Junior Data Scientist

Contract term: This is a full-time, fixed term (12 months) position on Crick terms and conditions of employment.

Reporting to: Dr Samra Turajlic, Group Leader

Salary for this Role: From £36,835 with benefits, subject to skills and experience

About us

The Francis Crick Institute is Europe’s largest biomedical research institute under one roof. Our world‑class scientists and staff collaborate on vital research to help prevent, diagnose and treat illnesses such as cancer, heart disease, infectious diseases and neurodegenerative conditions.

The Crick is a place for collaboration, innovation and exploration across many disciplines. A space where the brightest minds can pursue big and bold ideas and discover answers to crucial scientific questions. We support them in a dynamic environment which fosters excellence with state‑of‑the‑art infrastructure, cutting‑edge facilities, and a creative and curious culture. We’ve removed traditional boundaries of departments, divisions and disciplines and instead have an open approach that supports every researcher.

This gives us the freedom to take risks and carry out high‑quality, pioneering research. Creating a space for discovery without boundaries helps us to turn our science into benefits for human health and the economy.

About the Turajlic Lab

The Turajlic Lab studies how cancers evolve, adapt and respond to treatment, combining cutting‑edge genomics, computational biology and clinical research to better understand cancer and ultimately improve patient outcomes.

Our research focuses particularly on renal cell carcinoma and melanoma, exploring the impact of the tumour microenvironment, immune system and cancer therapies on tumour evolution.

Working across the Crick and with leading national and international collaborators, our team analyses rich datasets from major studies including MANFIEST, TRACERx, PEACE, ADAPTeR and A‑PREDICT.

About the role

We are looking for a Junior Data Scientist to join our multidisciplinary team and support the analysis of complex genomic and transcriptomic datasets.

This is a fantastic opportunity for an early‑career bioinformatician or computational biologist who wants to develop their skills while contributing to exciting, clinically relevant cancer research.

You’ll work closely with computational scientists, wet‑lab researchers and clinicians, supporting the analysis of various multimodal datasets including bulk and single‑cell RNA sequencing, whole exome sequencing, cytokine and spatial data and helping turn complex datasets into meaningful biological insights.

You’ll also have access to the Crick’s extensive computational infrastructure and opportunities to collaborate with researchers nationally and internationally.

• Analysing high‑throughput genomic and spatial data, including whole genome sequencing, bulk RNA‑seq, single‑cell RNA‑seq, peripheral cytokine, spatial proteomics and transcriptomics.
• Applying bioinformatics and statistical approaches to clinical and experimental datasets.
• Using R/Bioconductor and/or Python to analyse and interpret data.
• Working with Linux, cloud and high‑performance computing (HPC) environments.
• Integrating publicly available NGS datasets with data generated within the lab.
• Working closely with scientists to interpret findings and answer biological questions.
• Communicating results through project meetings and analysis reports.
• Contributing to a collaborative programme of cancer evolution research.

About you

You will have:

• A degree in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology or a related discipline, with a scientific background in biology.
• Experience analysing next‑generation sequencing data, particularly whole genome or exome sequencing, bulk and single‑cell RNA‑seq.
• Experience using R/Bioconductor and/or…