Bioinformatics Engineer (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Bioinformatics Engineer (we have office locations in Cambridge, Leeds & London)

Genomics England partners with the NHS to provide whole genome sequencing diagnostics. We also equip researchers to find the causes of disease and develop new treatments - with patients and participants at the heart of it all.

Our mission is to continue refining, scaling, and evolving our ability to enable others to deliver genomic healthcare and conduct genomic research.

We are accelerating our impact and working with patients, doctors, scientists, government, and industry to improve genomic testing, and help researchers access the health data and technology they need to make new medical discoveries and create more effective, targeted medicines for everybody.

Job Description

Bioinformatics Engineers are software engineers with extensive experience in bioinformatics.

They are responsible for developing and maintaining software tools and datasets used to solve a wide variety of bioinformatic needs. They are also responsible for ensuring the high quality and robustness of such tools, following best practices during software design, development, and testing.

As a Bioinformatics Engineer at Genomics England, you will also be required to follow and contribute to agile practices, act as a subject-matter expert for bioinformatics, support continuous improvement of our practices, collaborate effectively, and adhere to engineering standards.

Everyday responsibilities include:

• Produce high-quality code for high throughput sequencing data analysis, genome analysis, and interpretation.
• Produce automated tests to validate existing and new code.
• Contribute to all testing and deployment stages up to the production environment.
• Interact with domain experts during the project lifecycle to ensure scientific and clinical validity of software products.
• Contribute to discovery tasks during the initial phase of new developments and understand early-stage decisions to inform final software design.
• Write documentation to ensure full traceability of decisions, designs, tests, and results.
• Be a proactive member of a squad, adopting agile practices and offering subject matter expertise.
• Ensure adherence to standards and accreditations required for clinical laboratory practice and software delivery.

Skills and Experience for Success:

• Excellent Python coding skills.
• Experience in software testing strategies or a desire to learn this skillset.
• Solid skills in bioinformatics, understanding standards, data sources, and toolchains used in NGS and clinical genomics.
• Proficient in software version control systems (Git preferred).
• Proficient in collaborative software development practices (code reviews, branching strategies).
• Familiarity with NGS tertiary annotation tools and databases.
• Proficient in Linux and containerization techniques (Docker, Singularity).
• Experience developing production-quality algorithms and software to analyze large datasets.
• Excellent technical writing skills.
• Experience working in an agile environment is desirable.
• Experience in building code using CI/CD is desirable.

Qualifications

MSc equivalent or higher in Software Engineering, Computer Science, Bioinformatics, or equivalent experience.

Additional Information

Salary from £56,000.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including:

• Generous leave: 30 days' holiday plus bank holidays, additional leave for long service, and remote working options.
• Family-friendly policies: flexible working, enhanced parental leave benefits.
• Pension & financial benefits: defined contribution pension, life assurance, Give As You Earn scheme.
• Learning & development: individual budgets, training support, professional subscriptions.
• Recognition & rewards: employee recognition programs, referral schemes.
• Health & wellbeing: subsidized gym, Headspace, Employee Assistance Programme, eye tests, flu jabs.

Genomics England is committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion, fostering an inclusive environment where everyone is welcomed and respected regardless of background or identity. We do not tolerate discrimination, harassment, victimization, or bullying at work.