Principal Computational Biologist - Bristol, United Kingdom - Ochre Bio

Description

Summary

We are looking for a talented and highly motivated Principal Computational Biologist to join Ochre Bio's In Silico Biology team on an exciting journey to support the development of advanced RNA medicines for one of the most pressing healthcare challenges of our time.

The role will lead advanced modelling methods within a functional genomics and imaging team, with a sharp focus on generating novel target recommendations, validating them in models (including actual human livers), and translating them into RNA therapeutics for chronic liver disease.

This role will be based at Oxford Science Park. UK remote work is possible, with site visits.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the 'advanced modelling' squad within the In Silico Biology Team, and be the point of contact and a role model for advanced modelling within the company.
• Maintain strong domain knowledge of leading 'omics' and 'big data' computational methods
• Drive experimental design & modelling of deep phenotyping and/ or omics data in close collaboration with wet-lab scientists. Work as a member of cross-functional teams bringing together best-in-class Drug Discovery, Drug Development, Product & Project Management capabilities.
• Routinely use Python/R for data analyses, in particular data wrangling, modelling and visualisation. Develop solutions to increase automation, reliability and scalability of our data processing pipelines and workflows.
• Lead, co-develop, and run pipelines in a cloud computing environment.
• Maintain progress in personal and professional development to better domain, technical, and professional skills.
• Contribute to documenting processes and code in the form of SOPs. Present research updates to project teams and to the management team.
• Contribute to training initiatives to foster a data-driven culture.

Qualifications & Experience

Required

• PhD in computational biology or related
• Experience in delivering results in a fast-paced environment (biotech / pharma industries would be a distinct advantage)
• Strong experience in developing and modifying statistical (and ML) models of 'omics datasets for biological interpretation and actionable insights
• Strong experience with experimental design, exploratory data analysis, reporting and visualisation of data.
• Experience in leading projects involving multiple stakeholders, end-to-end.

Desirable

• Experience in leading people and delivering through others
• Experience with pipelines / reproducible scientific workflows development (i.e. Nextflow, CodeOcean)

Skills & Competencies

Required

• Deep understanding of human biology beyond the statistical/ML models being developed
• Good knowledge with rapidly prototyping, writing and maintaining Python and/or R code, harnessing statistical tools for biological interpretations.
• Embracing change - this is a fast-growing start-up and change is inevitable

Desirable

• Familiarity with project management tools (SmartSheet / JIRA/ ClickUp)
• Familiarity with Github.
• Familiarity with imaging ML
• Familiarity with cloud computing (AWS)

Cultural & Working Norms

The role requires behaviours that encourage thriving in the face of failures, summarised as Ochre's three laws.

Clarke's Law:

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" (Don't fear failure, be ambitious)

Murphy's Law:

"What can go wrong, will go wrong." (You will fail, learn quickly)

Wheaton's Law:

"Don't be a d*ck" (Others will fail you, support them)