Summary
The Lead Bioinformatics Programmer oversees the design, development, and maintenance of software systems that support large-scale biomedical and data science research initiatives. This role is responsible for coordinating the work of software developers, data engineers, and system architects to deliver secure, scalable, and high-performance computing systems for translational and clinical research.
The Lead Bioinformatics Programmer serves as the technical and organizational lead bridging computer engineering, data science, and biomedical research teams–ensuring timely delivery, compliance with institutional standards, and sustainability of computing infrastructure.
Job Duties
- Formulates and defines project scope, objectives, and technical requirements through collaboration with principal investigators, clinicians, and data scientists.
- Leads the planning, architecture, and development of research-oriented software applications and computational platforms (web, cloud, and HPC).
- Designs and supervises scalable, secure system architectures leveraging technologies such as AWS (S3, EC2, SQS, SNS), Docker, and distributed computing frameworks.
- Oversees development of APIs and microservices for research pipelines and data management systems.
- Implements and monitors project management best practices including sprint planning, task allocation, and automated testing workflows.
- Ensures institutional compliance for HIPAA and data security in system design and deployment.
- Coordinates cross-functional communication among clinical informatics, data science, and engineering teams to ensure project alignment.
- Provides technical mentorship and guidance to developers; reviews code for scalability, maintainability, and reliability.
- Leads system performance evaluation and optimizes compute and data workflows for high-throughput biomedical research.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Biological Science, or a related field.
- Five years of relevant experience.
Preferred Qualifications
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- Five years of relevant experience in software development, system architecture, or project management.
- Experience managing software projects in research or healthcare settings.
- Proficiency in technologies such as Typescript, Python, and cloud infrastructure (AWS).
- Experience leading cross-functional engineering teams and deploying secure cloud-based or HPC systems.
- Familiarity with biomedical data systems, AI/ML pipelines, or data integration platforms.
Baylor College of Medicine is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action/Equal Access Employer.
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