Lead Bioinformatics Scientist — Drug Discovery Leader

Placements24; Durban; Hybrid; ZAR 1,500,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement contributions

Paid time off

Professional growth opportunities

Job summary

Placements24 in Durban, South Africa, seeks a Lead Bioinformatics Scientist to guide computational drug discovery and target identification. You will lead a team of scientists, design analytics strategies, and partner with chemists and biologists to drive novel targets and candidate validation.

The ideal candidate holds a PhD with 7+ years in bioinformatics, strong omics expertise, proficiency in Python/R, and proven leadership within a fast-paced research environment.

Qualifications

• PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or related life science field.
• Minimum 7 years of bioinformatics experience with at least 2 years in leadership.
• Experience analyzing omics data types (RNA-Seq, ChIP-Seq, WGS, proteomics).
• Proficient in Python and R; strong scripting and data analysis skills.
• Excellent communication and ability to drive collaborative projects.

Responsibilities

• Lead and mentor a team of bioinformatics scientists to high performance.
• Develop computational methods for analyses of genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics.
• Design workflows to identify and prioritize drug targets and candidates.
• Collaborate with chemists, biologists, and pharmacologists to integrate findings.
• Oversee data interpretation and development of predictive models for efficacy and toxicity.
• Contribute to R&D strategy and ensure reproducible analytics pipelines.
• Present findings to senior management and external partners.

Skills

Python

R

Omics data analysis

Leadership

Cloud computing

Data visualization

Education

PhD in Bioinformatics or related field

Tools

Genomics tools

Bioinformatics databases

Cloud platforms (AWS/GCP)

Linux/Unix

Job description

Placements24 in Durban, South Africa, seeks a Lead Bioinformatics Scientist to guide computational drug discovery and target identification. You will lead a team of scientists, design analytics strategies, and partner with chemists and biologists to drive novel targets and candidate validation.

The ideal candidate holds a PhD with 7+ years in bioinformatics, strong omics expertise, proficiency in Python/R, and proven leadership within a fast-paced research environment.