science analyses on diverse biological and clinical datasets, including proteomics, metabolomics, methylomics, survey data, integrative multi‑omics, human biological aging and omics‑clock data, drug repurposing, enrichment and pathway analyses, dimensionality reduction, clustering, classification methods (random forests and support vector machines), neural network‑based approaches, simple and multiple linear regression, and parametric and non‑parametric statistical analyses.
• Curate, organize, and prepare data for analysis and upload to central repositories.
• Support data harmonization across projects, cohorts, and collaborators in accordance with data use agreements.
• Review and improve standard operating procedures for data transfer, quality control, and management.
• Coordinate with internal and external teams to ensure timely collection, transfer, and analysis of data.
• Attend project meetings and contribute to improvements in data workflows, systems, and documentation.
• Ensure data quality, reproducibility, and compliance with project requirements.

Collaborate with scientific and administrative teams

• Contribute to grant applications, progress reports, and scientific proposals.
• Support manuscript preparation and journal article writing.
• Create publication‑quality figures, tables, and data visualizations.
• Present analyses and findings to interdisciplinary research teams.
• Translate complex computational results into clear biological and scientific interpretations.

Qualifications

Required Education and Experience

• Strong background in both human biology and bioinformatics.
• PhD in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Data Science, Biostatistics, Systems Biology, Computer Science, or a related field.
• Minimum of 2 years of professional experience in a biological, biomedical, or computational research environment.
• Strong proficiency in R, Python, and Bash scripting.
• Demonstrated experience analyzing biological or biomedical datasets.
• Experience developing, implementing, and running bioinformatics workflows.

Required Skills

• Strong analytical, mathematical, and creative problem‑solving skills.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a team‑based research environment.
• Strong organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Ability to prioritize and execute multiple tasks across concurrent projects.
• Experience with reproducible data analysis practices and documentation.
• Ability to communicate technical results to both computational and non‑computational audiences.
• Interest in applying large language models, agentic AI, or related computational tools to biomedical research workflows.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with FDA approval process.
• Experience with building apps.

Compensation and Benefits

• Salary range: $80,000–$85,000, commensurate with experience.
• Full‑time, onsite position.
• Exciting, collaborative work environment at the forefront of aging research.
• Opportunity to work with state‑of‑the‑art technologies and interdisciplinary scientific teams.
• Generous benefits package, including
  • Health insurance
  • Paid parental leave
  • Generous paid time off
  • 401(k) with 5% employer match
• Work visa sponsorship available for qualified candidates.

We are an equal opportunity employer and strive to create an atmosphere where diversity of identity, experience, and background are welcomed, valued, and supported. Candidates who contribute to this diversity are strongly encouraged to apply.