Scientific Web Developer, Public Health Sciences

The Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of Virginia seeks a Scientific Web Developer for a position in a computational biology research group led by Nathan Sheffield .

The Web Developer will help support medical research with front-end web development using modern development technologies including React, JavaScript, and TypeScript. Our front-ends operate as stand-alone applications that communicate with Python back-ends built by our team using FastAPI and deployed in AWS Elastic Container Service. The Web Developer will be primarily responsible for front-end React development of user interfaces. They will also have opportunities to gain experience with back-end development, if desired.

About the Lab: The Databio group is an interdisciplinary and collaborative computational biology research group located in the Center for Public Health Genomics at UVA . We are also affiliated with the Department of Biomedical Engineering , Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics , Department of Public Health Sciences , the School of Data Science , the Cancer Center , and the Child Health Research Cente r at UVA.

Our research is at the interface of computation and biology, drawing on techniques in computer science, data science, bioinformatics, and machine learning, and applying them to biological questions in cancer, epigenetics, single-cell analysis, development, and genomics. We collect both novel data and public data and make use of UVA's high-performance cluster for computational approaches to biological questions.

Our biological questions are focused on understanding gene regulation and epigenetics in development and disease, such as cancer, atherosclerosis, and kidney disease. How does DNA encode regulatory networks that enable cellular differentiation? We rely on experimental data from sequencing-based epigenome experiments like ATAC-seq, bisulfite-seq, and ChIP-seq, and we use these data to study fundamental principles of regulatory DNA in human health.

We are building a team of intelligent, creative people who are interested in working together to accomplish great things. We collaborate extensively. We emphasize social coding, using GitHub to share code both within the group and so others can benefit from our work. We seek to write readable, reusable code and apply it to new biological questions. We challenge the norm in academic computational research of individual scientists writing isolated code, and instead push open, multi-author code development. If these topics excite you, please read more about our research interests , recent publications, and philosophy of open data.

The web developer will have two primary responsibilities:

• Develop front end user interfaces to biomedical research data, using React, JavaScript, and TypeScript.

• Contribute to web-based documentation, training materials, and user-oriented outreach to demonstrate how to use the lab's research products.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, MIS, Computer Engineering or related disciplineBachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Information Technology, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related discipline OR an equivalent combination of experience, education, and certifications.

• Experience: Less than one year of experience. Relevant experience may be considered in lieu of a degree.

Preferred Qualifications: 

•     Computational experience with React and JavaScript

•     Basic familiarity with Python

•     A willingness to contribute to team projects (such as building communal software) and demonstrated commitment to sharing software and data with the community.

•     Experience with git and GitHub

•     Experience and understanding of genome biology

•     Experience with static website deployments and cloud services

•     Experience or interest in machine learning approaches used in natural language processing

Anticipated hiring range: $44,000 - $52,000

This position is a restricted position and is dependent upon project need, availability of funding and performance. This is an Exempt level, benefited position.  For more information on the benefits at UVA, visit hr.virginia.edu/benefits . 

This position will remain open until filled.  The University will perform background checks on all new hires prior to employment.  A completed pre-employment health screen is required for this position prior to employment.

References will be completed via UVA’s standardized process Skill Survey. A total of five references will be requested via SkillSurvey during the final phase of the interview process.

Physical Demands:

This position is located in Charlottesville, VA

To Apply:

Please apply through  Careers at UVA , and search for R0057491.

Internal applicants must apply through their UVA Workday profile by searching 'Find Jobs' and search for R0057491.

Complete an application online with the following documents:

• CV

• Cover letter

Upload all materials into the resume submission field, multiple documents can be submitted into this one field. Alternatively, merge all documents into one PDF for submission.  Applications that do not contain all required documents will not receive full consideration.

For questions about the application process, please contact Yelena Markazyan, Academic Recruiter at [email protected]

For more information about UVA and the Charlottesville community please see http://www.virginia.edu/life/charlottesville and https://embarkcva.com/

The University of Virginia, i ncluding the UVA Health System which represents the UVA Medical Center, Schools of Medicine and Nursing, UVA Physician’s Group and the Claude Moore Health Sciences Library, are fundamentally committed to the diversity of our faculty and staff.  We believe diversity is excellence expressing itself through every person's perspectives and lived experiences.  We are equal opportunity and affirmative action employers. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, color, disability, gender identity or expression, marital status, national or ethnic origin, political affiliation, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, veteran status, and family medical or genetic information.