Senior Computational Scientist

One of the best college towns and best places to live in the United States, Chapel Hill has diverse social, cultural, recreation and professional opportunities that span the campus and community.

University employees can choose from a wide range of professional training opportunities for career growth, skill development and lifelong learning and enjoy exclusive perks for numerous retail, restaurant and performing arts discounts, savings on local child care centers and special rates on select campus events. UNC-Chapel Hill offers full-time employees a comprehensive benefits package, paid leave, and a variety of health, life and retirement plans and additional programs that support a healthy work/life balance.

Primary Purpose of Organizational Unit

Our mission is to improve the health and well-being of North Carolinians and others whom we serve. We accomplish this by providing leadership and excellence in the interrelated areas of patient care, education and research.

Patient care: We promote health and provide superb clinical care while maintaining our strong tradition of reaching underserved populations and reducing health disparities across North Carolina and beyond.

Education: We prepare tomorrow`s healthcare professionals and biomedical researchers from all backgrounds by facilitating learning within innovative and integrated curricula and team-oriented interprofessional education to ensure a highly skilled workforce.

Research: We develop and support a rich array of outstanding health sciences research programs, centers and resources. We provide infrastructure and opportunities for collaboration among disciplines throughout and beyond our university to support outstanding research. We foster programs in the areas of basic, translational, mechanistic and population research.

Position Summary

The Senior Computational Scientist, Research Software & Data Platforms, builds and runs the software that the Initiative for Generative Immunotherapy at the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center uses to track, process, and share its research data. The position has three main areas of work: automating data handling around the Initiative’s sequencing analyses, building an internal system for tracking samples and data, and developing a public web portal where researchers can browse and download the Initiative’s data.

Data handling covers intake of new data from sequencing cores and collaborators, file and metadata checks, storage and transfer, hand-off of whole-genome (WGS), whole-exome (WES), bulk RNA-seq, and single-cell data to the analysis pipelines, and cataloging and release of pipeline outputs. The pipelines themselves are written and run by the Initiative’s bioinformatics staff and are outside the scope of this position.

The public portal will let users search and filter datasets and sample metadata, view summary plots, and download data in standard formats, one file at a time or in bulk. The internal sample and data management system will link each biospecimen to its clinical annotations, sequencing runs, files, and analysis results, so that any sample can be traced from collection to public release.

The position works with bioinformaticians, laboratory staff, and physicians to define requirements, makes sure data sharing follows consent, privacy, and funder rules, and writes the technical sections of grant proposals and papers that describe the Initiative’s data resources.

Minimum Education and Experience Requirements

Master’s or Bachelor’s and 0-2 years’ experience; or will accept a combination of related education and experience in substitution.

Required Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

• Experience building web applications with a modern front-end framework (e.g., React, Vue, or Svelte, with TypeScript), including interfaces for searching, filtering, and visualizing data.
• Experience automating data handling (ingestion, validation, transfer, cataloging, release) for large scientific or clinical datasets.
• Working knowledge of high-throughput sequencing data, including WGS, WES, bulk RNA-seq, and single-cell, and the associated file formats and standards (e.g., FASTQ, BAM/CRAM, VCF, h5ad/AnnData, GA4GH), enough to work directly with bioinformaticians on pipeline inputs and outputs.
• Facility with modern AI methods and software process automation.
• Attention to detail and ability to work simultaneously on multiple priorities.
• Analytical capabilities, including the ability to think critically and strategically and to propose and implement change.
• Excellent presentation, communication, management, and mentorship skills.

Preferred Qualifications, Competencies, and Experience

• PhD in Computer Science, Bioinformatics/Computational Biology, Data Science, or similar discipline.
• Proficiency in Python, and enough familiarity with workflow managers (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake) to pass data to and collect results from pipelines run by bioinformatics staff.
• Experience building back-end services and APIs (e.g., FastAPI, Django, Node.js; REST or GraphQL) on relational databases such as PostgreSQL.
• Experience developing or administering sample tracking, LIMS, or research metadata management systems.
• Experience with data visualization libraries (e.g., D3, Plotly, Vega) and with building accessible user interfaces.
• Experience serving large files (e.g., object storage with signed URLs, Globus, Aspera).
• Experience with cloud platforms, containers, scheduled and event-driven jobs, and CI/CD.
• Familiarity with public genomic data portals and repositories (e.g., NCI Genomic Data Commons, cBioPortal, CELLxGENE, GEO, SRA, dbGaP) and FAIR data principles.

Campus Security Authority Responsibilities

Not Applicable.

Organization

The nation’s first public university is at the heart of what’s next, preparing a diverse student body to become creators, explorers, innovators and leaders in North Carolina and throughout the world. Carolina’s nationally recognized, innovative teaching, campus-wide spirit of inquiry and dedication to public service continue the legacy that began in 1795 when the University first opened its doors to students.

