Senior Genomics Bioinformatician — Lead Data Pipelines

Placements24; Rustenburg; Hybrid; ZAR 1,800,000 - 2,400,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Equity options

Health coverage

Retirement fund

Paid time off

Conference attendance

Job summary

Placements24 is seeking an experienced Lead Bioinformatician in Rustenburg, North West, to lead development of genomics analysis pipelines and guide a multidisciplinary team of scientists. You will design computational methods for WGS/WES/RNA-Seq data, build ML models, and mentor junior researchers in a state-of-the-art facility.

You will collaborate with geneticists, biologists, and clinicians, manage large datasets, and contribute to publications and grants while staying current with the

Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant quantitative field.
• 6–8 years of progressive genomics bioinformatics experience.
• Proficient in Python, R, and/or Perl with shell scripting.
• Experience with GATK, Samtools, BEDTools, ENSEMBL, UCSC Genome Browser.
• Strong statistics and machine learning background for biological data.
• Experience with AWS or GCP and cluster environments.
• Ability to lead complex bioinformatics projects and teams.
• Excellent problem-solving and communication skills.
• Eligible to work in South Africa.

Responsibilities

• Lead development and optimization of bioinformatics pipelines for high-throughput sequencing data (WGS/WES/RNA-Seq).
• Design analyses to identify variants, expression patterns, and regulatory elements.
• Develop and apply statistical and ML models for genomic interpretation and biomarker discovery.
• Collaborate with biologists and clinicians to define research questions and studies.
• Manage and curate large genomic datasets with quality and accessibility.
• Supervise and mentor junior bioinformaticians and analysts.
• Stay current with bioinformatics tools and techniques.
• Contribute to publications, presentations, and grant proposals.
• Ensure efficient use of computational resources and infrastructure.
• Interface with external collaborators and partners to drive research initiatives.

Skills

Python

R

Perl

Shell scripting

GATK

Samtools

BEDTools

Ensembl

UCSC Genome Browser

AWS

GCP

Leadership

Education

Ph.D. in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology/Statistics/CS/Genetics

Tools

Genomics pipelines

Job description

Placements24 is seeking an experienced Lead Bioinformatician in Rustenburg, North West, to lead development of genomics analysis pipelines and guide a multidisciplinary team of scientists. You will design computational methods for WGS/WES/RNA-Seq data, build ML models, and mentor junior researchers in a state-of-the-art facility.

You will collaborate with geneticists, biologists, and clinicians, manage large datasets, and contribute to publications and grants while staying current with the