Developer - Bioinformatician (KSAS Biology)
Johns Hopkins University
A part-time Developer - Bioinformatician position is available in Dr. Xin Chen’s laboratory to mainly study Drosophila cell fates and status using genomics, biostatistics, and systems biology approaches. We use single-cell or single-nuclear RNA-seq and ATAC-seq techniques to analyze transcriptome and epigenome of different staged cells during homeostasis, aging and tissue regeneration. This person will work closely with experimental biologists to study the molecular mechanisms that contribute to normal cellular differentiation and improved or impaired conditions for tissue regeneration. Strong communication skills with biologists and good writing skills are desirable.
Support the creation, implementation, maintenance, performance, production support and documentation of various departmental and enterprise-wide application systems. This includes but is not limited to the installation, modification, and testing of new and/or upgraded applications (packages or home grown), operating systems, file structures, hardware, communication devices, and productivity tools. Assist with database maintenance and application system code support.
Job Scope/Complexity
Demonstrate a basic understanding of project life cycle and support sections of life cycle. Under direct supervision, assist with full life-cycle of small and/or parts of a large project. Once priorities are set, perform tasks under direct supervision with regular process updates. Examples can easily be found in existing code, methods or online. Typically, concepts used are simple and standard.
Specific Duties & Responsibilities
- The responsibilities listed below are typical examples of the work performed by this position.
- Not all duties assigned to this position are included, nor is it expected that everyone in this position will be assigned every job responsibility.
Analysis & Requirements Gathering
- Under direct supervision support business/clinical/education problems by meeting with clients and more Sr. IT colleagues to observe and understand current processes and the issues related to those processes. Contribute to written documentation of findings to share with the client and other IT colleagues.
- Review system requirements by meeting with clients and Sr. IT colleagues and researching existing technology to understand the business requirements for new applications.
Design & Development
- Contribute to the development of detailed tasks by analyzing project scope and milestones for projects in order to ensure product is delivered in a timely fashion according to software lifecycle standards.
- Contribute to functional/technical specifications by reviewing the provided system requirements, assist with putting them into functional and technical descriptions for use by programmers and business analysts to develop technical solutions.
- Assist with the development/change of data input, files/database structures, data transformation, algorithms, and data output by using appropriate computer language/tools to provide technical solution for application development tasks.
- Assist with documentation of code and associated processes by adhering to development methodologies, adding code comments and appropriate documentation to various knowledge-based system(s) to simplify code maintenance and to improve the support.
Testing & Documentation
- Assist with the creation and documentation of test scenarios using the appropriate testing tools to validate and verify application functionality.
- Assist with the testing of all changes by using the appropriate test scenarios to ensure all delivered solutions work as expected and errors are handled in a meaningful way.
- Contribute to the creation and maintenance of documentation by writing audience-appropriate materials to serve as technical and/or end-user references.
Implementation & Maintenance
- Assist with the Implementation of changes by adhering to the change management policies and procedures for any given project to communicate to all parties the nature, significance, and risk factors of the solution.
- Assist in the monitoring of changes and resolution of problems by responding to problems as they occur, by reviewing all processing and output of the newly implemented solution, and by proactively ensuring the solution works successfully to satisfy the customer requirements and to provide a smooth transition to the new solution.
- Provide support by triaging and resolving issues to ensure prompt, effective service.
In addition to the duties described above
- Analyze genomic data using existing tools or develop new algorithms to facilitate novel discoveries.
- Programming skills in one of the following: Python, C/C++, or Java.
Minimum Qualifications
- Bachelor’s Degree.
- No prior professional experience required.
- Additional education may substitute for required experience, and additional related experience may substitute for required education beyond a high school diploma/graduation equivalent, to the extent permitted by the JHU equivalency formula.
Preferred Qualifications
- Related classwork or internships with computer systems and applications preferred.
- Bachelor’s Degree in Bioinformatics, Biostatistics/Statistics, Computer Science, or related areas.
- Experience with contemporary statistical models, as applied in R, or equivalents in SAS, S-PLUS, and MatLab, is also required.
- Familiarity with major biological databases, such as NCBI, ENSEMBL, is a plus.
Competencies (Using the JHU Competency Framework)
JHU Competency Expected Level of Contribution
Pursues Excellence Operational Contributor
Flexibility and Readiness Operational Contributor
Creativity and Initiative Operational Contributor
Collaboration Operational Contributor
Decision Making and Reasoning Operational Contributor
Inclusion and Belonging Operational Contributor
Continuous Learning Operational Contributor
Technical Skills
Expected Skills Proficiency Level
Agile Methodology Awareness
Code Review Awareness
Debugging Developing
JIRA Awareness
Microservices Awareness
Model View Controller Awareness
Product Life Cycle Management Awareness
Restful API Awareness
Secure Coding Developing
Software Design Patterns Developing
Software Development Life Cycle Developing
Unit Testing Awareness
The core technical skills listed are most essential; additional technical skills may be required based on specific division or department needs.
Classified Title: Developer
Job Posting Title (Working Title): Developer - Bioinformatician (KSAS Biology)
Role/Level/Range: ATO 40/E/03/OG
Starting Salary Range: $24.25 - $42.50 HRLY (Commensurate w/exp.)
Employee group: Casual / On Call
Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8 am - 5 pm
FLSA Status: Non-Exempt
Location: Hybrid/Homewood Campus
Department name: Biology
Personnel area: School of Arts & Sciences