At Element Biosciences, we are passionate about our mission to empower the scientific community with more freedom and flexibility to accelerate our collective impact on humanity. We have built a highly efficient product-driven organization where employees can learn, grow, and thrive in a challenging but encouraging environment. We are committed to scientific integrity, collegiality, honesty, objectivity, and openness.
We are seeking an experienced Principal Bioinformatics Scientist who will play a pivotal role in designing and implementing innovative algorithms for the analysis of high throughput data as part of a cross-disciplinary team working on the foundational aspects of an exciting, new technology. This is an incredible opportunity for someone who is passionate about driving technology improvement and becoming a part of the customer-facing offering. Experience and a deep understanding of algorithms and strong scientific software development skills are a must. This role will report to our VP, Informatics & Scientific Affairs and will be a San Diego based (on-site) role.
If you possess the following and want to make a meaningful impact, we invite you to explore this role.
Essential Functions and Responsibilities:
- Work as part of a multi-disciplinary team to develop new technology
- Work on a variety of projects with an opportunity to work on product design and green-field analysis infrastructure
- Design and implement novel algorithms to improve the sequencing and multi-omics platform
- Optimize execution of existing methods
- Analyze data to identify improvement opportunities
- Serve as a scientific and technical leader within a multi-disciplinary R&D team, contributing deep expertise in bioinformatics, algorithm development, and data analysis to drive innovation across projects
- Design, prototype, and implement novel computational algorithms to advance the accuracy, efficiency, and scalability of our sequencing and multi-omics technologies
- Architect and develop robust, production-grade bioinformatics pipelines and infrastructure to support rapid development cycles and integration with customer-facing platforms
- Lead exploratory data analysis and large-scale data mining efforts to uncover insights that directly inform technology development and optimization strategies
- Evaluate and integrate new computational methods and tools, staying abreast of current advances in the bioinformatics field to maintain a competitive technical edge
- Collaborate closely with wet lab scientists, software engineers, and product teams to define requirements, validate findings, and translate scientific innovation into practical solutions
- Drive performance optimization of existing algorithms and pipelines, improving speed, memory usage, and accuracy across diverse datasets
- Mentor junior scientists and engineers, fostering a culture of scientific rigor, innovation, and continuous learning within the informatics team
- Contribute to strategic decision-making around data architecture, modeling approaches, and experimental design
- Represent the informatics function in cross-functional meetings and provide expert input on scientific direction and priorities
Education and Experience:
- PhD degree strongly preferred with a background in computer science, bioinformatics, computational biology, mathematics, or related fields and 10 years of industry related experience
- Exceptional development skills, especially in the implementation of novel algorithms
- C++ and/or C# programming skills
- Proficiency in scripting with Python
- Strong communication and presentation skills
- Demonstrated experience in processing of next-generation sequencing desired
- Knowledge of cloud and related technologies (AWS, Docker) desired
Physical Requirements:
- Ability to lift up to 20 pounds
Location:
- San Diego – on-site
Travel:
- Up to 5% of as needed
Job Type:
- Full-time, Exempt
Base Compensation Pay Range:
- $179,000 - $254,000
In addition to base compensation noted above, you will be eligible for stock options, discretionary annual bonus, no cost health insurance plans, 401k with company match, and flexible paid time off.
Please note: Base compensation will depend on multiple factors, including geographic location, qualifications, and experience.
We foster an environment such that all people are afforded the freedom to pursue their passions without regard to race, color, religion, national or ethnic origin, gender (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, disability, veteran status or any other characteristics protected by law.
Top Skills
What We Do
Element Biosciences is a multi-disciplinary startup focused on innovating genetic analysis tools for the research and diagnostic markets. We are developing a modular and high-performing DNA sequencing platform that will deliver high-quality data, increase workflow flexibility, and make next-generation sequencing technology more accessible. Our proprietary approach to improving the signal-to-noise ratio allows us to provide groundbreaking innovations in surface chemistry, instrumentation, and biochemistry to drastically decrease run costs and capital costs while delivering high sequencing data quality.
