SUMMARY/JOB PURPOSE:

Reporting to the Director, Bioinformatic Scientific Strategy, the Principal Scientist (Cancer Biology and Proteomics Bioinformatics) will play a key role in supporting scientific strategy by employing cancer biology bioinformatics expertise. To contribute to the Exelixis discovery pipeline, this position will apply bioinformatic methods, evaluate and identify publicly available data, research hypotheses generated by analysis, and, in coordination with management, author recommendations regarding targets, biomarkers, and patient populations. In a highly collaborative environment, this role will shape the Exelixis team's approach to data analysis, and integration of results into decision making through presenting clear arguments and training colleagues. This position will have the opportunity to influence and contribute to data storage, search, and data visualization practices for the Bioinformatics team. Using their expertise in Cancer Biology and Bioinformatics, this scientist will collaboratively organize 'omics data, and provide efficient analyses of DNA sequencing, RNA sequencing, Proteomics, CRISPR, and other data. The successful candidate will serve a key role by working with the Bioinformatics and Biology teams to query data and test therapeutic hypotheses for wet lab validation. Further, the position will have responsibility to process internal data generated with our proprietary compounds. This role will have the exciting opportunity to employ knowledge of pathways that influence proliferation, DNA repair, metastasis, and drug resistance to shape novel hypotheses, and, with attention to articulate communication, present clear new scientific strategies. The overarching goal is to uncover novel drug mechanisms of action and identify patient selection strategies to support clinical development.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Identify, review, import, and integrate public and private 'omics data


• Provide statistical analysis, for example, to correlate patient subgroups with target expression or to identify key pathways regulated by Exelixis' proprietary compounds.


• Evaluate and research pathways and mechanisms and, in an iterative process, collaboratively strategize bioinformatic and wet lab approaches to testing hypotheses generated by bioinformatic analyses


• Apply bioinformatics algorithms including unsupervised and supervised machine learning, network analyses, and other computational approaches


• Coordinate with the Director and team, comply with team best practices regarding statistical analysis, methods, and false discovery rate calculations


• Author code in R, Python, and other languages


• Cooperate with team practices to employ and mature the use of git and other software organization and development tools


• Employ and adapt analysis pipelines as needed to process large molecular datasets such as raw microarray data, genomic sequence data, and proteomics data


• Coordinate with the Director of Bioinformatic Scientific Strategy, author recommendations for indication selection, drug/target combinations, and other R&D objectives based on well-researched mechanism of action and pathway analyses
  
  

• No supervisory responsibilities

EDUCATION/EXPERIENCE/KNOWLEDGE & SKILLS:

Education:

• Bachelor's degree in related discipline and a minimum of eleven (11) years of related experience; or

• Master's degree in related discipline and a minimum of nine (9) years of related experience; or

• PhD degree in related discipline and a minimum of five (5) years of related experience; or

• Equivalent combination of education and experience.

Experience:

• Experience evaluating 'omics data sources and quality for cancer research


• Experience collaborating and influencing decisions


• Recent, extensive hands-on experience with NGS data, DNA data (somatic and germline mutations and variants, copy number), RNA-Seq data, CRISPR data, survival data, and proteomics data


• Experience with single cell sequence (scRNA) data is desirable


• Demonstrated, significant success reducing cancer 'omics data to R&D decisions


• Demonstrated, detailed understanding of many key cellular pathways and cellular interactions involved in cancer that influence proliferation, DNA repair, metastasis, and drug resistance


• Immuno-oncology (IO) discovery experience is a plus, as is recent experience in immunology


• Experience integrating public proteomic data into larger multiomic bioinformatic analysis is high desirable


• Highly desirable experience includes hands-on knowhow using AWS, Elucidata, Containers (Docker), GitHub, and CI/CD process

Knowledge/Skills:

• Working knowledge of public data repositories and tools such as DepMap (and analysis of PRISM data), TCGA, and GEO


• Confidence integrating data from UniProt, NCBI resources, and EMBL resources, TCGA, CPTAC, ProteomeXchange, and Broad resources is essential


• Confidence evaluating and integrating 'omics data sets shared by publishing authors; ability to present convincing, evidence-based recommendations to use or not use data


• Fluency in R and/or Python is essential


• Strong programming skills in a Unix environment


• Innovative, communicative, entrepreneurial approach to discovering new cancer targets and biomarkers using 'omics data analysis


• In a team setting, writing up scientific discoveries, documenting bioinformatic methods and code, patience training coworkers, and supporting group decisions


• Collaborative, patient, and respectful coordination with a team of diverse scientists and engineers is essential


• Significant interactions with pharmacology and translation medicine functions are highly desirable


• Working knowledge of current pathway and interactome data available for integration and analysis (Reactome, Gene Ontology, IntAct, STRING, STITCH, and others) is desirable


• Knowledge of additional programming languages including Python and JavaScript, is a plus

WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Environment: primarily working in laboratories or in office

• Exposures encountered, such as hazardous materials, extreme cold.

• Travel not required

#LI-HG1

If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us!

DISCLAIMER
The preceding job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by employees within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities and qualifications required of employees assigned to the job.

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, sex, age, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, status as a veteran, and basis of disability or any other federal, state or local protected class.

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