Lead Bioinformatics Scientist - Genomics & ML Leader

Placements24; Mossel Bay; On-site; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonuses

Medical insurance

Retirement plan

Professional development

Job summary

Placements24 in Mossel Bay is seeking a Lead Bioinformatics Scientist to guide computational biology efforts. You will develop pipelines for WGS/WES/RNA-Seq, mentor a team, and collaborate with biologists and clinicians to address research questions, applying ML and statistics to identify biomarkers.

The role emphasizes managing large datasets, advancing workflows (Snakemake/Nextflow), and communicating findings to diverse audiences while contributing to new study designs and software tools.

Qualifications

• PhD in Bioinformatics or related quantitative field.
• Minimum 6 years in bioinformatics or computational biology research.
• At least 2 years in leadership or supervisory roles.
• Strong experience with analysing NGS data.
• Proficiency in Python, R, and/or Perl.
• Experience with Snakemake and Nextflow workflows.
• Solid understanding of statistical genetics and ML.

Responsibilities

• Lead development, implementation, and maintenance of robust bioinformatics pipelines for high-throughput sequencing data (WGS, WES, RNA-Seq).
• Mentor and manage a team of bioinformatics scientists with technical direction.
• Collaborate with experimental biologists and clinicians to define research questions and strategies.
• Develop and apply statistical and ML methods for pattern discovery and biomarker identification.
• Ensure quality, integrity, and security of large genomic datasets.
• Contribute to study design and experimental protocols.
• Stay current with bioinformatics, genomics, and computational biology advancements.
• Communicate results to diverse audiences via reports and presentations.
• Contribute to internal software tools and databases.

Skills

NGS data analysis

Python

R

Perl

Machine Learning

Statistics

Leadership

Communication

High-performance computing

Education

PhD in Bioinformatics or related field

Tools

Snakemake

Nextflow

Job description

Placements24 in Mossel Bay is seeking a Lead Bioinformatics Scientist to guide computational biology efforts. You will develop pipelines for WGS/WES/RNA-Seq, mentor a team, and collaborate with biologists and clinicians to address research questions, applying ML and statistics to identify biomarkers.

The role emphasizes managing large datasets, advancing workflows (Snakemake/Nextflow), and communicating findings to diverse audiences while contributing to new study designs and software tools.