Lead Bioinformatics Scientist, Genomics & Innovation

Placements24; Johannesburg; Hybrid; ZAR 1,700,000 - 2,100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Retirement plan

Paid time off

Professional development

Job summary

Placements24 seeks a Principal Research Scientist in Bioinformatics to lead complex genomic data analyses and drive strategic R&D initiatives in Johannesburg.

The role requires a PhD with 8+ years of independent research, leadership experience, and expertise in WGS/WES/RNA-Seq, Python, R, and Perl. Collaboration across biology, genetics, and clinical teams is essential, with a focus on high-impact publications and mentorship.

Qualifications

• PhD in a quantitative field (Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, CS, Statistics).
• 8+ years of progressive bioinformatics research with leadership experience.
• Extensive experience with high-throughput sequencing data analysis (WGS, WES, RNA-Seq).
• Proficiency in Python, R, and Perl.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement advanced bioinformatics pipelines for large-scale genomic/proteomic data.
• Develop novel algorithms and tools for cancer genomics, infectious diseases, and drug discovery.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to interpret results and guide research directions.
• Mentor junior bioinformaticians and researchers, promoting excellence.
• Stay updated on bioinformatics advances and assess applicability to projects.
• Present findings at conferences and contribute to publications.
• Ensure data analysis quality with rigorous validation and documentation.

Skills

Python

R

Perl

Statistics

Machine Learning

Genomics data analysis

Mentoring

Education

PhD in Bioinformatics

Tools

Docker

Singularity

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Placements24 seeks a Principal Research Scientist in Bioinformatics to lead complex genomic data analyses and drive strategic R&D initiatives in Johannesburg.

The role requires a PhD with 8+ years of independent research, leadership experience, and expertise in WGS/WES/RNA-Seq, Python, R, and Perl. Collaboration across biology, genetics, and clinical teams is essential, with a focus on high-impact publications and mentorship.