Lead Bioinformatics Data Engineer, SOM, Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease

Benefits: All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s robust benefits package that includes comprehensive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave granted up front, generous tuition benefits, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, employee discounts, well-being resources, abundant opportunities for career development and advancement, and more.

Unit: SOM

Department: Stravitz-Sanyal Institute for Liver Disease

Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) School of Medicine is a premier academic medical center located in the heart of Richmond. Accounting for almost half of VCU’s sponsored research, the School of Medicine is internationally recognized for patient care and education. All full-time university staff are eligible for VCU’s generous benefits package that includes competitive health benefits, paid annual and holiday leave, retirement planning and savings options, tax-deferred annuity and cash match programs, Virginia Retirement System (VRS), professional development & certifications, tuition waiver, parental leave, caregiving leave and community service leave. Learn more about VCU’s benefits here: https://hr.vcu.edu/careers-at-vcu/why-work-at-vcu/

Position summary:

Join the Stravitz-Sanyal Institute on the ground floor of an ambitious program to build multi-omics resources for the global liver research community. You will work alongside luminaries and key opinion leaders in the fields of liver and metabolic health to accelerate and translate discoveries in disease biology. You will be the principal engineer who architects, implements, and evangelizes the data engineering stack that turns multimodal data into analysis-ready assets, powering institutional and global research efforts. The role combines deep hands-on work with technical leadership: you will set standards, guide architecture, and mentor peers.

Key responsibilities:

• Strategic architecture – Define long-term data storage strategies and governance patterns that guarantee usability and scalability.
• Pipeline engineering – Design and maintain ETL/ELT and workflow-managed pipelines (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake) that ingest, transform, and harmonize multi-format data.
• Cloud & HPC enablement – Optimize processing on HPC and cloud infrastructure while remaining interoperable.
• Data products & APIs – Collaborate closely with bioinformatics scientists to deliver versioned data products with programmatic access, which feed visualization tools and support statistical workflows.
• Quality, security & compliance – Institute robust validation, provenance capture, and access-control measures. Align with institutional policies.
• Technical leadership – Establish coding standards, CI/CD, infrastructure-as-code, and mentor junior engineers and analysts. Be a champion for a reproducible research culture.
• Technology radar – Continuously evaluate emerging technologies that can support the mission of the Institute.

Qualifications:

Minimum Hiring Standards/Qualifications:

Education/Experience – MSc/PhD in bioinformatics, computer science or related field and

• 5 years building production pipelines for large-scale omics and biomedical data.
• Programming – Expert in Python (PyData), and SQL. R is a strong plus.
• Workflow & DevOps – Proven experience with workflow DSLs, Docker/Singularity, CI/CD, and IaC.
• Cloud – Hands-on delivery with major cloud platforms.
• Bioinformatics expertise – Deep familiarity with NGS, spatial omics, and imaging formats; experience integrating multi-omics datasets into harmonized schemas. Experience with spatial omics is a significant plus.
• Communication – Ability to translate complex concepts for cross-disciplinary teams and influence technical direction.
• Excellent analytical and design skills.
• Detail oriented with advanced project management skills.
• Good communication and presentation skills.
• Demonstrated ability to work in and foster an environment of respect, professionalism and civility with a population of faculty, staff, and students from all backgrounds and experiences, or a commitment to do so as a staff member at VCU.

Work environment & benefits

• Impactful, greenfield build that will accelerate discovery in human health. Close collaboration with world-class clinicians and scientists.
• Flexible work model: Richmond-based on-site/hybrid encouraged; open to remote. Progress is the key expectation.
• Collaborative culture committed to mentorship and professional growth.
• Comprehensive benefits package and competitive compensation.

Additional Information:

ORP Eligible: - YES
Hours / weeks - 40 hours weekly
Working Title Details: Lead Bioinformatics Data Engineer

VCU Job Title: Sr. IT Architect Engineer

University Code: (24264Y-24266Y)
University Job Family: Information Technology

The position will remain open until a candidate is selected.

Salary Range: $120,000 - $160,000 /commensurate with experience

FLSA Exemption Status: EXEMPT

ORP Eligible: YES

Flexible Work Arrangement: HYBRID

Contact Information:
Contact Name: Demetria Patterson
Contact Email: demetria.patterson1@vcuhelth.org