Computational Scientist

Essential Job Duties The primary purpose of this position is to support researchers and faculty within a College of Sciences by enabling effective use of college-level, university-wide, and external high-performance computing (HPC) clusters and other scientific computing resources. This role works closely with faculty and research units, including a bioinformatics research center, to advance computational and data-driven research. This position is responsible for building and maintaining bioinformatics infrastructure and databases on campus HPC systems; designing and implementing example bioinformatics pipelines to process and analyze large-scale genomics datasets; and developing asynchronous online and in-person training materials for graduate students, faculty, and staff. The role also mentors and trains graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in Unix, Python, shell scripting, and high-performance computing techniques for bioinformatics using shared computational resources. The Computational Science Specialist plays a critical role in enabling researchers to migrate, implement, and optimize computational workloads on institutional HPC systems as well as external resources, including national supercomputing centers and commercial cloud platforms. This position provides hands-on computational science and bioinformatics support to faculty, researchers, graduate students, and early-career investigators across the research community. The position is part of a Sciences IT team and reports to an Assistant Director of Information Technology. Key Responsibilities Research Computing & HPC Support • Support researchers in moving, configuring, and running computational workloads on institutional HPC systems, college-level computing resources, and external HPC facilities such as national supercomputing centers and cloud platforms. • Provide ongoing computational science support to faculty, researchers, graduate students, and new users of research computing infrastructure. • Assist faculty with developing budgets, allocations, and proposal components related to access to HPC and advanced computing resources. • Collaborate closely with research groups in bioinformatics and other campus units. • Support bioinformatics workflows, scientific software, data analysis, visualization, and training initiatives. Bioinformatics & Data Science Support • Provide expertise in bioinformatics computing, including pipeline development, optimization, and troubleshooting. • Support analysis of diverse biological data types, including next-generation sequencing (NGS) and phenotypic data. • Assist with scientific analysis, data visualization, and interpretation of modeled or measured datasets. • Develop example code, templates, workflows, and documentation to support reproducible research practices. Software, Workflows, & Infrastructure • Maintain and install scientific software and bioinformatics tools in HPC environments. • Develop, deploy, and maintain containers using platforms such as Docker and Apptainer (Singularity). • Maintain knowledge of workflow management systems, virtual machines, and container orchestration approaches. • Design and maintain databases to store and manage biological datasets, ensuring accessibility and sustainability for research groups. Visualization & Web Applications • Provide expertise and example code for data visualization using commonly used scientific visualization tools. • Support the development of interactive and reactive web applications for research dissemination, including applications built with frameworks such as Shiny. • Assist researchers in building databases and research-facing websites as appropriate. Training & Documentation • Create and deliver custom training modules, workshops, and documentation on research computing, bioinformatics, and data analysis topics. • Focus on skills development and computational literacy for graduate students and early-career researchers. • Contribute to shared knowledge bases and user guides supporting institution-wide scientific computing initiatives. Collaboration & Service • Collaborate closely with computational researchers, faculty, and research staff across disciplines. • Support other scientific computing initiatives within the Sciences IT team as needed. • Serve as a liaison between researchers and IT to improve research computing services and infrastructure. Position Information • Time-Limited: No • Work Schedule: Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. • Flexible work arrangements, including virtual or hybrid options, may be available. Minimum Experience and Education • Post-baccalaureate credentials or a bachelor’s degree with equivalent professional training and experience. • An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered. • All degrees must be earned from appropriately accredited institutions. Required Skills • Proficiency with scripting languages such as Shell, Python, and/or R. • Familiarity with job schedulers (e.g., SLURM, LSF) and HPC job scheduling practices. • Experience using containers for scientific applications. • Comfort administering Linux operating systems. • Ability to assess local scientific computing capabilities, connect researchers with appropriate external resources, and identify use cases for commercial cloud platforms. • Demonstrated ability to work effectively in a dynamic, collaborative environment and build strong partnerships. • Strong communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey technical information clearly and thoroughly. Preferred Qualifications • Master’s degree or PhD in computational biology, bioinformatics, or a related field. • Experience working in a higher education or research environment. • Three or more years of relevant professional experience. • Experience with GPU computing. • Experience using GitHub for software management. • Experience with workflow languages (e.g., Nextflow) for developing and maintaining bioinformatics pipelines. • Demonstrated ability to mentor and train others, including developing and leading workshops.