Senior Computational Biologist

Ginkgo Bioworks is a publicly traded (NYSE: $DNA), high-growth biotechnology company based in Boston’s Seaport District, that is redesigning the living world to solve some of the globe’s growing challenges in health, energy, food, material, and more. Our mission to “make biology easier to engineer” is poised to disrupt multiple industries by leveraging our innovative data, automation, and scale capabilities in biological engineering. 
In response to the global COVID-19 pandemic, we have launched a new division: Concentric by Ginkgo. We firmly believe that testing is an essential requirement to re-open the economy as quickly and safely as possible. Concentric is the largest provider of K-12 COVID-19 testing. We currently run state-level K-12 testing programs in more than 10 states and some of the nation’s largest school districts. To date, Concentric has sequenced more than 10,000 samples from a variety of sample types, in support of public health. As we continue to scale Concentric by Ginkgo, our work is also evolving and expanding into new and exciting directions. 
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
• Provide technical direction and guidance on biosecurity & biosurveillance projects
• Support pipeline development & improvement for biosecurity, biosurveillance, and new sequence based tools
• Interface with software engineers to create and implement NGS data analysis pipelines for production use
• Collaborate cross-functionally with wet and dry-lab operators on experimental design and analysis to optimize new analytic approaches using NGS technologies
• Analyze & benchmark sequencing data from multiple NGS technologies 
• Monitor scientific literature for new methods and data analysis tools
• Effectively communicate scientific results to technical and non-technical audiences
• Measure and evaluate team performance with respect to the technical success of team projects, as well as the continued development of your high-performing team
• Assist with shaping Ginkgo and Concentrics overall direction as a company and support its evolving needs, as necessary

Minimum Requirements

• PhD graduate with 2+ years of relevant post-academic experience (or BS 8+year OR MS 6+ years of professional experience) in a relevant life computer science/computational biology field
• Proficiency with at least one software programming language (Python preferred). Knowledge of best practices for collaborative software development (version control systems, test-driven development, and good documentation habits) is preferred
• 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
• Superb 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, Hi-C
• Direct sequencing and bioinformatics experience with varied pathogen types (e.g. viral, bacterial, fungal)
• Experience with many or all of the following:  Python, bash/unix scripting, Snakemake, Nextflow, airflow, CWL, relational databases (SQL), GraphQL, distributed computing (AWS/Google Cloud), Docker, software version control (git)
• First hand experience with Software & Libraries: NextFlow, R shiny, Docker
• Data and Database Management: SQL, AWS

Note on culture: Concentric by Ginkgo is a high energy, positive and fast paced environment where new challenges and opportunities arise every day, so this opportunity is ideal for people who thrive in those kinds of environments, and for people who like lots of variety in their day. There are lots of opportunities to learn and grow. The team is motivated by doing high impact work in service to society. To get a sense of the culture at Ginkgo, read some articles in Grow by Ginkgo, the company magazine we produce, which tells the story of synthetic biology in a Ginkgo-authentic way.
To learn more about Ginkgo, check out some recent press:What is it really like to take your company public via a SPAC? One Boston biotech shares its journey (Fortune)Ginkgo Bioworks resizes the definition of going big in biotech, raising $2.5B in a record SPAC deal that weighs in with a whopping $15B-plus valuation (Endpoints News)Ginkgo Bioworks CEO on scaling up Covid-19 testing: ‘If we try, we can win’ (CNBC)Ginkgo raises $70 million to ramp up COVID-19 testing for employers, universities (Boston Globe)Ginkgo Bioworks Redirects Its Biotech Platform to Coronavirus (Wall Street Journal)Ginkgo Bioworks Provides Support on Process Optimization to Moderna for COVID-19 Response (PRNewswire)The Life Factory: Synthetic Organisms From This $1.4 Billion Startup Will Revolutionize Manufacturing (Forbes)Synthetic Bio Pioneer Ginkgo Raises $290 Million in New Funding (Bloomberg)Ginkgo Bioworks raises $350 million fund for biotech spinouts (Reuters)Can This Company Convince You to Love GMOs? (The Atlantic)
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 and employment applicants.