Translational Bioinformatics Scientist Job at Gates AG One – Gates Foundation

Agriculture has the power to sustain us all, but that power is dependent on equitable access to the tools and products needed to increase productivity and support food security as climate change, population growth, and gender inequality pose increasing threats. Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (Gates Ag One) is a new nonprofit dedicated to ensuring high-quality, pioneering crop innovations are available and accessible to those who need them most.

As a wholly owned, not-for-profit affiliate of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), Gates Ag One drives to empower the small-scale producers of sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia by amplifying the translation of innovative crop science research into affordable products for the public good. Gates Ag One pioneers new development pathways for the most exciting crop science happening today. Through catalytic public-private sector partnerships and the careful stewardship of innovation, the organization harnesses the developed world’s commercial engines to research that prioritizes low-income countries and their most important food sources. This results in increased yields from innovative seeds that promote food production and income where factors such as population growth and climate change pose mounting challenges – agriculture that benefits farmers, society, and the environment.

We are committed to ensuring groundbreaking agriculture products, like climate-resilient, yield-enhancing seeds and traits, are affordable and accessible to smallholder farmers. We are redrawing the map between discovery and market access – connecting ideas and action with an unwavering focus on smart product development.

Your Role

The Translational Bioinformatics Scientist will be a member of the Product Development Team at the Bill & Melinda Gates Agricultural Innovations (also known as Gates Ag One).

The Translational Bioinformatics Scientist will use their strong research experience in molecular breeding and bioinformatics to work on trait technologies to support the plant biotech product development portfolio and pipeline. The successful candidate will primarily work on multi-scale, multi-dimensional data generated from the state-of-the-art molecular biology and genomics technologies and develop/leverage pioneering bioinformatics methods to drive translational plant biotechnology research that bridges between early discovery and late-stage product development. The candidate will use molecular breeding and bioinformatics background, excellent communication, and collaborative approach to make ideas a reality by exploring the unknown, implementing validated and novel techniques to solve hard problems.

This position supports Gates Ag One crop biotechnology projects and interfaces closely with members from public and private sector agricultural biotechnology, IP (Gates Ag One), Technical Liaison Management (Gates Ag One), Quality Management (Gates Ag One), Applied Research (Gates Ag One), Trait Development (Gates Ag One) and Regulatory, Compliance and Stewardship (Gates Ag One) to ensure quality and timely project support and stage gate transitions.

What You’ll Do

• Develop robust vector construction, plant transformation, and analytics pipelines for a range of varied types of high-dimensional data, including but not limited to data from plant transgenesis, genome editing, DNA/RNA/protein analytics, NextGen sequencing, and spatial genomics
• Develop and implement molecular strategy for accelerated trait introgression in Gates Ag One target crops
• Serve as the interface between IT infrastructure and product development teams to establish and maintain an automated workflow for data acquisition and processing in a cloud-based environment. Subject matter expert for database.
• Conduct data analyses, data harmonization, data visualization and methodology benchmarking work in collaboration with our internal and external partners
• Contribute to the development of Gates Ag One biotech product development pipeline. Participate in product development and Gates Ag One team meetings

Your Experience

• PhD with +2-year experience in Plant Breeding or Plant Molecular Biology or Plant Biology or Agriculture or Crop Science or Plant Biotechnology, or Graduate degree in a related field (Plant Biology or Agriculture) with +7-years of related experience. Industry experience is highly desired.
• Experience with plant molecular biology methods and concepts, analyzing DNA/RNA sequencing and proteomics data, machine learning and statistical modeling for biological data.
• Demonstrated ability to develop novel algorithms and write scientific software. A published author in a peer reviewed journal.
• Hands on experience with software development and pipeline workflow management tools is required.

*Applicants for this role will only be considered if they are able to legally work in the country where this position is located without visa sponsorship.

The salary range for this role is $137,500 to $206,200 USD.  As a mission-driven organization, we strive to balance competitive pay with our mission and new hires are typically brought into the organization at a salary between the range minimum and the salary range midpoint. Actual placement in the range will depend on a candidate’s job-related skills, experience, and expertise, as evaluated during the interview process.

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