Principal Computational Biologist (Systems Biologist)

Principal Computational Biologist (Systems Biologist) (Under the leadership of Alex Kalinka)

Internally this is known as Principal Bioinformatician (Systems Biologist)

£57,000 - £70,900 plus benefits (includes up to 12% pension contribution and income protection)

Reports to: Group Leader - Quantitative Biology

Directorate: Research & Innovation

Contract: Permanent

Hours: Full time 35 hours per week

Location: Cambridge, Babraham Research Campus, Biomedical Campus (Limited flexibility 3-4 days per week on site)

Closing date: 25 January :55

This vacancy may close earlier if a high volume of applications is received or once a suitable candidate is found, therefore we strongly recommend that you apply early to avoid disappointment. Please let us know if there is anything about the recruitment process that you would like to discuss, in particular if there are any changes or adjustments that would make it easier for you to apply. Please contact or as soon as possible.

Visa sponsorship: Cancer Research UK can consider visa sponsorship for this vacancy. If this applies to you, please ensure that this is clearly marked on your application.

Recruitment process: 1st stage interview via Microsoft Teams, 2nd stage will include a presentation followed by competency-based questions on-site

Interview date: We will be booking in 1st stage interviews on an ongoing basis, 2nd stage in planned for 3 and 6 of February

At Cancer Research UK, we exist to beat cancer.

Cancer Research Horizons are looking to recruit a passionate scientific professional to set and drive our computational strategy for integrating cancer systems biology methodologies into our drug discovery pipeline to motivate key decisions arising in the target ID, target validation, and disease positioning spaces.

About Cancer Research Horizons

As the world's biggest medical research charity, we've helped bring eleven new cancer drugs to market. However, there is still an urgent need to bring more effective treatments to patients faster.

We have recently developed a new approach to driving therapeutic innovation through the creation of Cancer Research Horizons (CRH). We have brought together Cancer Research UK's established drug discovery teams under one organisation and leadership team, combining our unique pipeline of cancer biology expertise and access to CRUK's world-class academic network, cutting edge technology platforms and clinical expertise to 1) bring new treatments to patients faster and 2) tackle the biggest challenges in discovering cancer drugs by seeking out more radical ideas and embracing risk in our bid to achieve success.

Based at sites in Cambridge, the CRUK Scotland Institute in Glasgow, and Newcastle University, Cancer Research Horizons employs 200 staff from both industrial and academic backgrounds

This is a new role for the team and real chance to make a tangible impact from day one. Utilise your expertise to support CRH in taking take a bigger, more holistic view of cancer. Build robust evidence packages and leverage cutting-edge systems-level predictive modelling to uncover the molecular pathways driving cancer development. You will become an integral part of the Cancer Research Horizon Drug Discovery team helping to progress novel cancer targets towards patient benefit. Furthermore, we actively encourage our colleagues to celebrate our science, by attending conferences, presenting posters, giving talks at events and publishing papers.

What will I be doing?

Our new strategy sets out to bring deeper mechanistic understanding at the molecular and cellular level to all stages of projects, from idea to pre-clinical Candidate. Reporting directly to the Leader of our Quantitative Biology team, we are looking for an experienced computational biologist to develop a systems level approach to understanding cancer molecular networks to underpin predictive modelling of patient response that moves beyond single-gene biomarkers. In this role you will take a mechanistic, causative approach to understanding how patient somatic mutations drive the development of cancer and work closely with functional genomics scientists to test novel hypotheses.

In this role you will:

• Set and drive our computational strategy for integrating cancer systems biology approaches to support key decisions relating to target ID, target validation, and disease positioning.
• Develop a patient-data focused biomarker strategy underpinned by a systems level understanding of cancer molecular pathways.
• Analyse patient genomic data to uncover key somatic driver mutations and integrate this information with molecular pathways to build a mechanistic understanding of cancer development.
• Provide deep expertise in computational biology and its role in oncology drug discovery.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement for our computational and analytical approaches.
• Provide scientific and strategic leadership in computational biology across CRH.
• Communicate effectively to influence multiple stakeholders and collaborate across projects and sites, including externally.
• Promote scientific excellence, through external publication and presentations.

What are we looking for?

• PhD in bioinformatics, data science, or equivalent
• Experience within a drug discovery environment (i.e pharma, biotech or academic institute)
• A strategic thinker with proven scientific leadership, including through matrix management
• Experienced in the use and development of cancer systems level predictive modelling to uncover the molecular pathways underpinning cancer development
• Experience of working with oncology patient datasets and using them to test and generate novel hypotheses
• Experience of integrating multi-omics datasets (genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic) to infer molecular pathways involved in driving cancer
• Experience of using machine learning and AI tools to support a systems level understanding of cancer
• Programming experience with tools such as Python
• Experience adhering to good coding hygiene practices such as documentation, testing, and code review
• Excellent communication skills, ability to describe complex science in an engaging and inclusive manner.
• Ability to build open and honest relationships and influence multiple stakeholders.
• Ability to work collaboratively across projects and sites, also externally

Our organisation values are designed to guide all that we do.

Bold: Act with ambition, courage and determination

Credible: Act with rigour and professionalism

Human: Act to have a positive impact on people

Together: Act inclusively and collaboratively

We're looking for people who can believe in and embody these organisation values and can use them to drive forward progress against our mission to beat cancer.

If you're interested in applying and excited about working with us but are unsure if you have the right skills and experience we'd still love to hear from you.

What will I gain?

We create a working environment that supports your wellbeing and provide a generous benefits package, a wide range of career and personal development opportunities and high-quality tools. Our policies and processes enable you to improve your work-life balance, take positive steps in your career and achieve your personal wellbeing goals.

You can explore our benefits by visiting our careers web page.

How do I apply?

We operate an anonymised shortlisting process in our commitment to equality, diversity and inclusion. CVs are required for all applications; but we won't be able to view them until we invite you for an interview. Instead, we ask you to complete the work history section of the online application form for us to be able to assess you fairly and objectively.

For more information on this career opportunity please visit our website or contact us.

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