Senior Data Scientist

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We are looking for an experienced Senior Data Scientist to join our team at Bactobio.

Company

Bactobio is a London-based biotechnology company founded in 2020. We use breakthrough technologies in synthetic biology, next-generation sequencing, and machine learning to cultivate the 99% previously unculturable microbes. These microbes constitute the biggest bioresource in life, and our exclusive access allows us to discover novel chemicals that can be applied across a variety of markets.

We are impact driven. Our first goal is to solve the growing antimicrobial resistance crisis through novel antibiotics and stabilise global food security through novel natural biodegradable fungicides.

Role

At Bactobio, we're constantly developing our platform, which stretches from microbial generation to compound discovery. We use data-bioinformatics and data-driven modelling-to guide exploration at all stages of our pipeline and to evolve our pipeline over time. This role lies at the very heart of our data ambitions.

We're looking for someone who is both motivated to innovate technically and cares deeply about the microbiological domains.

In this position, your responsibilities will be to:

• Transform vague and broad scientific goals into clear, well-defined issues.
• Work together with laboratory scientists to evaluate trade-offs, shape experimentation, and ensure the production of valuable data.
• Utilise statistical techniques, such as Design of Experiments (DOE), to plan efficient laboratory experiments and identify meaningful outcomes.
• Collaborate closely with bioinformaticians to prepare omics data for use in subsequent machine learning (ML) models.
• Drive research and development of methodologies for modelling microbial communities and the emergence of significant microorganisms.
• Implement predictive modeling techniques to expedite the exploration for novel microbes, guide their cultivation, and stimulate metabolite production.
• Aid in enhancing our software platform, which is critical for managing data flow and accessibility. (Our primary tools include MySQL, SQLAlchemy, and Python for data science, alongside a bespoke React-based web application for laboratory scientists to submit and interact with data.)
• Offer technical guidance and mentorship to team members, fostering a collaborative and innovative environment.

You'll be joining a computational team that consists of data scientists, bioinformaticians, and software engineers, all of whom contribute daily to our software infrastructure, and care deeply about well-designed data models, good software development practices with sensible implementations, and cultivating a code base that is a joy to collaborate in.

Required qualifications:

• A PhD in data science, computational biology, mathematics, bioinformatics, or a related field within the STEM disciplines.
• Professional research or work experience in biotechnology with a computational emphasis.
• Proficiency in statistical modeling and machine learning techniques.
• Advanced proficiency in Python and experience with data science and machine learning libraries.
• An understanding of bioinformatics and experience with data commonly used in the field.
• Industry experience in collaborative software development.

Benefits include:

• Competitive starting compensation of £70K-85K
• 25 days holiday + bank holidays
• Pension plan
• Opportunity to use your skills to help shape our innovative platform
• The chance to be part of a fun, multicultural, kind, and ambitious crowd that are impact-driven
• Daily access to academic leaders, business leaders, and unicorn founders
• Enhanced Sick Pay
• Flexible start and finish times within the company's core hours to fit your preferences
• Diverse team of colleagues (check out our website to meet us)
• Weekly team activities including board games, sports activities, and socials on Fridays
• Complimentary snacks, fruits, tea, coffee, soft drinks,...
• Access to 1000s of training courses through Udemy, with an allowance for both personal development and work-related training
• Bike2Work scheme
• Employee Assistance Programme offering structured counselling, life and career coaching, legal and financial advice