We harness the ingenuity of our people, innovative science, and technology and relationships to solve problems to strengthen New Zealand's health, safety and wellbeing. We also create innovative products and services for communities around the globe.

ESR is a Crown Research Institute with 450+ staff with sites across New Zealand.

Mō te tūnga | The role

We are looking for a Technical Lead - Bioinformatics to lead the Bioinformatics portfolio within our Human Genomics team, based in our Kenepuru Science Centre in Porirua, New Zealand.

You will have the opportunity to apply your bioinformatic expertise to projects which make a difference to people and healthcare.  This role will support and help drive ESR's rapidly expanding genomics capability, which is currently applied to the environmental, public health, food safety, security and justice sectors in New Zealand.

In this role you will be involved in:

• Leading the development of human genomics within ESR and our collaborations with external partners and stakeholders
• Perform and manage the development of best practise bioinformatic pipelines for whole human and other genomic datasets
• Mentoring, coaching and code review for Human Genomics bioinformaticians and other scientists within ESR
• Developing bespoke bioinformatics analysis pipelines and approaches
• Leading own research and bioinformatics components of projects / experimental design

Mōu | About you

To be successful in this role you will have a mix of the following:

• A relevant postgraduate qualification (ideally a PhD) in bioinformatics or related discipline
• Applied experience in Bioinformatics or Computational Genetics, recognised by peers and clients at a national and international level
• Experience in developing bioinformatics pipelines for the analysis of human genomic level data
• Expertise with implementing best practice reproducible research procedures
• Intermediate skills in one or more programming languages
• Demonstrable leadership or mentoring skills, teaching other scientists or students
• Experience in Oxford Nanopore sequencing and familiarity with Linux environments would be desirable, but not essential

Ngā painga | The benefits

• $95k - $110k+, depending on relevant skills and experience
• Varied and interesting work with a chance to meaningfully contribute to the health of New Zealanders.
• An exciting and diverse environment.
• You'll receive ongoing personal development, as well as access to a Southern Cross group membership scheme.
• You will be working with a dedicated and passionate team of people who take pride in the quality of their work