Lead Bioinformatics Field Engineer

The lead Bioinformatics Field Engineer is responsible for supporting and maintaining the bioinformatics software and hardware stacks that are used in the clinical laboratory to process patient samples using Guardant Health’s digital sequencing technology. In addition, they provide bioinformatic technical support to clinical teams, helping them to troubleshoot and interpret bioinformatics pipeline results to enroll advanced cancer patients in clinical trials and help physicians identify the right treatment options for their patients.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Support the CLIA/CAP accredited clinical laboratory by providing subject matter expertise in the software, hardware and result outputs of Guardant Health’s bioinformatic pipelines.
• Support and maintain the software applications that make up the bioinformatics software system.
• Work with technical teams to install new software, software upgrades and/or products for use in the clinical laboratory.
• Perform troubleshooting and/or root cause analysis of potential issues with Guardant Health’s cfDNA workflow(s) and maintain ownership through resolution.
• Perform troubleshooting of computational hardware, storage and Guardant Health’s high performance computing stack.
• Provide bioinformatic technical support to clinical operators, including reviewing and interpreting bioinformatic pipeline outputs and assisting clinicians with NGS result reporting.
• Develop training and troubleshooting material for support workflow(s) and bioinformatic pipeline result interpretation.
• Any other duties the Employee may be instructed to carry out by the board of directors from time to time that are reasonably within the scope of the Employee’s job position and work capabilities.

Qualifications and Requirements

• M.S. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science or related field + 6 years of industry experience OR PhD in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science or related field experience + 3 years of industry experience.
• This position requires a candidate that is strong in root cause analysis, application support and complex clinical facing interactions.
• The candidate should have:

1. Hands-on experience running and troubleshooting bioinformatic pipelines used in cfDNA and/or NGS assays, including result review and interpretation.
2. Strong understanding of Python and Bash scripting, as well as comfortable working in a Linux shell environment, such as interacting with applications and tools through the terminal interface.
3. Working knowledge of Django, Django Restful Framework (DRF) and managing and deploying Docker (or other virtualization technologies).
4. Experience working with a relational database, preferably PostgreSQL.
5. Experience in clinical genomic applications, is detail-orientated and customer-focused.
6. Work environment: Employee may be required to lift routine office supplies and use office equipment, as well as potentially lift computing equipment. Majority of work is performed in a desk/office environment; however, there may be exposure to high noise levels, fumes, and biohazard material in the laboratory environment. Ability to sit for extended periods of time.