Sr Staff Scientist - Data

Overview

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center is an independent, nonprofit organization providing adult cancer treatment and groundbreaking research focused on cancer and infectious diseases. Based in Seattle, Fred Hutch is the only National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in Washington.

With a track record of global leadership in bone marrow transplantation, HIV/AIDS prevention, immunotherapy and COVID-19 vaccines, Fred Hutch has earned a reputation as one of the world’s leading cancer, infectious disease and biomedical research centers. Fred Hutch operates eight clinical care sites that provide medical oncology, infusion, radiation, proton therapy and related services, and network affiliations with hospitals in five states.

Together, our fully integrated research and clinical care teams seek to discover new cures to the world’s deadliest diseases and make life beyond cancer a reality.

At Fred Hutch we value collaboration, compassion, determination, excellence, innovation, integrity and respect. Our mission is directly tied to the humanity, dignity and inherent value of each employee, patient, community member and supporter. Our commitment to learning across our differences and similarities make us stronger. We seek employees who bring different and innovative ways of seeing the world and solving problems.

The Sr Staff Scientist identifies, evaluates, and advances technology opportunities that support translational research and data-driven discovery. This role works in close partnership with OCDO infrastructure and data engineering leadership to identify technical solutions to meet emerging translational needs, assess potential data and AI technologies, and guide the early development of technical solutions related to our multimodal patient data platform. This role works in direct collaboration with the OCDO Data Science Staff Scientist to evaluate feasibility of translational data projects at the programmatic level that require integration across infrastructure and data analysis to ensure complete solutions that meet the needs of Clinical Trials, Precision Oncology, and disease-focused translational programs integrating clinical and research efforts.

The position focuses on discovery and evaluation of translational research needs, assessment of emerging technologies, and coordination with internal and external partners to frame viable implementation pathways for complex data and technology projects. This is a technically grounded role that bridges translational research use cases with institutional data platforms, cloud infrastructure, and security and governance considerations.

• Identify technology oriented translational research pain points, integration gaps, and evaluate emerging technology needs across research, clinical, and data domains with our Translational Data Program faculty leadership.
• Partner with translational researchers, faculty, and operational teams to translate scientific and operational needs into clearly defined technical problem statements.
• Plan, write and execute grant-funded technology initiatives as PI, co-PI or Key Personnel on program and/or research grants for the OCDO or in support of partner grants wherein OCDO is a core or subaward.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, platforms, tools, and services relevant to translational research, including cloud services, data platforms, analytics tools, and AI-enabled systems.
• Assess the feasibility, interoperability, scalability, and long-term sustainability of potential technologies within our suite of tools via implementing hands‑on pilot projects in partnership with our engineering leadership. .
• Surface technical dependencies, architectural considerations, and tradeoffs for review by Platform Architecture and Data Engineering leadership.
• Identify data security, privacy, compliance, and governance considerations early in the technology evaluation process.
• Partner with security, privacy, and data governance stakeholders to ensure translational use cases are appropriately assessed and aligned with institutional requirements.
• Coordinate with internal technical teams and external data and/or technology vendors or partners during technology evaluation and early planning phases.
• Produce clear documentation, technical assessments, and recommendations to support institutional decision-making regarding new translational technologies.
• Communicate technical concepts, evaluation findings, and recommendations effectively to both technical and non-technical audiences.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD in bioinformatics, computational biology, biomedical informatics, genomics, systems biology, biomedical engineering, or a related quantitative biomedical field.
• Minimum 5 years of experience working with biomedical or translational research data in an academic medical center, research institute, or equivalent data-intensive research environment.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS:

• Demonstrated expertise in bioinformatics, scientific computing, or…