Job Description
The Center for Cancer and Immunology Research (CCIR) Bioinformatics Core at Children's National Hospital is seeking a highly skilled Bioinformatics Scientist to join our team of bioinformatics engineers and scientists. The role involves close collaboration with researchers and clinicians within Children's National as well as other bioinformatics engineers and scientists. The successful candidate will report to the Director of the Brain Tumor Institute Bioinformatics Core with matrixed scope of work and responsibilities across Principal Investigators (PIs). A strong background and expertise analyzing single cell datasets such as scRNA-Seq, snRNA-Seq, CITE-Seq, TCR/BCR-Seq, virus genomes and transcriptomes, and/or high-throughput flow cytometry are desired.
The Bioinformatics Scientist II is a mid-level position for individuals with a Master's degree and relevant experience or an entry-level position for individuals with a Ph.D. in a biological or computational discipline with related computational experience. This role involves independent planning and execution of bioinformatics analyses across diverse data types including genomics, transcriptomics, epigenomics, and/or proteomics. The Scientist II collaborates with faculty, clinicians, and cross-functional teams to interpret complex biological data, support research publications and grant proposals, and contribute to the development of institutional bioinformatics workflows and infrastructure. The ideal candidate demonstrates analytical expertise, initiative, and a commitment to scientific rigor and open science.
Qualifications: Minimum Education Bachelor's Degree Biological or computational discipline (Required)
Master's Degree Biological or computational discipline (Preferred)
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) Biological or computational discipline (Preferred)
Minimum Work Experience 4 years B.S. plus 4+ years, M.S. plus 2-4 years of relevant work experience in applied bioinformatics, computational, and/or genomics/proteomics areas required. A Ph.D. dissertation with related computationally-intensive projects can substitute for years of experience. (Required)
Required Skills/Knowledge Technical Skills
• Proficiency in UNIX/Linux environments.
• Strong programming and data analysis skills in R and/or Python.
• Experience with NGS, microarray, or other high-throughput platforms, including strengths, limitations, and applicability.
• Proficiency with common bioinformatics tools and genomic databases, such as GATK, UCSC Genome Browser, Bioconductor, ENCODE, NCBI, Kids First, gnomAD, ClinVar, OMIM, HGMD, and COSMIC.
• Proficient, or ability to become rapidly proficient, with version control (e.g., Git/GitHub).
• Experience using containerization tools such as Docker, Podman, and/or Singularity.
• Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments and/or cloud platforms (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud) for large-scale analyses.
Scientific & Analytical Skills
• Ability to select and apply appropriate statistical methods for diverse genomic and proteomic datasets.
• Skill in validating, interpreting, and visualizing results in a biological context.
• Preferred: familiarity with disease-focused analysis (e.g., pediatric cancer, neurodevelopment, rare disease).
Collaborative and Professional Skills
• Strong organizational, written, and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to translate scientific questions into analytical plans.
• Demonstrated success working in interdisciplinary teams.
• Commitment to open science practices, including reproducible code, shared documentation, and collaborative problem-solving.
• Proven ability to execute and troubleshoot analyses of moderate complexity.
• Organized, accountable, detail-oriented, and team-focused.
Functional Accountabilities Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR)- Demonstrate ethical behavior and integrity in all scientific activities.
- Adhere to data privacy and patient confidentiality standards.
- Maintain reproducibility and transparency in code, workflows, and documentation.
- Properly cite software tools, data sources, and collaborators.
- Comply with institutional policies and federal regulations governing research and data use.
Data Analysis & Interpretation
- Independently plan and execute bioinformatics workflows and analyses across multiple data modalities.
- Select appropriate methods and statistical tests; interpret and report findings accurately.
- Validate results using best practices and benchmarks.
Troubleshooting & Support
- Proactively identify and resolve basic analysis or workflow issues.
- Maintain documentation of technical solutions and contribute to team knowledge-sharing.
- Support and guide junior staff in resolving routine issues.
Scientific Communication
- Prepare figures, results summaries, and presentation materials for manuscripts, grants, and collaborators.
- Participate in lab meetings, journal clubs, and scientific discussions to contextualize findings.
- Clearly communicate analysis rationale, methods, findings, and limitations clearly to interdisciplinary audiences.
Collaboration and Team Science
- Partner with experimental biologists, clinicians, and data scientists to define project goals, analysis strategies, and deliverables.
- Lead or contribute to project execution within cross-disciplinary teams.
- Maintain clean, documented, and reusable code in shared repositories in accordance with lab or institutional standards.
- Respond to feedback and iteratively refine analyses to support research hypotheses.
- Participate in and provide feedback during code reviews.
Continuous Learning & Open Science
- Stay current with advances in bioinformatics tools, databases, and best practices.
- Contribute to open science by publishing workflows and analysis code.
- Engage in professional development through courses, conferences, and mentoring.
- Develop domain-specific expertise (e.g., pediatric cancer, neurodevelopment, rare disease) by reading scientific literature and engaging in research discussions with subject matter experts.
- Apply domain knowledge to improve analysis design, interpretation, and relevance to biological or clinical questions.
Organizational Accountabilities
Organizational Accountabilities (Staff)
Organizational Commitment/Identification
- Anticipate and responds to customer needs; follows up until needs are met
Teamwork/Communication
- Demonstrate collaborative and respectful behavior
- Partner with all team members to achieve goals
- Receptive to others' ideas and opinions
Performance Improvement/Problem-solving
- Contribute to a positive work environment
- Demonstrate flexibility and willingness to change
- Identify opportunities to improve clinical and administrative processes
- Make appropriate decisions, using sound judgment
Cost Management/Financial Responsibility
- Use resources efficiently
- Search for less costly ways of doing things
Safety
- Speak up when team members appear to exhibit unsafe behavior or performance
- Continuously validate and verify information needed for decision making or documentation
- Stop in the face of uncertainty and takes time to resolve the situation
- Demonstrate accurate, clear and timely verbal and written communication
- Actively promote safety for patients, families, visitors and co-workers
- Attend carefully to important details - practicing Stop, Think, Act and Review in order to self-check behavior and performance
Job Tags
Full time, Work experience placement,