Our mission is to make biology easier to engineer. Ginkgo is constructing, editing, and redesigning the living world in order to answer the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, materials, and more. Our bioengineers make use of an in-house automated foundry for designing and building new organisms.
Ginkgo believes that if we are to grow a thriving, sustainable bioeconomy, we must also grow a new market in biosecurity. Our biosecurity and public health initiative, Concentric by Ginkgo, launched a nationwide emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, providing end-to-end pathogen monitoring services to schools, communities, and travelers. As we continue to scale Concentric, our work is also evolving into new and exciting directions, from global expansion to the integration of new technologies and capabilities, including our Traveler-Based Genomic Surveillance Plan with the CDC.
Role Introduction:
We are seeking a motivated bioinformatician to join our growing Biosecurity Team and be a part of implementing innovative biosecurity solutions. Specifically, you bring subject matter expertise in high-throughput sequencing data, bioinformatics, pipeline development, and high performance computing to help the Biosecurity Division’s grow biomonitoring programs. Your responsibilities will include engineering pipelines, analyzing sequencing data, and supporting the development of long-term biosecurity initiatives. In this role you will interface with key teams in the Ginkgo Bioworks Foundry and Biosecurity Divisions to ensure program success through high quality deliverables and appropriately resourced activities. You are a cross-functional team player, bringing diverse perspectives to our interdisciplinary team, and poised to develop the future of biosecurity.
Responsibilities
- Support Ginkgo’s Biosecurity Teams with your technical expertise in bioinformatics
- Support data management across biosecurity programs
- Support pipeline development & improvement for biosecurity, biosurveillance, and new sequence based tools
- Support retrieving, parsing, and processing structured and unstructured data
- Assist in management of data pipelines across various stages of the lifecycle from exploration to production including logging and monitoring issues & bugs
- Interface with software engineers to create and implement NGS data analysis pipelines for production use
- Analyze & benchmark sequencing data from multiple NGS technologies
Minimum Requirements
- BS + minimum 2 years relevant experience, OR Master’s degree in related discipline
- Proficient in at least one software programming language (Python)
- Proficient in workflow management software (Nextflow, Docker)
- Proficient in distributed computing (AWS/Google Cloud)
- Proficient in collaborative software development (version control systems, test-driven development, and good documentation habits)
- First-hand technical experience in at least two of the following disciplines: bioinformatics, sequence analysis, comparative genomics, genome assembly & annotation, statistics, probabilistic modeling, machine learning, or quantitative modeling of biological systems
- Demonstrated ability to meet the demands of multiple concurrent projects, and work efficiently in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
- Ability to adapt to changing priorities and pivot as needed in a fast-paced environment
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to effectively convey project plans and complex technical details to a wide range of internal teams, executive leadership, and external customers
- Strong curiosity for, and comfort working in, areas of biology & biosecurity previously unknown to you (and, at times, unknown to your peers)
Preferred Capabilities and Experience
- At least one year of industrial experience in computational biology/bioinformatics role
- Experience analyzing and benchmarking outputs from multiple sequencing technologies: Illumina, Oxford Nanopore, PacBio
- Experience with NGS QA/QC and tracking associated metrics
- Direct sequencing and bioinformatics experience with varied pathogen types (e.g. viral, bacterial, fungal)
- Extensive experience with many or all of the following: Python, bash/unix scripting, Snakemake, Nextflow, airflow, CWL, relational databases (SQL), distributed computing (AWS/Google Cloud), Docker, software version control (git)
- Experience with data visualization and dashboarding (e.g., Tableau, Evidence, D3, or other)
- Experience working with JIRA, SCRUM, and agile methodologies
Total compensation for this role is market driven, with a starting salary of $67k+, as well as company stock awards. Base pay is ultimately determined based on a candidate’s skills, expertise, and experience. We also offer a comprehensive benefits package including medical, dental & vision coverage, health spending accounts, voluntary benefits, leave of absence policies, Employee Assistance Program, 401(k) program with employer contribution, 8 paid holidays in addition to a full-week winter shutdown and unlimited Paid Time Off policy.
We also feel that it’s important to point out the obvious here – there’s a serious lack of diversity in our industry, and that needs to change. Our goal is to help drive that change. Ginkgo is deeply committed to diversity, equity, and inclusion in all of its practices, especially when it comes to growing our team. Our culture promotes inclusion and embraces how rewarding it is to work with people from all walks of life.
We’re developing a powerful biological engineering platform, so we must remain mindful of the many ways our technology can – and will – impact people around the world. We care about how our platform is used, and having a diverse team to build it gives us the best chance that it’s something we’ll be proud of as it continues to grow. Therefore, it’s critical that we incorporate the diverse voices and visions of all those who play a role in the future of biology.
It is the policy of Ginkgo Bioworks to provide equal employment opportunities to all employees, employment applicants, and EOE disability/vet.
Privacy Notice
I understand that I am applying for employment with Ginkgo Bioworks and am being asked to provide information in connection with my application. I further understand that Ginkgo gathers this information through a third-party service provider and that Ginkgo may also use other service providers to assist in the application process. Ginkgo may share my information with such third-party service providers in connection with my application and for the start of employment. Ginkgo will treat my information in accordance with Ginkgo’s
Privacy Policy. By submitting this job application, I am acknowledging that I have reviewed and agree to Ginkgo’s
Privacy Policy as well as the privacy policies of the third-party service providers used by Ginkgo’s associated with the application process.
