Sr Staff Bioinformatics Scientist Early Research and Development

Job description

About the Role: 

At Guardant Health, we are committed to positively and significantly impacting patient health through technology breakthroughs that address long-standing unmet needs in oncology.

As the leader in the field of liquid biopsy, Guardant Health is looking for a bioinformatics scientist excited about conducting research and early development in an interdisciplinary environment to enable breakthroughs in cancer patient care. 

We are looking for an individual who will take ownership of innovative projects that utilize high-throughput data as well as novel assay/algorithm development to contribute to Guardant’s vision of cancer care through liquid biopsies, with a focus on early cancer screening, minimal residual disease detection, and therapy monitoring. 

We are working at the forefront of scientific and technological innovations, developing novel methodologies that deliver substantial clinical impact to patients. If this is something you are passionate about, come join us! 

Essential Duties and Responsibilities: 

• Investigate data in model-free contexts integrating fundamental statistical and visualization techniques and biological knowledge to derive insights from large-scale genomics and epigenomic NGS data.
• Design, prototype, and analyze performance of novel statistical/machine learning models. 
• Develop reproducible analyses for research and development activities. 
• Provide written documentation and specifications. 
• Collaborate closely with Technology Development scientists on designing experiments to assess and improve assay performance. 
• Lead efforts across a highly collaborative set of teams to drive early research projects past concept phase and into later stages of development. 
• Communicate analysis results to stakeholders across computational and experimental teams, and cross-disciplinary company leadership to inform product strategy 

• Dedicated to making a difference in a rapid-paced, collaborative, startup-like environment 
• Ph.D. in computational biology, bioinformatics, genomics, statistics, computer science, machine learning, or related fields 
• 12+ years experience in industry/academia post-graduation 
• Strong background in probability and statistics, including inference approaches, iterative model development, and hypothesis testing 
• Demonstrated track record of developing and implementing novel algorithms that go on to be utilized in a clinically and analytically validated setting 
• Extensive experience with analysis of genomic and/or epigenomic NGS data 
• Background in cancer genomics and liquid biopsy 
• Ability to design and execute analyses in an open-ended, data-limited setting 
• Expertise in python and associated statistics/ML/AI/data visualization packages 
• Proficiency with Linux command-line and version control tools (git and GitHub) 
• Excellent communication skills in an interdisciplinary environment 
• Capable of working west coast (PST) hours 

Preferred Qualifications 

• Experience analyzing external genomic/epigenomic datasets (e.g. TCGA, ENCODE)
• Familiarity with high-performance computing infrastructures (e.g. SGE, Spark) 
• Experience leveraging AWS-based services (e.g., EC2, S3) to speed analyses 
• Experience writing/utilizing somatic variant calling and/or alignment software 
• Proficiency in C++ 
• We prefer candidates who are able to work from our locations in Seattle, Palo Alto or San Diego, which follow a hybrid work arrangement. 

Hybrid Work Model: At Guardant Health, we have defined days for in-person/onsite collaboration and work-from-home days for individual-focused time.

All U.S. employees who live within 50 miles of a Guardant facility will be required to be onsite on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays. We have found aligning our scheduled in-office days allows our teams to do the best work and creates the focused thinking time our innovative work requires.

At Guardant, our work model has created flexibility for better work-life balance while keeping teams connected to advance our science for our patients.

The US base salary range for this full-time position is $163,200 to $224,400.

The range does not include benefits, and if applicable, bonus, commission, or equity. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum target for new hire salaries across all US locations for the posted role with the exception of any locations specifically referenced below (if any).

For positions based in Palo Alto, CA or Redwood City, CA, the base salary range for this full-time position is $192,000 to $264,000.

The range does not include benefits, and if applicable, bonus, commission, or equity.

Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including, but not limited to, job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.

If you are selected to move forward, the recruiting team will provide details specific to the factors above.

Employee may be required to lift routine office supplies and use office equipment. Majority of the work is performed in a desk/office environment; however, there may be exposure to high noise levels, fumes, and biohazard material in the laboratory environment. Ability to sit for extended periods of time.

Guardant Health is committed to providing reasonable accommodations in our hiring processes for candidates with disabilities, long-term conditions, mental health conditions, or sincerely held religious beliefs.

If you need support, please reach out to 

Guardant Health is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

All your information will be kept confidential according to EEO guidelines.



To learn more about the information collected when you apply for a position at Guardant Health, Inc.

and how it is used, please review our .

Please visit our career page at: 

Required Skill Profession

Mathematical Science Occupations