Special engineer (Full-stack Developer)

Do you want to build robust systems within a complex and exciting area of health care?

High-throughput sequencing (HTS) is a technology that allows for fast and cost-effective characterization of DNA. Department of Medical Genetics at OUS is Norway's largest medical genetics department with over 240 employees and state-of-the-art sequencing equipment. We are expanding our current diagnostic offering based on HTS and our development of knowledge and frameworks for future precision medicine. Bioinformaticians in the Unit for HTS-diagnostics drive the Development of new diagnostic analysis pipelines as well as software and methodologies that provide decision support, in particular for genetic variant interpretation. In addition to diagnostic work, the group also collaborates with commercial and academic partners in research and innovation projects (e.g. BigMed.no). We are a diverse, multidisciplinary team and look forward to meeting candidates who can contribute their knowledge, talent and personality to further bioinformatics at OUS. As part of our team, you will work in a fast-evolving field that constantly presents new challenges and possibilities. Our goals for the near future include extending the diagnostic toolkit to call and interpret structural variants as well as variants in mitochondrial DNA and in repetitive DNA sequences, launch of time-critical diagnostic tests for critically ill newborns, further development of the open-source application "ELLA" (see http://allel.es), and helping to put OUS at the forefront of precision medicine as the field develops.

We are seeking a motivated colleague who wants to develop genomics analyses that can help the diagnosis of patients suffering from rare diseases or cancer. The position is full-time and permanent. For more background information and details, please see the description of the research part of our group at https://www.ous-research.no/digigen/ and http://about.ousamg.io/

Please contact group coordinator Tony Håndstad at tony.handstad@medisin.uio.no (+47 90609379) or unit manager Knut Erik Berge at kberge@ous-hf.no for any questions related to the position. Note that the full suitability of a candidate will be given consideration in the selection and interview process.  

Responsibilities

• Full-stack development on ELLA, our open-source web-based application that provides decision support for clinical genetic variant interpretation
• Develop variant and genomic knowledge databases, interfaces and secure data sharing frameworks. Adopt and contribute to standards such as those from the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (https://www.ga4gh.org/)
• Implement back-end and front-end tools that scale the interpretation process, improve diagnostic quality and support our processes, in interdisciplinary collaboration with molecular biologists, lab doctors and other clinicians

Qualifications

• Higher education in bioinformatics, informatics, or relevant disciplines. A background in bioinformatics is an advantage, but we welcome applications from quick learners with an interest in the domain. 
• Excellent programming skills (Python/Javascript) and experience in full-stack development of web-based software applications. Good knowledge of web-stack. Knowledge of relevant front-end javascript frameworks like React or Angular, web security protocols and use of cloud services is meritable.
• Experience with databases (e.g. PostgreSQL) and handling large data volumes.
• Proficiency with Linux/CLI and DevOps like git, containers, CI, etc.
• Self-motivated to learn and perform, able to work in a structured manner with high attention to details.
• Excellent English speaking/writing skills.  

We can offer

• Work in a very interesting and extremely fast-developing field with high impact on healthcare
• Varied tasks, and autonomy to exercise and develop a range of different skills
• Flexible hours, some remote work possible if desired
• Competent and friendly colleagues to learn from
• Salary dependent on qualifications