Location: EMBL-EBI – Hinxton near Cambridge, UK
Contract Duration: 3 years
Grading: 7
Closing Date: 17 June 2015
Job Description

The Variation Team is looking to recruit a Project Manager with significant technical software and database development experience, to join their team at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) located on the Wellcome Genome Campus near Cambridge in the UK to work on the European Variation Archive (EVA) project.

The team develops tools to archive genetic variation and phenotype information from datasets generated as part of scientific experiments. The genetic variation covers germline (or somatic) single nucleotide changes as well as large structural changes observed in any species. The Variation team also includes the European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) that stores petabyte scale genomic data from human biomedical research projects. 

The post holder will be expected to provide daily task orientated project management and lead professional level software development practices in code review, systems analysis and modelling and documentation. (S)he will participate in strategic scientific planning and publication efforts, and be capable, as needed, to have direct involvement at the coding level in technical development tasks. This position will bridge scientific strategic direction in the domain of genetic variation with detailed technical implementation and task tracking to see that these goals are met through weekly milestones.

The EBI is part of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and it is a world-leading bioinformatics centre providing biological data to the scientific community with expertise in data storage, analysis and representation. EMBL-EBI provides freely available data from life science experiments, performs basic research in computational biology and offers an extensive user training programme, supporting researchers in academic and industry. We are part of EMBL, Europe’s flagship laboratory for the life sciences.

Qualifications and Experience

The ideal candidate will have a formal education or extensive career experience in bioinformatics, genetics or a related field and will likely hold a degree at the masters or PhD level. (S)he must be able to demonstrate a background in software development and experience in project management. A wide range of previous work experience is necessary to succeed in this position ranging from exceptional recent graduates with significant project or research experience through to experienced biology or bioinformatic professionals.

The candidate should have a minimum of 3 years experience in production Java programming, including core libraries, JSON parsing, and REST API programming, as well as proficiency in one or more scripting languges (Python or Perl) and comfort at the unix command prompt is required. Experience with relational and non-relational database systems (e.g. MongoDB. HBase, Cassanda) as well as the Hadoop ecosystem is desirable. A good track record of using UNIX/Linux and XML, as well as task management systems and code version control would prepare a candidate for this position. Other programming languages would be beneficial.

The successful candidate must have the ability to work effectively in a team environment focused on production bioinformatic resources. Personal organisation, time management, self-direction, excellent communication skills and the desire to learn and keep up with the quickly changing landscape at the cutting edge of genetics and associated bioinformatics technologies is essential.

Additional Information

We welcome applications irrespective of gender and appointment will be based on merit alone. Applications are welcome from all nationalities. Visa information will be discussed in more depth with applicants selected for interview.

Please apply online through www.embl.org/jobs

Additional Information

Applications will close at 23.00 GMT on the date listed above.

Source: Jobs.ac.uk