Here, in one of America's most beautiful college settings, we offer exceptional careers in richly diverse fields. Come explore what UNC-Chapel Hill has to offer you.

Undergraduate Enrollment: 19,117

Graduate/Professional Enrollment: 10,894

Total Student Enrollment: 30,011

Founded: 1789, as the first state university in the United States

Type of Institution: Public, four-year

Undergraduate Admission: 15,961

Graduate/Professional Enrollment: 10,039

Total Student Enrollment: 26,000

Faculty: 3,000

Percentage of faculty who hold Ph.D.s or the highest degrees in their field: 94 percent

Faculty/student ratio: 1/14

Location: UNC is located in the heart of Chapel Hill, the best college town in America! It's a friendly town of about 40,000 in the geographical center of North Carolina. Chapel Hill is at the western point of the Research Triangle, an area of about one million people, comprised of Chapel Hill, the cities of Durham and Raleigh, and the Research Triangle Park, home of many corporate offices and scientific research centers. Carolina is about 30 miles from the state capital, Raleigh, and 20 minutes from Raleigh-Durham International Airport.

Chapel Hill's main street, Franklin Street, borders the campus and offers shops, coffee houses, cafés, movie theaters and houses of worship. The town has a historic district, museum, library, parks, malls, and many recreational facilities.

Origins of Carolina's students: 82 percent of UNC's freshmen are from North Carolina and 18 percent are from out-of-state. Our students come from 42 different states and our international students represent 37 countries.

Size of freshman class: Approximately 3,400

Class size: Barely five percent of undergraduate classes contain more than 100 students; two-thirds of undergraduate classes have fewer than 30 students. Forty-one percent have fewer than 20 students, including First Year Seminars, in which first-year students work closely with professors.

Sports and athletic programs: UNC is an NCAA Division I school with 28 varsity teams. Carolina is the proud home of the Dean Smith Center, Kenan Stadium, Carmichael Auditorium, Koury Natatorium, and many other fine athletic facilities. Students join more than 60 intramural and club sports, which include baseball, bowling, crew, golf, lacrosse, rock climbing, rugby, tae kwon do, and ultimate frisbee. The Student Recreation Center offers weight training, aerobics, stair machines, and all the equipment you would expect to find at a great health club! Carolina offers a newly renovated outdoor pool and indoor pools, a golf course, tennis courts, and the longest zipline in America!

Number of residence halls: Incoming undergraduates will live in one of Carolina's 29 residence halls, which are wired for Internet access and cable television. housing.unc.edu

Scholarships and financial aid: About 40 percent of UNC-Chapel Hill students receive scholarships and/or some form of financial aid. studentaid.unc.edu

Special research institutes: Institute for Research in Social Science, Institute of Outdoor Drama, Morehead Planetarium, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, Institute of Government, Institute of African American Research.

Career services: On-campus counseling, job fairs, résumé writing service, internships, placement services. www.unc.edu/depts/career

Technological facilities: Students find multiple uses for Carolina's state-of-the-art technological resources. They can access Carolina's computer services through Academic Technology and Networks, which manages academic computing, e-mail, microcomputing labs, interactive media presentation, video and classroom support, and a help desk. The MetaLab oversees the development of SunSITE, one of the world's busiest digital library and electronic publishing projects.

Students may open e-mail accounts, and many use campus computer resources to construct personal Web pages. Students in residence halls have hardwired network connections to the Internet and cable television in their rooms. At the ATN Training center, students may take classes on software packages and utilities. Computer labs are available for student use all over campus.

Carolina Computing Initiative: Beginning with the freshman class of 2000, undergraduates must purchase laptop computers. The University has arranged for IBM to offer computers at excellent prices. Students, faculty, and staff will enjoy cost savings, higher quality compatible equipment, and better technical support through CCI. www.unc.edu/cci

The Study Abroad program allows students to live and learn in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Rim, Africa, and the Americas. www.unc.edu/depts/abroad

The Honors Program offers special seminars, research programs, and the chance to design your own independent studies. www.unc.edu/depts/honors

Carolina students spend time in public service through student organizations, the Campus Y, the Carolina Center for Public Service, and courses that incorporate community service.

UNC's chapter of Phi Beta Kappa, a national collegiate honor society, is the oldest in North Carolina, dating from 1904. There are many other honorary societies at Carolina.

UNC offers ROTC programs in all branches of national military service.

Through the First Year Seminars program, first year students will understand what it means to study at a premier research university. They will learn from faculty members and share in their research in seminars of no more than 20 students.

Life outside the classroom: More than 370 clubs, teams, and student organizations offer something for everyone! You can choose from among musical and dramatic performing groups, publications, ethnic and religious clubs, the Campus Y and other service organizations, fraternities and sororities, and pre-professional organizations. Whatever your interests, you will find others at Carolina who share them! www.unc.edu/depts/union/student/listintr.htm