Group Leader Clinical Bioinformatics

80%-100%, Basel, Permanent

The ETH Zurich technology platform NEXUS Personalized Health enables discovery and translational research for personalized health. We offer a broad range of expertise across Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Software Engineering, Systems Operations, and Screening & Lab Automation.

Embedded in this multi-disciplinary environment, the Clinical Bioinformatics group translates computational biology into clinically usable outcomes, working across the boundary between biomedical research and clinical practice. Our work includes project-tailored analyses and integration of high-dimensional molecular data, spanning whole-genome variant calling and decision support to single-cell sequencing analysis. We develop and extend robust analysis workflows and reusable components in close collaboration with academic institutions and hospitals.

Job Description

As the Group Leader of Clinical Bioinformatics, you will lead a team of bioinformatics analysts and software engineers. In this role, you will ensure that analyses and workflows are reproducible, scalable, and tailored to translational and clinical contexts. You will drive innovation by continuously evaluating emerging technologies and analytical approaches, integrating cutting-edge methods into clinical and translational research. A key part of your responsibilities will be securing, prioritizing, and strategically managing clinical and translational projects through active stakeholder engagement.

• Project Management: Structure and oversee projects end-to-end, ensuring clear scope definition, milestone planning, risk management, and adherence to documentation standards and processes aligned with clinical quality requirements.
• Technical Leadership: Drive the development and extension of pipelines using Nextflow and Snakemake, establishing standards for workflow engineering, testing, documentation, and long-term maintainability.
• Delivery Ownership: Take responsibility for timelines, quality, and stakeholder alignment across multiple projects with varying scope.
• Project Acquisition and Customer Management: Build relationships with researchers, clinicians, and partners, shape projects, and translate needs into clear deliverables and expectations.
• Clinical Reporting and Decision Support: Transform complex, multimodal, and large-scale results into clear outputs for physicians, including dashboards and web-based reporting for decision support.
• Clinician Partnership: Actively listen, clarify what is useful, and maintain a simple interface while your team manages technical complexity.
• Innovation and Scientific Advancement: Stay at the forefront of developments in bioinformatics, AI, and data-driven medicine, evaluate emerging methods and technologies, and translate promising approaches into robust, clinically applicable solutions.
• Cross-team Collaboration: Work closely with Software Engineering, Systems Operations, Biostatistics, and Screening & Lab Automation groups to deliver integrated solutions from end-to-end.
• People Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and develop team members while fostering knowledge exchange and setting high standards.
• Resource Management: Plan capacity, prioritize work, and contribute to budgeting and reporting for the group.

Quick Self-Check

You will thrive in this role if:

• You enjoy owning projects from inception to completion, collaborating closely with clinicians and partners to deliver robust, reusable solutions.
• You prefer interdisciplinary work and building strong collaborations rather than operating in isolation.
• You are comfortable setting a clear direction, making prioritization decisions, and being accountable for timelines and quality.
• You take pride in creating workflows that others depend on and continuously enhance them to improve reproducibility, scalability, and impact.
• You possess the ability to translate complex, multimodal data into effective decision-support outputs that are user-friendly for physicians.
• You uphold high standards for workflow engineering, testing, documentation, and collaboration, leading your team toward shared excellence.

Profile

Non-Negotiables:

• Proven leadership experience in clinical bioinformatics, genomics, or translational research delivery.
• Hands-on experience developing and extending analysis pipelines and reusable components.
• Proficiency in workflow management with Nextflow and/or Snakemake, with the capability to establish team standards.
• Daily use of Git version control is essential.
• Strong communication skills for clinician-facing interactions and stakeholder management.
• Excellent communication skills in English.

Strongly Expected:

• Solid programming skills in Python or R and strong code quality habits (reviews, testing, documentation).
• Track record across data types from variant calling and expression analyses to single-cell sequencing analysis.
• Experience with quality control and reporting in genomics/transcriptomics.

Advantageous:

• Experience in statistics or software engineering practices beyond scripting.
• Utilization of HPC and knowledge of Bash.
• Knowledge of German.

Workplace

At NEXUS, we promote an environment where knowledge exchange and teamwork are valued, and every team member contributes their unique expertise. We embrace flat hierarchies and a proactive attitude. We offer flexible working hours, family-friendly work models, training opportunities, and a dynamic field at the forefront of translational research.

We value diversity and sustainability

In line with our values, ETH Zurich encourages an inclusive culture. We promote equal opportunity, value diversity, and nurture a respectful environment for all staff and students. Visit our Equal Opportunities and Diversity website to learn how we foster a fair and open environment that supports growth and development. Sustainability is a core value for us, as we consistently work toward a climate-neutral future.

Curious? So are we.

We look forward to receiving your application. Apply online using the form below.

Please note that only applications matching the job profile will be considered.

For more information about NEXUS Personalized Health, please visit our website. For inquiries regarding this position, please reach out to Dr. Daniel Stekhoven at stekhoven@nexus.ethz.ch and Dr. Franziska Singer at singer@nexus.ethz.ch (no applications).

About ETH Zurich

ETH Zurich is one of the world's leading universities specializing in science and technology. Renowned for our excellent education, cutting-edge research, and the direct transfer of new knowledge into society, we attract over 30,000 individuals from more than 120 countries who find inspiration and opportunities for independent thinking. Located in the heart of Europe, we strive to develop solutions for today's and tomorrow's global challenges.