Senior Data Scientist in Computational Biology - DTU Biosustain

Leveraging the full potential of data and data science to solve world challenges

If you are an experienced data scientist and you are looking to make a difference working on projects that will have impact on world level challenges, this position is for you! Your work will be an essential part of multiple initiatives towards the development of new environmentally friendly products, cleaner and more sustainable manufacturing and farming processes, new medical treatments, and richer biodiversity and ecosystems. You will be responsible for designing, developing and implementing new analytical and machine learning tools that will help to interpret complex multimodal data, and you will do it in collaboration with top research scientist in the field and in an international, motivating, flexible, supportive and friendly environment at a leading research and education institution in Europe.

About the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability
Biosustainability is the discovery, production and use of biochemicals at scale to avoid the depletion of natural resources and the harmful impact of existing ones such as fossil fuels on societies, economies and environments. The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability (CfB) is an interdisciplinary research centre at the Technical University of Denmark with 300 employees that develops new knowledge and technology to support the production of biochemicals using microbial production. The Centre comprises core facilities and academic research groups doing both basic research to determine the spectrum of chemistry that can be produced biologically and applied/translational approaches focusing on enhancing the strain design and development process. Learn more about our activities and expertise at biosustain.dtu.dk .

Data science initiative
The Data Science Platform at CfB is a recently started team that will provide data science support to the Centre’s research groups and core facilities and help to extend and promote data science at CfB and DTU. The Data Science platform has 4 main pillars: support, training, innovation and tool development. The team is part of the Informatics Platform, which includes the Research Data Management and LifeLike teams, and aims to develop innovative and robust tools to make the best out of the large amounts of data generated at the Centre and contribute to creating products and processes that are environmentally friendly, socially responsible and economically viable. Further, the Data Science Platform will interact closely with the Multi-omics Network Analytics research lab led also by Senior Researcher Alberto Santos. Both teams will create a dynamic, creative and scientific environment ideal for candidates that enjoy working with different types of data, state-of-the-art methods and surrounded by supportive, diverse and open-minded colleagues.

The Informatics Platform and the team you will be joining represent strategic investments by CFB, and the Center has a strong commitment to support the development of the team to become a key player in its current and future mission. This will open multiple possibilities for the candidate to grow together with the team and to become an influential contributor to the data science landscape at DTU and in Denmark.

The role
In your role as Senior Data Scientist, you will design and implement data science solutions and develop bioinformatics pipelines to process, analyse and interpret multi-modal data (e.g., omics, images, etc.). As a senior profile you will help to coordinate projects and provide supervision for junior data scientists in the team and contribute to the general data science strategy at the Centre. You will collaborate with multiple research groups and participate in data science initiatives at the Centre such as workshops, presentations and events and in coordination with other departments at DTU. Your primary tasks will be to:

• Design, implement and document data science pipelines to support projects from the different research groups
• Identify and integrate new data science and machine learning technologies and methods
• Consult on data science and bioinformatics topics at the Centre
• Coordinate and promote educational and outreach activities regarding data science and digitalization
• Supervise projects and junior data scientists in the team

The ideal candidate has the following skills

• PhD or MSc in computational biology, statistics, mathematics, computer science or related topics
• Advanced knowledge of Python and its scientific libraries and data stack (numpy, pandas, scipy, scikit-learn, pytorch, etc.)
• Proficiency in statistics and machine learning, including the ability to use statistical techniques to analyse data, build predictive models, and evaluate their performance.
• Software engineering skills such as documentation, testing and CI/CD
• Domain knowledge about omics (e.g., genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics)
• Experience processing, analysing and interpreting biological datasets
• Experience in or motivation to learn design, implementation and deployment of machine learning models
• Willing to learn new topics both in the technical (data science) but also biological domains
• Enjoys working with people and has good communication skills
• Curious, proactive, motivated and able to work independently
• Experience and willingness to supervise and train other team members and colleagues

Also desirable

• Experience in cloud environments (e.g., Microsoft Azure)
• Knowledge about databases and data standardisation (SQL, NoSQL, Ontologies, etc.)
• Other programming languages would be an advantage

Salary and terms of employment
The appointment will be based on the collective agreement with the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The allowance will be agreed upon with the relevant union.

This is a 2-year position.

Application and contact 
Please submit your online application no later than 23 May 2023 (Danish time). Open the “Apply now” link, fill out the form and attach all materials to be given consideration including CV, cover letter, diploma and if relevant list of publications. Applications must be submitted in English as one PDF file.

If you have any questions, you are very welcome to contact Alberto Santos, head of the Data Science Platform at [email protected] .

If you are applying from abroad, you may find useful information on working in Denmark and at DTU at DTU – Moving to Denmark .

All interested candidates irrespective of age, gender, race, disability, religion or ethnic background are encouraged to apply.

The Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Biosustainability (DTU Biosustain)
Recent progress in our ability to read and write genomic code, combined with advances in automation, analytics and data science, has fundamentally changed the scope and ambition of harnessing the potential of biological systems. Big data approaches and analysis of biological systems are key research instruments at the Centre. DTU Biosustain utilizes these advances for microbial cell factory design to foster sustainable lifestyles in relation to three application areas: Sustainable Chemicals, Natural Products, and Microbial Foods.

Technology for people
DTU develops technology for people. With our international elite research and study programmes, we are helping to create a better world and to solve the global challenges formulated in the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Hans Christian Ørsted founded DTU in 1829 with a clear mission to develop and create value using science and engineering to benefit society. That mission lives on today. DTU has 13,400 students and 5,800 employees. We work in an international atmosphere and have an inclusive, evolving, and informal working environment. DTU has campuses in all parts of Denmark and in Greenland, and we collaborate with the best universities around the world.