Bioinformatics Lead

Location: Jamnagar, Gujarat

Department: Molecular Genetics & Diagnostics

Position Overview

The Bioinformatics Lead will provide scientific and technical leadership in bioinformatics, high-throughput sequencing driven high-quality research and development in animal molecular genetics and applied diagnostics. The role requires expertise in designing and implementing advanced computational pipelines for large-scale sequencing data, non-model organisms, mentoring a team, and collaborating closely with molecular geneticists, microbiologists, veterinarians, and diagnostics scientists. The emphasis will be on generating scientifically rigorous insights that advance research goals while also strengthening the facility’s diagnostic capabilities.

Key Responsibilities:

Scientific Leadership

• Lead bioinformatics strategy to support genomics and molecular genetics research in animal health and conservation.
• Develop and validate pipelines for:

Whole-genome, targeted, metagenome and transcriptome sequencing

• Variant discovery and annotation
• Population genetics, GWAS, phylogenomics, and evolutionary analysis
• Microbiome and metagenomics studies
• Contribute to high-impact publications, collaborative research projects, and conference presentations.
• Guide integration of bioinformatics findings into applied diagnostics and animal health programs.

Research & Diagnostic Support

• Provide high-quality data interpretation for research studies and diagnostic investigations.
• Collaborate with laboratory teams to ensure bioinformatics workflows align with molecular assays and sequencing approaches.
• Support development of advanced genetic testing and disease surveillance tools with a focus on scientific automation, robustness and reproducibility.

Team & Infrastructure Development

• Mentor and lead a team of bioinformaticians and computational scientists.
• Oversee data management practices, ensuring accuracy, reproducibility, and secure storage. Coordinate with the organizational IT framework for compliance and adherence.
• Establish and maintain scalable computational infrastructure (HPC/cloud/hybrid) to support genomics research.

Collaboration & Innovation

• Build collaborations with national and international research groups, universities, and animal health organizations.
• Stay at the forefront of developments in computational biology, AI/ML applications, and genomics technologies to enhance research output.
• Promote interdisciplinary projects bridging molecular genetics, veterinary medicine, and conservation biology.

Qualifications & Skills

• Ph.D. or Master’s in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Genomics, or related field, with 7–12 years of experience supported by publications or demonstrated excellence in prior roles (including leadership roles)
• Strong expertise in various high-throughput sequencing platforms (Illumina, PacBio, Nanopore, etc.), NGS data analysis, pipeline development, molecular genetics, and animal genomics.
• Proficiency with bioinformatics tools (GATK, BWA, STAR, SAMtools, Qiime), T2T genome assembly, scripting languages (Bash, Python, R, etc.), and workflow systems (Snakemake, Nextflow, CWL).
• Experience with high-performance computing or cloud-based bioinformatics.
• Track record of peer-reviewed publications and contributions to collaborative research projects.
• Excellent communication and team leadership skills.

Desirable Attributes

• Experience in wildlife genomics.
• Knowledge of molecular diagnostics in veterinary or conservation settings.
• Ability to translate complex data into actionable insights for both research and applied programs