Computational Engineer

About the role

The successful candidate will work closely with computational biologists, the data infrastructure team, and the LIMS/ELN team to build, deploy, and maintain robust and efficient applications for collecting, analyzing, and distributing data to support our research and development efforts.  This person will have strong written and verbal communication skills paired with an ability to get things done quickly without amassing hidden technical debt.  They will be able to work with scientists, automation engineers, and computational biologists to understand their requirements, negotiate solutions that satisfy those requirements, and implement them in a timely fashion.

The ideal candidate will be excited about building applications and application environments that scale gracefully over time and teammates, and that can adapt to research needs.  They will believe in the importance of building and evangelizing systems that are approachable and maintainable by using standard tooling and techniques; implementing test cases; using version control and continuous integration systems; and writing documentation for end-users and other developers. The ability to be flexible, and to work in a highly collaborative environment and an agile team first mind-set will be critical to success.

What you’ll do

• Build, deploy, and maintain pipelines that are efficient, robust, and leverage our distributed compute infrastructure while following software engineering good practices (e.g. version control, code review, testing, documentation, CI/CD)
• Collaborate with the Computational Biology group to help build core informatics infrastructure, tooling, and software development processes
• Mentor and coach teammates: leading tutorials and training sessions, building documentation that encourages and supports good practices, and working 1:1 with co-workers
• Lead our code-review culture, establishing and extending good practices by building infrastructure that makes doing the right thing simple, and straight-forward
• Work with the Data Infrastructure team to build and deploy resources using state of the art infrastructure-as-code approaches
• Collaborate with the Computational Biology, Data Infrastructure, and LIMS/ELN teams to help build a dynamic, long-term, scalable data resource to support the company’s work

What we’re looking for

• BA and/or MS plus 7+ years or equivalent combination of education and work experience; PhD in scientific/technical discipline and up to 2+ years academia or industry experience.
• Demonstrated proficiency building applications in Python, with experience in Python packaging and documentation tools and software best practices.
• Demonstrated proficiency in building, packaging, and deploying applications in Unix-like environments; experience building and packaging applications for cloud and container platforms
• Solid, demonstrable understanding of how to use git, shared repository servers (BitBucket, GitLab), CI/CD systems, and related tools to manage and organize the evolution of software projects
• Must be detail oriented, self-motivated, independent, flexible, organized and able to prioritize and manage several fast-paced projects concurrently
• Strong verbal and written communication skills for technical and non-technical audiences
• Experience establishing good engineering practices and mentoring team-mates
• Proven track-record to collaborate effectively in a cross-functional matrix environment and lead through influence across functional and organizational lines
• Strong analytical, problem solving, critical thinking and decision-making skills
• Ability to effectively work through change and ambiguity
• Ability to engage in crucial conversations – providing and receiving feedback

What will separate you from the crowd

• Experience building tools to support research in a scientific discipline such as biology or chemistry
• Experience building and deploying user-facing software applications using modern, web-based software stacks
• Experience with R, BioConductor, and related bioinformatics tools
• Experience using Go to build applications and services; using Biogo to build analysis tools
• Experience with a variety of programming languages, including C++ and/or Java
• Experience with high performance computing (local or cloud)
• Experience with SQL database management systems
• Experience with non-SQL data management systems, including “noSQL” document databases and text search engines
• Experience with Terraform, Ansible, or similar infrastructure-as-code tools
• Experience building packages for packages systems like Spack, Nix, or Homebrew
• Contributions to public software projects using modern code-sharing platforms (e.g. open-source projects hosted on GitHub)

What you should know

• Working safely in person on a predictable and regular in-person basis is an essential job function for this position, and the Company requires that all individuals working in-person be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, including receipt of a vaccine booster shot if recommended by the CDC

How we work together

• Lead from every seat – we seek to understand, act with honesty, and engage in the crucial conversations
• Thrive as a team – we hire amazing people, are intensely curious, and cultivate inclusion and personal connectivity
• Make it happen – we value vigorous debate, alignment around our decisions, and resilient execution

Get to know us

At Sana, we believe that a diverse workforce strengthens us as a company and helps us to achieve our mission to meaningfully change the outcome of many human diseases. This belief is a pillar of our business and is critical to our success. Our goal is that Sana is the place for talented people to bring their authentic selves to work, to have a great career and to deeply, positively impact patients.

Core to our values, we believe there is nothing more important than the health and wellness of you and your family. For benefit eligible employees, we cover 100% of the cost for employee health coverage and offer generous time-off, parental leave, short- and long-term disability, financial wellness programs, a 401(k) Plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan, commuter subsidy and a variety of wellness offerings to support each person individually.

We are committed to providing a workplace free of discrimination and harassment based on race, color, religion, age, gender, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental or sensory disability (including the use of a trained guide dog or service animal by a person with a disability), genetic information, actual or perceived HIV or Hepatitis C infection, medical condition (cancer or a record or history of cancer and genetic characteristics), marital status, sexual orientation, sexual preference, pregnancy (including childbirth and related medical conditions), disability, veteran status, political ideology, taking or requesting statutorily protected leave, status as a victim of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking, or any other basis prohibited by applicable law.

To perform this job successfully, you must be able to perform each job responsibility satisfactorily. The job description listed above is representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required for this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the functions described above.