System developer for genetic diagnostics (Spesialingeniør)

Do you want to build robust systems within an 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 Oslo University Hospital 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. We are a diverse, multidisciplinary team and look forward to meeting candidates who can contribute their knowledge, talent and personality to further bioinformatics at Oslo University Hospital. We are the creators of ELLA (see https://allel.es), an advanced open-source web-based application which streamlines the process of identifying disease-causing genetic variants among the millions of variants found in genomes of patients suffering from rare/inherited diseases. ELLA is currently used by Oslo Universitetssykehus, St Olavs hospital, and a few other hospitals around the world. We are now seeking motivated colleagues who want to develop ELLA and related systems to further transform how genetic analyses are done and put us at the forefront of precision medicine as the fast-evolving field develops.

The open position is for a backend or full-stack developer who wants to write well-structured robust software systems. We are currently rewriting the frontend of ELLA (https://gitlab.com/alleles/ella-frontend) and a next step is to rewrite the backend using FastAPI and further develop the data model. This is a chance to reimagine how we can meet the challenges of the large data volumes in whole genome sequencing and the increasing complexity of analyses. Data sharing is increasingly important in genetics, and part of this position can also be to work on systems that enable safe sharing with other labs. The position is full time and permanent. We currently also have a frontend developer position available. For more background information and details about the team, please see the description at http://about.ousamg.io and https://www.ous-research.no/digigen, or give us a call.

You will be working in an interdisciplinary team with doctors, lab engineers, bioinformaticians and other developers. As the software is developed in agile iterations in close collaboration with other developers and end-users, the full suitability of a candidate will be given consideration in the selection and interview process.

Please contact group coordinator Tony Håndstad at tony.handstad@medisin.uio.no (+4790609379) or unit manager Knut Erik Berge at kberge@ous-hf.no for any questions related to the position. Deadline for applications is April 18th.

Oslo University Hospital is a workplace with great diversity. We believe this is essential to perform the tasks required of us. Therefore, we pursue diversity among our job applicants and encourage everyone to apply regardless of who you are and what background you have.

Responsibilities

• Development of ELLA. You will be involved in all phases of development, from exchanging innovative ideas with end-users, to design and development, quality assurance and implementation. 
• Implement other tools that scale the interpretation process, improve diagnostic quality and support our other bioinformatic processes.
• 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

Qualifications

• Higher education in informatics, or relevant disciplines. 
• Excellent programming skills (e.g. Python). Experience in development of APIs and web-based software applications is favorable.
• Proficiency with Linux/CLI and experience with version control, containers and CI testing.
• Experience with databases (e.g. PostgreSQL) and ability to handle large data volumes.
• A track record of contributions to open source is a plus.
• Excellent English speaking and writing skills, fluent Norwegian is a plus.
  

Personal qualities

• Structured and self-going, able to "get things done" even when faced with complex problems.
• Enjoys working in a team and able to find pragmatic solutions together with other team members.
• Motivated by building solid software that makes sense to other developers and an interest in learning the domain.

We can offer

• Work in a very interesting and extremely fast-developing field with high impact on healthcare.
• Varied tasks, and autonomy to learn, exercise and master a wide range of different skills.
• Flexible hours, with possibilities for part-time remote work.
• Competent and friendly colleagues to learn from.
• Salary dependent on qualifications.