About Broken String Biosciences
Broken String Biosciences is powering the future of gene editing development. Our mission is to make transformative treatments safe and accessible for patients, and our vision is a future where cell and gene therapies revolutionise healthcare and transform lives with unprecedented precision and safety.
We are leading gene editing safety with our INDUCE-seq® technology. INDUCE-seq® is a best-in-class DNA break-mapping platform that enables drug developers to assess the specificity of genome editing tools and evaluate associated off-target genetic outcomes with unbiased, genome-wide
resolution. We aim is to make it the go to platform for off-target assessment for cell and gene therapy development. Our BreakMap platform delivers fast, quantitative on- and off-target analysis entirely in-house, replacing fragmented legacy workflows with a single standardised assay. INDUCE-seq® eliminates amplification bias, works across all cell types and editing systems, and
delivers single-nucleotide resolution data in as little as two days from sample processing.
We are now looking for a talented and highly motivated Staff Bioinformatician to join our bioinformatics/data science team. This is an exciting opportunity to work at the forefront of gene editing safety, applying cutting-edge computational approaches as we scale our platform, expand our regulatory footprint, and develop the next generation of tools for safer gene editing.
Position Overview
The Staff Bioinformatician is an experienced computational scientist who operates with a high degree of independence and scientific rigour. At this level, the postholder brings depth of knowledge and industry experience to be able to run customer-facing analysis projects with confidence.
They will own the full analytical lifecycle: running Nextflow pipelines, performing secondary analysis on INDUCE-seq data, and translating complex results into clear, client-ready outputs. They will serve as a credible scientific voice for the BSB data team when presenting findings to external partners and collaborators, combining strong attention to detail with genuine biological understanding. They will contribute to developing and building bioinformatics tools and pipelines to enhance the capabilities of existing pipelines and produce innovative new pipelines.
Key Responsibilities
Client-Facing Analysis and Reporting
- Translate complex bioinformatics outputs into interpretable insights for audiences ranging from scientists to clinical and business stakeholders.
- Contribute to the preparation of internal and external reports, presentations, application notes, and other content as required.
- Prepare data analysis results that will be used in presentations to external BSB clients and collaborators. These will be clear, scientifically rigorous, and visually compelling.
- Partner with the commercial team throughout project delivery.
- Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on customer-facing technical deep dive calls where specialist bioinformatics input is required. Provide scientific depth in response to customer questions and guide technical discussions to support routine data presentation which will often be covered by other team members.
Pipeline Development
- Design, develop, and maintain bioinformatics pipelines in Nextflow, adhering to best practices in reproducibility, modularity, and scalability.
- Deploy and run pipelines across multiple compute environments, including our cloud platform and on AWS.
- Use containers to ensure software reproducibility and portability across environments.
- Maintain version-controlled codebases and contribute to CI/CD practices within the data science team.
Secondary Analysis of INDUCE-seq Data
- Perform secondary analysis on outputs from the standardised INDUCE-seq analysis pipeline, including characterisation of on-target and off-target double-strand break profiles.
- Apply working knowledge of relevant bioinformatics approaches (read alignment, coverage analysis, annotation) to interpret high-throughput NGS datasets.
- Apply biological knowledge and statistical rigour to improve understanding of the mechanisms and outcomes of a range of gene editing technologies.
- Develop bespoke analytical solutions to address the specific requirements of client and internal R&D projects.
- Support the generation of datasets for machine learning model development and assist in the analysis of model outputs.
Collaboration and Scientific Contribution
- Act as a bioinformatics lead on assigned projects, contributing to experimental design, execution, and interpretation within a multidisciplinary team spanning bioinformatics, software development, laboratory R&D and operations, field application, and commercial. Partner
with both the commercial and laboratory teams throughout project delivery, acting as an SME with the customer as required to ensure projects are delivered with scientific credibility and in a manner that fully addresses customer objectives.
- To be accountable and responsible for the bioinformatics aspects of these projects.
- Identify opportunities to improve existing analytical approaches and create new methods and intellectual property aligned with the company’s strategic goals.
- Comply with all quality assurance and governance
procedures, including structured product and software development processes.
Qualifications and Experience
Essential
- A PhD (or equivalent) in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, or a closely related life science discipline.
- A minimum of 2 years of industry experience in a bioinformatics or computational biology role; candidates with strong and directly relevant postdoctoral research experience will also be considered.
- Practical experience developing bioinformatics pipelines in Nextflow, with an understanding of workflow best practices.
- Experience of running pipelines in a cloud environment.
- Proficiency in Python for bioinformatics data analysis and manipulation, including core libraries (pandas, NumPy, matplotlib/seaborn/plotly).
- Working knowledge of common NGS bioinformatics approaches, including read alignment, quality trimming, genomic interval manipulation and annotation, and downstream statistical analysis.
- Experience working with containers (Docker and/or Singularity) for reproducible, portable analysis.
- Familiarity with version control using Git and collaborative development workflows.
- An excellent communicator, both verbally and in writing, with the ability to work effectively across multidisciplinary teams and convey complex concepts clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Desirable
- Experience with CRISPR genome editing methods and the analysis of gene editing safety or off-target data.
- Familiarity with DNA double-strand break detection technologies (such as INDUCE-seq, GUIDE-seq, DISCOVER-seq, or similar).
- Experience presenting technical results to external clients or industry partners.
- Working knowledge of agile software development methodology and CI/CD practices.
Behaviours
- Applies meticulous attention to detail across all stages of work, from pipeline development to client-facing reports.
- Works with scientific integrity, rigorously evaluating data and methods to ensure accuracy and validity of results.
- Approaches complex problems methodically, developing clear and effective solutions and taking ownership of outcomes.
- Operates with sufficient independence that analytical projects can be confidently delegated by senior staff.
- Communicates findings clearly and confidently to a range of audiences, including external clients and collaborators.
- Collaborates effectively within the data team and across departments to achieve shared goals.
- Continuously seeks out new methods and tools to improve bioinformatics workflows and data interpretation.
- Adapts to new scientific challenges and technologies in the rapidly evolving field of bioinformatics, and maintains a positive attitude in a dynamic, fast-paced environment.
- Upholds high standards of scientific integrity and ethical behaviour, and takes responsibility for data security, quality of results, and timely delivery.
