Job Opportunity: Group Leader Clinical Bioinformatics
The ETH Zurich technology platform NEXUS Personalized Health is at the forefront of discovery and translational research for personalized health. We provide a wealth of expertise across various domains, including Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Software Engineering, Systems Operations, and Screening & Lab Automation.
Within this multi-disciplinary environment, the Clinical Bioinformatics group is dedicated to translating computational biology into clinically applicable outcomes, bridging the gap between biomedical research and clinical practice. Our work encompasses tailored analyses and integration of high-dimensional molecular data, including whole-genome variant calling, decision support, and single-cell sequencing analysis. We collaborate closely with academic institutions and hospitals to develop and enhance robust analysis workflows and reusable components.
Role Overview
As the Group Leader of Clinical Bioinformatics, you will lead a team of bioinformatics analysts and software engineers. Your primary responsibility will be to ensure that analyses and workflows are reproducible, scalable, and applicable to both translational and clinical contexts. You will drive innovation by continually evaluating emerging technologies and analytical strategies, integrating state-of-the-art methods into our research efforts. A crucial aspect of your role will involve actively managing clinical and translational projects through engagement with stakeholders.
Key Responsibilities
- Project Management: Structure and oversee projects end-to-end, ensuring precise scope definition, milestone planning, risk management, documentation standards, and adherence to translational and clinical quality requirements.
- Technical Leadership: Drive the development and enhancement of pipelines using Nextflow and Snakemake. Establish standards for workflow engineering, testing, documentation, and long-term maintainability.
- Delivery Ownership: Assume responsibility for timelines, quality, and alignment with stakeholders across multiple projects with varying scopes.
- Project Acquisition and Customer Management: Build relationships with researchers, clinicians, and partners, shape projects, and translate needs into clear deliverables.
- Clinical Reporting and Decision Support: Transform complex, multimodal results into clear outputs for physicians, including dashboards and web-based reporting.
- Clinician Partnership: Listen attentively to clinician needs, clarify what is useful, and maintain a user-friendly interface while your team manages technical complexity.
- Innovation and Scientific Advancement: Stay updated on developments in bioinformatics, AI, and data-driven medicine, evaluating and translating promising approaches into clinically viable solutions.
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Software Engineering, Systems Operations, Biostatistics, and Screening & Lab Automation groups to deliver integrated solutions.
- People Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and develop team members, fostering knowledge exchange and high standards.
- Resource Management: Plan capacity, prioritize work, and contribute to budgeting and reporting for the group.
Self-Assessment: Are You a Fit?
You will thrive in this role if:
- You enjoy owning projects from inception to delivery, working closely with clinicians and partners.
- You like fostering cross-disciplinary collaborations rather than working in isolation.
- You are comfortable in setting direction, making prioritization decisions, and ensuring accountability for timelines and quality.
- You excel at building workflows that others rely on and continually improving them for better reproducibility and scalability.
- You can distill complex data into clear, user-friendly outputs focused on physicians’ needs.
- You maintain high standards for workflow engineering, testing, and collaboration, and enjoy guiding a team to meet those standards.
Requirements
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 ability to set team standards.
- Daily practice with Git version control is essential.
- Strong clinician-facing communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Excellent communication skills in English.
Strongly Expected:
- Solid programming skills in Python or R, with strong practices in code quality (reviews, testing, documentation).
- A proven track record in handling diverse data types, including variant calling and expression analyses, as well as single-cell sequencing analysis.
- Experience with quality control and reporting in genomics/transcriptomics.
Advantageous:
- Experience in statistics or software engineering practices extending beyond scripting.
- Familiarity with HPC usage and Bash.
- Knowledge of German is a plus.
About NEXUS
At NEXUS, we value knowledge exchange and teamwork, where every member contributes their unique expertise. We pride ourselves on maintaining flat hierarchies and a can-do attitude. Our flexible working hours and family-friendly policies foster a supportive work environment. Moreover, we offer training opportunities and an exciting array of projects at the cutting edge of translational research.
Apply online using the form below.
Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
For further 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).
For recruitment services, the GTC of ETH Zurich apply.