The KAUST Core Labs is seeking a highly motivated staff scientist to join the Bioinformatics team in our state-of-the-art Bioscience Core Lab (BCL). The lab houses cutting-edge technologies in the disciplines of genomics and proteomics, and offers expertise in bioinformatics. This scientist will be part of a highly skilled team to push the boundaries of life science research and technologies to serve the BCL and KAUST’s research and education mission.

The successful candidate will be designing and implementing advanced computational solutions for various sequencing and proteomics technologies, including PacBio (Sequel II), Oxford Nanopore (GridION, PromethION), Illumina (NovaSeq 6000), 10X Chromium, Thermo Orbitrap LC-MS and Bruker TimsTOF, etc. The Core Labs is service- and support-oriented; therefore, it is important for the successful candidate to be able to work under strict deadlines.

Major responsibilities

• Ensure efficient daily operations of the bioinformatics team covering data management and integrity throughout the entire data lifecycle, processing and analysis, computational resources management, and support for the BCL labs on data infrastructure.
• Assess, develop, optimize and implement novel methodologies/tools/changes to address advanced scientific problems and to stay ahead of the field in a persistent and timely manner.
• Drive continuous improvements of automated pipelines, data processing workflows and analysis tools.
• Proactively review and find best solutions for large-scaled data management with stakeholders in KAUST and external parties.
• Conduct trouble-shooting and maintenance for lab instruments from bioinformatics/computational perspective with other staff members.
• Provide expert advice to users and PIs regarding advanced data analysis methods.
• Provide support to other BCL team members, users and PIs, external users, IT and administrators of the computing clusters among others.

Qualification & competencies

• PhD degree in bioinformatics, computational biology or similar field.
• Expertise as data scientist with experience in NGS, PacBio or Oxford Nanopore.
• Experience in proteomics is a plus. Experience in building bioinformatics capabilities (data analysis and/or software infrastructure).
• Proficiency in Python, R or Perl. Substantial experience working in an HPC Unix/Linux environment. Profound knowledge on modern programming practices (e.g. git).
• Full fluency in genomics analysis methods (e.g. alignment, annotation, assembly, variant calling, etc). Experience in web programming language is a plus.
• Track record of high quality publications in scientific journals.
• Strong scientific and technical problem-solving skills and independent thinking.
• A meticulous, dynamic and resilient individual with proactive personality,  positive and innovative mindset and an interest in the big picture.