Data Scientist

Overview

The Department of Data Science at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute (DFCI) seeks candidates with a strong background in scientific programming. As part of the department's mission to collaborate with basic biologists and clinical researchers to better understand cancer and improve treatment, our department develops new statistical methods and data analysis pipelines. Substantial experience in two or more of: scientific computing; data technologies; user interfaces; containerization; or distributed computing will be required. Much of our work is based on R and related tools and technologies, and experience in package development and advanced computing in the R ecosystem will be essential. We want help extending and improving these, as well as organizing and managing our data, and training our students, postdoctoral faculty, and collaborators in best practices and new developments related to R. We are seeking a data scientist to help with these challenges.

The successful candidate will have a unique opportunity to take a leadership role in an exceptional collaborative environment with experts in a wide range of areas, including clinical trials, cancer genetics, immunology, epigenetics, machine learning, Bayesian methods, and alignment algorithms. There is room for growth in this position as the career ladder includes leadership levels. We offer salaries that are competitive with the biotech industry.

Located in Boston and the surrounding communities, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is a leader in life changing breakthroughs in cancer research and patient care. We are united in our mission of conquering cancer, HIV/AIDS and related diseases. We strive to create an inclusive, diverse, and equitable environment where we provide compassionate and comprehensive care to patients of all backgrounds, and design programs to promote public health particularly among high-risk and underserved populations. We conduct groundbreaking research that advances treatment, we educate tomorrow's physician/researchers, and we work with amazing partners, including other Harvard Medical School-affiliated hospitals.

Responsibilities

PRIMARY DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Meet and consult with scientists requiring data science support and design plans and solutions
• Delivery of results for projects
• Work as part of the broader team to identify longer-term solutions that will improve quality,
• speed and efficacy of our current projects and programs
• Evaluate and benchmark new libraries; prototype and pipeline development.
• Deep data science skills, at the interface between computer science and statistics

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES REQUIRED:

• Excellent communication and effective problem-solving skills, track record in serving a variety of
• Diverse customers and projects
• Ability to work independently, prioritize, and manage people if needed, within an environment with ever changing priorities.
• Natural language processing experience preferred
• Shiny, Spyre, Flask, WebDev and prototyping experience preferred
• JupyterHub, Sun Grid Engine, Google Cloud Platform, AWS experience preferred
• Experienced in data science methodologies and techniques, e.g. hypothesis testing, classification, regression, clustering, feature allocation, deep learning, time-series analysis, network modeling, feature selection/engineering.
• Significant scientific background with prior experience in clinical research

Qualifications

MINIMUM JOB QUALIFICATIONS:

• PhD or equivalent experience with evidence of impact in data science applied to real life problems in a research setting ideally within a clinical research environment
• 5 to 8 years of experience post PhD
• Prior experience supervising at least 1 person preferred

Pay Transparency Statement

The hiring range is based on market pay structures, with individual salaries determined by factors such as business needs, market conditions, internal equity, and based on the candidate’s relevant experience, skills and qualifications.

For union positions, the pay range is determined by the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA)

$133,700 - $138,000

At Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, we work every day to create an innovative, caring, and inclusive environment where every patient, family, and staff member feels they belong. As relentless as we are in our mission to reduce the burden of cancer for all, we are committed to having faculty and staff that offer multifaceted experiences. Cancer knows no boundaries and when it comes to hiring the most dedicated and diverse professionals, neither do we. If working in this kind of organization inspires you, we encourage you to apply.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute is an equal opportunity employer and affirms the right of every qualified applicant to receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, gender identity or expression, national origin, sexual orientation, genetic information, disability, age, ancestry, military service, protected veteran status, or other characteristics protected by law.