Senior Scientist, Bioinformatics

The Senior Scientist, Bioinformatics position is a key member of the Computational Biology team and will be involved in driving forward drug discovery and therapeutic development processes at Visterra. Reporting to the Sr. Director of Research, this person will play a lead role in developing and applying cutting-edge computational approaches for early target discovery, next generation sequence data analysis, and utilization of multi-omics datasets. We are seeking an experienced bioinformatician to develop and adapt data-driven approaches to perform large-scale integrated analyses of public and proprietary datasets for target identification and validation to guide drug development decisions.

Responsibilities

• Develop, implement, and maintain bioinformatics workflows, with an emphasis on approaches in the -omics space
• Lead the bioinformatics strategy efforts to address key target identification questions on underlying biological mechanisms of disease
• Leverage and extend best practices from genomics, statistics, and data science to process and analyze internal and public multi-omics data, and derive biological insights that will impact program strategy
• Manage existing high-dimensional data resources and ingest new public and internal datasets for use by team members
• Clean and curate large omics datasets to enable FAIR data principles, and drive the implementation of data science best practices across the organization
• Distill complex data analyses and effectively communicate key findings both informally and in meetings with colleagues and management
• Participate in research team meetings, and proactively suggest new ways to impact programs from discovery through the clinic
• Maintain expertise in the field by staying current with relevant literature, proactively evaluate new technologies, and implement in-house where appropriate

Requirements

• Ph.D. in Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Computer Science, or a related field with 4+ years experience, or a M.S. with 10 years of relevant experience
• Proven track record of evaluating and using public biology databases, with an understanding of how to utilize large datasets to drive discovery and development efforts
• Experience implementing workflows to process high-throughput -omics data and performing downstream analyses that generate biological insights
• Proficient with workflows used in genomics data analysis and data visualization
• Experience with pathway analysis and network prediction
• Strong knowledge of biological systems and the latest genomics technologies
• Strong hands-on programming skills (Python or R), and high proficiency with Unix-based systems
• Deep understanding of next generation sequencing (NGS) methods
• Familiarity with cloud computing services, such as AWS, is preferred

Management responsibilities: This position may include supervisory responsibilities

Travel: Possible travel to local and national conferences

Company

We are a team of 100 talented and driven people working passionately and collaboratively to develop a robust pipeline of innovative antibody-based therapies for patients with unmet needs. Our proprietary technology platform powered by our state-of-the-art laboratory enables the design and engineering of precision antibody-based product candidates that specifically bind to, and modulate, key disease targets for the treatment of patients with kidney diseases and other hard-to-treat diseases. Visterra is a subsidiary of Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. of Japan. As a member of the Otsuka family of companies, we have the advantage of being a dynamic, nimble, innovative organization where you can make direct, meaningful impacts while benefiting from the support, stability, and long-term perspective of a 100-year-old global company.

Visterra provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state or local laws.