Staff Software Engineer, Data Infrastructure

You + Helix

Helix is a place where innovators and doers gather in order to drive significant progress in population genomics. We have come together to work at the intersection of clinical care, research, and genomics.  

If you’re excited by the idea of making a meaningful impact and joining a team where we pride ourselves on driving innovation through fostering an environment with an emphasis on empowering one another to grow, Helix might be the place for you!

Helix + The World

Helix is the leading population genomics company. Helix enables health systems, public health organizations and life science companies to accelerate the integration of genomic data into patient care and public health decision making.

We are continuing to scale our world-class team to support our dedication to empowering every person to improve their life through DNA. 

Helix + Transparency

At Helix, we value transparency. You will find the expected compensation, interview process, what to anticipate during onboarding, and your first 90 days listed in the job description for all Helix roles.

What is special about this role?

The Helix Data Engineering team plays a pivotal role in Helix’s efforts to provide a first-in-class clinicogenomics research dataset that serves our internal research team, provides operational insights back to health systems, and is a valuable asset in our growing Life Science business. Working closely with Research, Bioinformatics, and other Engineering teams, we are responsible for maintaining infrastructure that enables secure analysis of this quickly growing dataset. The patient is top of mind in everything we do, and your contributions here have the opportunity to improve the real world outcomes for everyone.

As a Staff Software Engineer, you will:

• Maintain and evolve infrastructure that allows scientists to process and analyze Helix-produced clinicogenomics datasets. 
• Drive data infrastructure and data management strategy for clinical and genomic data, contributing to platform components and pipelines that increase the value and usability of these key assets.
• Collaborate and work well cross functionally with product managers, bioinformaticians, scientists, other engineers, and business leaders.
• Establish and maintain strong engineering best practices.
• Own systems and services from development to production.
• Mentor other team members to reinforce a culture of learning and teaching.

About you:

• Reside in the US, Canada, Mexico, Chile or Colombia
• Bachelor's/Master's degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related field with 7+ years of experience; or PhD with 2+ years of experience
• Proven experience in data engineering
• Proficiency in Python, Go, Java, Scala, or similar 
• Proficiency with distributed systems built on cloud infrastructure  — AWS or similar
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code tooling/frameworks (e.g., Terraform, Cloudformation, AWS CDK)
• Experience with authentication protocols such as OAuth, OIDC, SAML, and JWT
• Proficiency in managing Identity and Access Management (IAM) configurations
• Expertise with distributed compute frameworks such as Spark, Dask, EMR, Databricks, or similar
• Expertise with ETL pipeline automation and workflow management tools such as Airflow, AWS Glue, AWS Step Functions, and CI/CD
• Familiarity with database design, data manipulation, and data quality techniques
• Adaptable in a fast-paced startup environment where priorities may change quickly and frequently
• Demonstrated willingness to learn new domains (e.g. genomics, healthcare) and associated technologies

Pluses:

• Experience with clinical data (EHR, FHIR, HL7, and/or claims data)
• Experience with OHDSI tools and data formats (OMOP, Atlas, etc.)
• Experience with AWS technologies such as AWS Lambda, S3, Athena, Redshift, Glue, API Gateway, Cognito, Lake Formation
• Experience with front-end technologies (Javascript, Typescript, React, Vue, node). 
• Experience with machine learning or AI technologies, including LLMs.
• Proficiency with the principles of molecular biology and/or next-generation sequencing and genomics
• Experience in the life sciences/pharmaceutical industry.

Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. For more information or to make an accommodation request reach out to [email protected].

Expected Interview Process:

1) Recruiter Screen 2) Manager Screen/Tech Screen 3) Onsite  4) Offer 

Expected Pay For This Role:

There are 3 distinct parts to your Helix offer: 1) Base Salary  2) Annual Bonus 3) Equity 

Expected Helix Base: $166,000 - $226,750

Expected Helix Discretionary Annual Bonus: 15% of your annual salary

Equity: We offer generous equity at Helix. If you receive a Helix offer your recruiter will book dedicated time with you to educate you on our equity model.

The salary range above is our reasonable estimate of the base compensation for this role across US locations. Actual starting pay will be based on non-discriminatory job-related factors, including exact work location, experience, relevant training and education, and skill level. Your recruiter can share more about your specific work location salary range during the hiring process. 

Aside from working alongside brilliant, dedicated, passionate, down-to-earth, curious, warm, and thoughtful people, we also provide great benefits:

• Comprehensive Health Insurance with Date of Hire eligibility 
• Above average employer paid premium coverage 
• 12 weeks Helix Paid Parental Leave option 
• 401(k) with employer matching of up to 3% and 100% Vesting on the Date of Hire
• Comprehensive Well-Being Benefits 
• 18 well-being programs covering financial, legal and wellness solutions
• Flexible PTO
• Remote options for many roles and a home office stipend 

What To Expect During Your Onboarding Week:

We want to make sure your first week is spent learning the foundations. You will be invited to live orientation sessions and spend time with your hiring manager developing your individual roadmap to success. This experience will include sessions that cover your benefits, security & privacy training, an introduction to the OKR framework used at Helix and our communication tools and norms. 

What To Expect During Your First 90 days:

First 30 days:  you’ll spend time learning the Helix way, completing training and onboarding for your roles, and getting introduced to your team and relevant stakeholders. You’ll also gain a deeper understanding of our customers, our products, the impact we make in the lives of our communities, and how to thrive at Helix through participation in Helix U.  

Day 30 - 60: you’ll spend time contributing to projects, deeply familiarizing yourself with team and company processes, and developing a deeper understanding of Helix’s products, services and capabilities.

Day 60 - 90: you’ll build your OKRs with your manager, start to take ownership of projects and initiatives on your team, and begin to demonstrate your impact on the Helix mission.

Helix is proud to be an equal opportunity employer, and committed to providing employment opportunities regardless of race, religious creed, color, national origin, ancestry, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, sex, gender, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, age, sexual orientation, military or veteran status, or any other protected classification, in accordance with applicable federal, state, and local laws.

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