Scientific Manager - Tree

Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

Within the Tree of Life Programme at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, we have built the Genome Engine, producing reference quality eukaryotic genome assemblies at unprecedented scale for a variety of projects, all under the Earth Biogenome umbrella.

The work of the WRAP team will extend the value of genome assemblies by delivering consistent, high-quality downstream analyses that provide a trusted foundation for scientific discovery. These include assembly quality assessment, read mapping and variant calling, gene and feature annotation, phylogenetic analysis, and others.

This role requires someone with a strong grasp of complex data flows and large-scale analysis pipelines, capable of driving delivery through effective team leadership and cross-programme collaboration.

You will join a collaborative, scientifically driven team working at scale to generate, analyse, and interpret genomic data. You are motivated by open science, excited by large-scale genomic resource generation, and keen to make a meaningful scientific impact.

This role is suited to someone with previous experience in large scale scientific data analysis. We have a strong publication record and culture of producing open data resources and open-source software development. This role requires an investigative and solution-oriented mindset and excellent communication skills to work effectively within large national and international consortia.

• Advanced degree in a relevant scientific discipline, or equivalent experience
• Expert knowledge of genomics
• Proven experience in large-scale genomics data analysis
• Proficiency in one or more scripting languages (e.g. Python or Perl)
• Demonstrated experience in computational scientific data analysis
• Strong working knowledge of Unix/Linux environments
• Knowledge of current sequencing data and technologies.
• Experience with running software on a compute farm, cluster, or cloud environment.
• Experience with workflow languages such as Nextflow, Snakemake, WDL

• Highly effective at driving work to completion and closing deliverables.
• Demonstrable successful project delivery within the immediate team and in collaboration with wider stakeholder groups.
• Excellent communication skills and ability to build and maintain good working relationships.
• Curiosity-driven and committed to sharing scientific ideas.
• Ability to work independently and as part of a team.
• Attention to detail and the ability to meet delivery timelines.
• Excellent analytical, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to quickly adapt and respond to new problems and ideas.

The Tree of Life Programme at the Sanger Institute was established to develop and deliver platforms that transform our understanding of the natural world through high-throughput and high-quality biodiversity genomics.

The WRAP team sits within the Tree of Life Assembly team, which leads high quality genome assembly production for major international initiatives such as the Darwin Tree of Life Project, the Aquatic Symbiosis Genomics Project, the Vertebrate Genomes Project, and the European Reference Genome Atlas. These contribute directly to the Earth Bio Genome Project, which aims to fundamentally advance scientific knowledge of evolution and interactions among millions of the planet’s organisms.

To date, we have generated nearly 4,000 high-quality reference genome assemblies and continue to scale our efforts through active development of methods, tools, and pipelines. Our multidisciplinary team of bioinformaticians and software developers works closely with faculty groups and informatics teams across the Programme to enable the smooth progression of genomes through the full Tree of Life Genome Engine.

For further information or questions about this role please contact Shane McCarthy ().

Please apply with your CV and a Cover Letter outlining how you meet the…