A leading healthcare technology and genomics organization in Abu Dhabi is seeking an experienced Bioinformatician to join its large-scale genomics and bioinformatics team.
Location: Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Job Type: Full-Time
Industry: Genomics, Biotechnology, Healthcare Technology & Bioinformatics
The position will support national-scale whole genome sequencing (WGS) and genomic data initiatives, contributing to the development, optimization, automation, and continuous improvement of production bioinformatics workflows.
The Senior Bioinformatician will be responsible for developing scalable and reproducible genomic data processing pipelines, implementing workflow automation, supporting cloud-based genomic computing environments, and maintaining robust quality control frameworks across high-volume sequencing datasets.
This is a highly technical role suited to professionals with strong experience in bioinformatics pipeline development, genomic data analysis, workflow orchestration, cloud computing, Linux, Python, Nextflow, and large-scale whole genome sequencing projects.
Job Responsibilities
- Design, develop, implement, and maintain scalable bioinformatics pipelines for large-scale genomic data processing.
- Develop automated workflows covering sequencing quality control, read alignment, variant calling, genomic annotation, and downstream genomic analyses.
- Build and optimize production-grade workflows for processing high-volume whole genome sequencing datasets.
- Develop, maintain, and manage workflow orchestration systems using Nextflow or equivalent workflow management technologies.
- Improve the scalability, reproducibility, monitoring, performance, reliability, and maintainability of genomic workflows.
- Evaluate and benchmark bioinformatics tools, genomic technologies, sequencing platforms, and analytical approaches before integrating them into production environments.
- Troubleshoot pipeline failures, software issues, performance bottlenecks, data quality problems, and unexpected analytical results.
- Support the standardization and harmonization of genomic data generated across different sequencing platforms, software versions, analytical pipelines, variant callers, and data releases.
- Establish and maintain genomic quality control processes covering sequencing metrics, sample integrity, contamination, variant quality, batch effects, and cohort release criteria.
- Contribute to the development and optimization of cloud-based genomic computing environments.
- Implement containerized and reproducible software environments using technologies such as Docker and Singularity/Apptainer.
- Optimize computational workloads across cloud and high-performance computing environments.
- Support the development of reliable and reproducible genomic data processing infrastructure.
- Work with large-scale genomic datasets and contribute to production-level whole genome sequencing analysis.
- Collaborate with bioinformaticians, computational scientists, genomic scientists, software engineers, cloud specialists, data management teams, and other technical stakeholders.
- Identify opportunities to automate repetitive processes and improve the efficiency of production genomics operations.
- Support continuous improvement, standardization, validation, and quality enhancement of bioinformatics workflows.
- Maintain technical documentation covering workflow architecture, pipeline configuration, validation procedures, analytical processes, and operational protocols.
- Apply software development best practices, version control, testing, and reproducibility principles to bioinformatics pipeline development.
- Ensure genomic data processing activities comply with organizational policies, confidentiality requirements, data governance standards, and applicable regulatory requirements.
- Contribute to technical projects involving new genomic technologies, analytical methodologies, and production bioinformatics capabilities.
- Provide technical guidance and subject matter expertise on genomic data processing and bioinformatics workflow development.
Job Qualifications
- PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related scientific or technical discipline.
- An equivalent combination of advanced education and substantial relevant professional experience may also be considered.
- Significant professional experience in production bioinformatics, genomic computing, workflow development, pipeline engineering, cloud genomics, or related technical fields.
- Demonstrated experience leading or contributing to large-scale genomics infrastructure, pipeline development, workflow automation, or genomic data processing projects.
- Hands-on experience working with whole genome sequencing (WGS) datasets and large-scale genomic analysis environments.
- Strong programming experience using Python, shell scripting, or comparable programming languages.
- Advanced proficiency in Linux command-line environments.
- Practical experience with Nextflow or another workflow orchestration framework.
- Strong knowledge of genomic analysis and processing tools such as DRAGEN, Sentieon, GATK, bcftools, samtools, and related technologies.
- Experience developing and maintaining reproducible, automated bioinformatics workflows.
- Experience with Docker, Singularity, Apptainer, or other containerization technologies.
- Strong understanding of genomic file formats including FASTQ, BAM, CRAM, VCF, and gVCF.
- Knowledge of genomic quality control methodologies and large-scale genomic data processing.
- Experience with variant calling and genomic variant analysis.
- Familiarity with structural variation analysis and other large-scale genomic analytical approaches.
- Experience with cloud computing platforms, high-performance computing (HPC) environments, or large-scale computational infrastructure is highly desirable.
- Familiarity with Git, software version control, workflow testing, and software development practices.
- Experience evaluating, benchmarking, and implementing bioinformatics tools in production environments.
- Scientific publications, open-source bioinformatics contributions, or experience owning and maintaining large-scale genomics systems would be advantageous.
- Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities with the capacity to troubleshoot complex computational and genomic data issues.
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills.
- Ability to work independently while contributing effectively to multidisciplinary scientific and technical teams.
Key Technical Skills
Candidates for this Senior Bioinformatician position may be expected to demonstrate expertise in:
- Bioinformatics pipeline development
- Whole genome sequencing (WGS)
- Genomic data analysis
- Nextflow workflow development
- Python and Bash/Shell scripting
- Linux
- DRAGEN
- Sentieon
- GATK
- SAMtools and BCFtools
- Variant calling
- Structural variation analysis
- FASTQ, BAM, CRAM, VCF and gVCF
- Docker and Singularity/Apptainer
- Cloud computing
- High-performance computing
- Git and version control
- Genomic quality control
- Workflow automation
- Reproducible computational analysis
Career Opportunity in Abu Dhabi
This Senior Bioinformatician position offers an opportunity to work within Abu Dhabi‘s rapidly developing genomics, biotechnology, healthcare technology, and precision medicine ecosystem.
Professionals joining large-scale genomic initiatives can gain exposure to high-volume sequencing datasets, advanced computational infrastructure, cloud-based genomics, workflow automation, and multidisciplinary research and healthcare technology projects.
The role may be particularly relevant to experienced Bioinformaticians, Biotechs, Computational Biologists, Genomics Scientists, Bioinformatics Engineers, Genomic Data Scientists, and Pipeline Developers with production-scale sequencing experience.