Senior Bioinformatician: Genomics Pipelines & ML Lead

Placements24; Durban; Hybrid; ZAR 1,200,000 - 1,800,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Life insurance

Retirement fund

Professional development

Conference funding

Access to HPC clusters

Job summary

Placements24 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, is seeking a Principal Bioinformatician to lead data analysis initiatives. You will design and optimize pipelines for WGS, WES, and RNA-Seq, while guiding a team of bioinformaticians and collaborating with clinicians and researchers to interpret results.

The role emphasizes advanced computational methods, cloud/cluster computing, and a strong publication record, with a competitive benefits package and opportunities for professional growth.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, Statistics, or a related quantitative field.
• Minimum 8 years of hands-on experience in bioinformatics, with a strong focus on genomics and transcriptomics.
• Proficiency in Python, R, and Perl, plus shell scripting.
• Experience with BLAST, SAMtools, GATK, Ensembl.

Responsibilities

• Develop, optimize, and maintain robust bioinformatics pipelines for high-throughput sequencing data (e.g., WGS, WES, RNA-Seq).
• Lead computational analysis of large-scale genomic and epigenomic datasets to identify variants, expression patterns, and regulatory elements.
• Design and implement statistical models and machine learning approaches for biological data interpretation.
• Collaborate with biologists, geneticists, and clinicians to guide experimental design.
• Supervise and mentor junior bioinformaticians and staff.
• Contribute to development of novel algorithms and software tools.
• Manage computational resources, ensuring efficient data storage and access.
• Communicate findings through reports, presentations, and publications.

Skills

Python

R

Perl

Shell scripting

Machine learning

Data analysis

Leadership

Communication

Education

Ph.D. in Bioinformatics or related field

Tools

BLAST

SAMtools

GATK

Ensembl

AWS

GCP

Azure

Job description

Placements24 in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, is seeking a Principal Bioinformatician to lead data analysis initiatives. You will design and optimize pipelines for WGS, WES, and RNA-Seq, while guiding a team of bioinformaticians and collaborating with clinicians and researchers to interpret results.

The role emphasizes advanced computational methods, cloud/cluster computing, and a strong publication record, with a competitive benefits package and opportunities for professional growth.