Job Summary:
We are seeking an experienced user interface (UI) developer for a role on our computational biology team, to help build a visualization and query interface to our computational platform for drug discovery. Our drug discovery engine is an integrated knowledge base combining single-cell transcriptomics data with annotations from biological and chemical databases, and expert knowledge from physiology and neuroscience. The successful candidate will help design and implement an interactive web-based interface in JavaScript or R Shiny to provide access to this backend, to enable our scientists to carry out exploratory data analysis. The design challenges include real-time rendering of high-dimensional data and associated annotations; visualizing large, interactive graphs and networks (representing biochemical pathways or data hierarchies); displaying detailed information about genes, proteins, and diseases; and exposing our proprietary query language for evaluating logical and mathematical expressions on biological data. The role requires close interaction with chemists and biologists, to develop the UI features needed for drug discovery, and with computational scientists, to leverage the power of the underlying computational platform. Successful candidates must be well-versed UI/UX designers, virtuosos in the technical development and deployment of web-based applications, and enthusiastic collaborators.
Key Responsibilities:
- Designing and implementing the web-based UI to our computational platform
- Meeting with biologists and chemists to assess their needs for interacting with the data; consolidating this feedback into a coherent UI solution
- Developing detailed help documentation to describe the capabilities of the UI
- Conducting interactive tutorials to teach experimental scientists how to use the software
- Staying abreast of advances in high-dimensional and interactive data visualization tools
- Maintaining a cloud-based (AWS) backend for hosting visualization software
- Contributing to the establishment and maintenance of rigorous security protocols to ensure the integrity of our data and internal networks
- Participating in code reviews; software deployment and maintenance; iteration planning and timeline estimation; and software design discussions
Qualifications and Education Requirements:
You must have:
- B.S. or M.S in Computer Science or a related discipline
- >2 years of experience in UI/UX development for large datasets
- Expertise in JavaScript and open-source libraries for data visualization and interactivity (e.g., Node.js and D3.js); HTML5 and/or R Shiny; and SQL
- Working knowledge of Unix/Linux operating systems and Git version control
- Commitment to rigor in aesthetic design, software development, and internet security
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills (the role requires very close collaboration with both experimental and computational scientists)
- Creativity and original thinking are paramount
Additional bonus qualifications (useful but not requisite):
- Experience managing secure web-based user authentication
- Working knowledge of Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- A background in object-oriented programming, in C++ or Java
- Prior experience with biological data, drug discovery, networks/graphs, and/or high-dimensional data
- Prior experience programming with R
To Apply
To apply for this position, send us your resume and cover letter to careers@kallyope.com.