Python Job: Senior Research Assistant

In Roche´s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organisation (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients in order to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life-changing innovation at speed.

pRED (Pharma Research and Early Development) is recruiting a computational research associate to join the Systems Biology group, part of the Immunology, Infectious Diseases, and Ophthalmology (I2O) Department, located in Basel, Switzerland. We are seeking a creative and talented team member to support our understanding of disease mechanisms.

The I2O Systems Biology group is an integral component of the I2O drug discovery and early development pipeline, facilitating data integration and knowledge management, deepening disease understanding and proposing new biological targets and biomarkers based on systematic, unbiased, data-driven approaches.

You will assimilate into a team of systems biologists, responding and adapting to project goals in an agile manner. The team works across I2O disease areas and collaborates extensively to leverage resources from our wider data and analytics community. You bring responsibility, curiosity, and humility to your work and recognise the needs of our patients in the work that you do; you will have space to bring your authentic self to the team.

• Playing a contributing role in developing in silico experimental design and operation of a data-driven research group;

• Performing, customising, and/or developing computational analyses/algorithms for raw data from sequencing-based assays, such as whole genome/exome sequencing, single-cell and bulk RNA-seq.

• Pre-processing of raw datasets, high-level analysis, and visualisation to enable interpretation and deduce new biological insights. Analyse and interpret large-scale datasets in collaboration with members of the group and internal collaborators;

• Validation and optimisation of emerging computational biology research tools;

• Facilitating and supporting research collaborations with Roche experimental scientists;

• Tool and application development and maintenance (e.g. Shiny);

• Development and implementation of novel and existing standardised workflows and pipelines;

• Data management, standardised reporting, and maximising democratised access to data and analytics consistent with FAIR principles;

• Contribute to the creation and revision of peer development curriculum for workshops and small-group training;

Your Toolbox

• Programming/scripting skills in R and/or Python is required. Knowledge of other programming platforms is a plus;

• Working knowledge of Linux/Unix, with experience in data processing in an HPC cluster environment and a basic understanding of computer systems administration;

• Extensive knowledge of biological data resources (e.g., NCBI, EMBL-EBI, KEGG, ENCODE, TCGA, and ELIXIR) and available bioinformatics tools and platforms.

• Algorithm development, data mining, and statistical analysis of large datasets (including approaches such as Bayesian statistics, Markov models, simulation models, graph/network exploration methods, and machine learning).

• Strong statistical, reporting, and data visualisation skills.

Additional valued experience

• Experience in processing and visualising multimodal data (e.g. CITE-seq, spatial transcriptomics).

• Experience in working alongside experimental ‘wet-lab’ scientists, and managing several concurrent projects with changing priorities;

Your Mindset

You adopt a highly collaborative approach to your work across enterprise teams and understand the urgency of our mission for patients. Furthermore, you are:

• able to immerse yourself in, and learn about, new technologies, systems and approaches; you comfortably shift from discussing complex scientific topics to articulating methods and insights to non-domain experts;

• a life-long learner - curious and driven toward continuous improvement. You assess your own strengths and development areas; pursue self-directed training for growth; strive to continuously build knowledge and skills.

• able to help teams think of how to back up assumptions with data and to use empirical evidence to understand challenges & opportunities;

• able to identify and resolve issues which may impact progress, understand the consequences of these actions, and foresee relevant opportunities for increasing team effectiveness;

• able to manage more than one project at a time and instil agile approaches and an outcome-oriented mindset in the team and partners. Use smart approaches to tracking key activities and deliverables;

• able to balance the team’s atmosphere and individual responsibilities; contribute strongly to building a positive team spirit; support everyone’s (and others) efforts to succeed; share expertise with others.

• You hold a Master's degree in a biomedical, biotechnology, computational (e.g. Computer Science, Physics, Mathematics, Statistics) discipline or interdisciplinary field (e.g. Systems Biology, Computational Biology, Bioinformatics, Biomedical Engineering, Biostatistics);

• Demonstrable understanding of biology and insights into disease systems, which may include immunology and infectious diseases;

• You have an applied understanding of bioinformatics, systems, or computational biology;

• You have broad expertise in data science, exemplified by one or more of the following:

  • You have experience handling and integrating multiple orthogonal datasets;

  • You have experience implementing and developing algorithms for mining complex and large biomedical datasets;

  • You have experience in developing tools/dashboards for visualization and exploration of integrated datasets;

• You are able to translate biomedical questions into actionable analytical plans and communicate them to technical experts;

• You are enthusiastic about learning new concepts and technologies and you easily show engagement with your peers;

• You are fluent in English.

Applications need to include a motivation letter, a CV and contact details of 2 referees in a single document.

Roche commits to recognizing talent and aptitude. We prioritize encouraging and supporting our employees on their personal journeys by providing a safe, creative space to help them reflect, make decisions and grow in their career.

We are confident that we find the most innovative solutions by gaining different perspectives, asking and answering hard questions, and challenging the status quo. Roche embraces diversity and equal opportunity in a serious yet enthusiastic way; we are devoted to building a team that represents a range of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. The more inclusive we are, the better our work will be.

At Roche, more than 100,000 people across 100 countries are pushing back the frontiers of healthcare. Working together, we’ve become one of the world’s leading research-focused healthcare groups. Our success is built on innovation, curiosity and diversity.

Basel is the headquarters of the Roche Group and one of its most important centres of pharmaceutical research. Over 10,700 employees from over 100 countries come together at our Basel/Kaiseraugst site, which is one of Roche`s largest sites. Read more.

Besides extensive development and training opportunities, we offer flexible working options, 18 weeks of maternity leave and 10 weeks of gender independent partnership leave. Our employees also benefit from multiple services on site such as child-care facilities, medical services, restaurants and cafeterias, as well as various employee events.

We believe in the power of diversity and inclusion, and strive to identify and create opportunities that enable all people to bring their unique selves to Roche.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.