Karius hiring Staff Bioinformatics Scientist, Assay Development in Redwood City, CA, US

Job Description

Karius is a venture-backed life science startup focused on transforming the way infectious diseases are diagnosed.  Combining Next-Generation Sequencing and proprietary data analysis, we can identify over 1,000 pathogens from a single blood sample with typical turnaround time in one business day. By unlocking the information present in microbial cell-free DNA, we’re helping doctors quickly solve their most challenging cases, with a future vision of accelerating clinical trials, discovering new microbes, and reducing patient suffering worldwide.

Why Should You Join Us?

Karius aims to conquer infectious diseases through innovations around genomic sequencing and machine learning. The company’s platform is already delivering unprecedented insights into the microbial landscape, providing clinicians with a comprehensive test capable of identifying more than a thousand pathogens directly from blood, and helping industry accelerate the development of therapeutic solutions. The Karius test we provide today is one of the most advanced solutions available to physicians who aim to deliver better care to many otherwise ineffectively treated patients. Our test is the result of some incredible work done by our scientists, statisticians, engineers, and physicians, all driven by the same mission. You, as part of the Karius team, will be able to see how directly your work has a life-changing impact on people, and at scale.

Position Summary

We are seeking a candidate to work in a rapid, iterative research environment at the interface of our analytics, molecular biology, and medical teams. You will use rigorous quantitative reasoning to analyze and design experiments that allow us to understand more deeply, troubleshoot, and improve our existing and future assays. You will combine clinical and genomic data to gain novel insight into the interaction between pathogens and disease. This role sits at the heart of where important decisions are made about our technology, and a creative and energetic candidate will have the opportunity to shape the future of our assays and infectious disease medicine! 

Reports to: Director, Bioinformatics, Assay Development

Location:   Redwood City, CA

Primary Responsibilities

•  Generate hypotheses, design experiments, and glean insights that improve the understanding of the genomic signatures of pathogen infection.

•  Design and implement algorithms and statistical and machine learning models to drive discovery and interpretation using genomic, metagenomic, and other kinds of biological and clinical data.

•  Produce robust, reproducible research findings out of multiple sources of heterogeneous data.

•  Collaborate with the scientists, physicians, and engineers to make meaningful contributions to scientific discoveries and the invention of technologies.

What’s Fun About the Job?

Karius is operating at the edge of what is now known to be possible in infectious disease diagnostics. With that, comes a wave of new and incredible challenges and opportunities. To deliver on that value, you will be tapping into some of the most advanced technologies, architecting and innovating where the current solutions simply don’t suffice. You will get to see how much your work really matters. 

Travel:  No travel required.

Physical Requirements

Subject to extended periods of sitting and/or standing, vision to monitor and moderate noise levels. Work is performed in an office environment.

Position Requirements

•  Ph.D. in computational biology, statistics, or related fields.

•  6+ years of post-graduate experience.

•  Demonstrated expertise in analysis and visualization of biological data to drive insight and decision-making.

•  Experience with and understanding of modern statistics and/or machine learning.

•  Familiarity and experience with bioinformatics tools, approaches and workflows, particularly those related to next-generation sequencing data analysis.

•  Familiarity with a range of relevant laboratory techniques (either through hands-on work or from collaborations with laboratory-focused colleagues).

•  Proficiency in working with large-scale datasets in Python or R.

•  Creativity in generating hypotheses and proposing experiments and analyses to test them.

•  Excellence at communication and collaboration within a cross-functional team.

Personal Qualifications

•  Passionate, purpose-driven, and excited about Karius’ mission.

•  Excellence at communication and collaboration within a cross-functional team.

•  Detail oriented with exceptional organizational and time management skills.

•  Self-starting mentality and ability to drive results.

•  Comfortable working in an environment which combines both research aspects as well as development.

•  Ability to work effectively and efficiently in a fast paced (startup) environment.