What are the responsibilities and job description for the Staff Bioinformatics Production Scientist position at twistbioscience?
Senior/Staff Bioinformatics Production Scientist (Hybrid in South San Francisco)
Position Overview
We are seeking a highly motivated, results-oriented, and collaborative individual to join our Bioinformatics and Analytics team as a Senior/Staff Bioinformatics Production Scientist. In this role, you will combine genomics expertise with strong production engineering skills to design and implement robust, scalable computational pipelines for large-scale NGS data processing and interpretation.
This role is critical in advancing our bioinformatics capabilities to ensure best-in-class performance for Twist Bioscience’s production pipelines. You will be responsible for architecting high-throughput workflows, maintaining reliable bioinformatics infrastructure, and collaborating with Field Application Scientists (FAS) to optimize pipelines that directly support customer needs and field operations.
Key Responsibilities
Pipeline Design & Implementation
- Develop and maintain production-grade bioinformatics pipelines for NGS data processing using modern workflow frameworks (e.g., Nextflow, Airflow).
- Ensure pipelines are scalable, reproducible, and optimized for high-throughput sequencing data.
- Integrate best practices in software development, including CI/CD, containerization (Docker, Singularity), and cloud-based execution.
- Work directly with Field Application Scientists (FAS) to understand their workflow needs and translate them into robust, user-friendly bioinformatics solutions.
System Architecture & Production Engineering
- Lead architectural decisions for bioinformatics workflows in cloud-based or on-prem environments.
- Collaborate with DevOps teams to maintain monitoring, logging, and alerting systems for pipeline reliability and performance.
- Design and implement data storage solutions for large-scale genomic datasets, balancing accessibility, cost, and efficiency.
- Develop standardized deployment methods for field-facing applications and pipeline updates.
Collaboration & Cross-Functional Support
- Partner with FAS teams to troubleshoot pipeline-related issues and improve field operations.
- Work closely with wet-lab scientists and assay development teams to provide bioinformatics insights for product troubleshooting and optimization.
- Collaborate with other Senior Bioinformatics Scientists to ensure consistency in data processing pipelines and best practices.
Required Qualifications
- Education & Experience:
- Master’s degree with 6–8 years of industry experience, or a Ph.D. with 3 years of industry experience in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Computer Science, or a related field.
- Bioinformatics & Production Pipeline Expertise:
- Experience designing, implementing, and optimizing production-scale bioinformatics pipelines for NGS data.
- Strong understanding of workflow orchestration frameworks (e.g., Nextflow, Snakemake, Airflow).
- Hands-on experience with large-scale genomic data processing and storage solutions.
- Background in assay development, genomics-based diagnostics, or quality control for high-throughput NGS data.
- Software Development & DevOps Skills:
- Proficiency in Python.
- Strong familiarity with containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD, and cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure).
- Experience with monitoring, logging, and alerting tools for bioinformatics workflows.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration & Support:
- Ability to work closely with Field Application Scientists, translating field needs into scalable computational solutions.
- Strong troubleshooting skills and the ability to identify, debug, and resolve pipeline-related challenges in a high-throughput environment.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with Rust, C , SQL/dbt is a plus
- Strong grasp of infrastructure automation, cloud-native workflows, and scalable computing architectures.
- Familiarity with databases (SQL, dbt) and distributed computing frameworks.
- Experience with high-performance computing (HPC) environments and storage optimization strategies.
About Twist Bioscience
Twist Bioscience synthesizes genes from scratch, known as “writing” DNA. Just as children learn to both read and write, the next phase of development for the genomics revolution is the ability to write DNA.
At Twist Bioscience, we work in service of people who are changing the world for the better. In fields such as health care, agriculture, industrial chemicals and data storage, our unique silicon-based DNA Synthesis Platform provides precision at a scale that is otherwise unavailable to our customers. Twist Bioscience Corporation is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Twist Bioscience Corporation provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetic characteristics, or any other category protected by law. San Francisco applicants: Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.
San Francisco Bay Area Pay Range
$160,314 - $209,649 USD
Salary : $160,314 - $209,649
