Research Data Engineer

Job Title

Job Description

An excellent opportunity is available for a ResearchData Engineer to join the ITS Department at Australia’s pre-eminent biomedical research institute.

About the Position

Under the direction of the Senior Project Manager, the Research Data Engineer (RDE) will play a significant role in uplifting Research Data management through the creation and improvement of technologies, processes and underlying IT infrastructure to maintain WEHI’s commitment to deliver world-class research.

This dynamic role will work directly with researchers and IT staff to help them make informed decisions about data. The role will sit within a small multi-disciplinary project team and will be critical in the process of structuring, collecting, and storing biomedical Research Data (including metadata) at the Institute. The role will contribute to the design, development and implementation of researcher-centric data management tools and services aimed to maximise time for research across the Institute’s variety of research disciplines.

Primary responsibilities include, collaborating with data scientists to enable the integration of data from disparate sources, designing, implementing, and maintaining pipelines to manage data through its lifecycle and integration processes that support the implementation of data management tools. The RDE will make recommendations on technical matters, guiding implementation of various solutions, driving user acceptance testing, and providing general support to the team. The RDE will be critical to ensuring interoperability of agreed upon solutions to the identified needs of our researchers.

Key Responsibilities

• Foster productive relationships with researchers across a variety of research domains and IT staff (e.g., database administrators and infrastructure team) and vendors

• Enable the integration of data from disparate sources ensuring its consistency, accuracy, and reliability across systems

• Profile and model data, develop or enhance existing schemas, develop data pipelines and ETL solutions for omics data and other large or sensitive data types

• Actively contribute to the selection and implementation of Research Data management tools, driving interoperability of existing and new tools within institute infrastructure

• Establish and maintain technical documentation for how data is, or will be used, and its implications on people, processes, and technology

• Provide subject matter expertise and a practical approach and/or a methodology to make development more efficient

• Champion knowledge sharing, enrolment in modern technologies and approaches and support change initiatives

Selection Criteria
Essential Knowledge and Skills:

• A postgraduate degree in a data science, bioinformatics, software engineering, computer science, or analytics or equivalent experience in research

• Minimum 3 years demonstrated experience as a RDE (or equivalent), ideally in a medium to large research organisation; successfully designing and implementing complex data solutions and applications

• Ability to learn complex concepts across multiple research domains and demonstrate that to a domain-specific Audience

• Knowledge with Research Data repositories such as Zenodo, NCBI SRA, and dbGAP,

• Knowledge of Research Data collection tools such as LabArchives and REDCap

• Knowledge of Research Data platforms such as OMERO, cBioPortal, and Mediaflux

• Knowledge of Research Data sharing tools such as FileSender and Globus

• Understanding of omics data types and their roles including fastq, fasta, bam, etc.

• Understanding of best practices for managing Research Data, ensuring alignment with industry standards

• Must have a keen business sense with the ability to provide technically superior solutions that meet business requirements

• Demonstrated ability to maintain a high level of confidentiality, exercise judgment and initiative to identify and rectify problems

Personal Qualities:

• Excellent communication and stakeholder skills, including the ability to communicate across academic disciplines

• Highly collaborative by default with an ability to leverage skills and knowledge outside an organisation and

• translate those skills into benefiting the organisation.

• Strong analytical skills, data analysis and mining skills

• High level of energy, enthusiasm and initiative including a commitment to continuous improvement

• Proven ability to thrive in a changing and fast-paced environment

• Demonstrated experience of learning and adopting unfamiliar technologies

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Terms of Appointment
This fixed term position is available for a period of 2 years for the term of the project (which is due to end towards June 2026) in a full-time capacity. The role may be converted to ongoing depending on the nature of the project.

Salary is Professional Services Employee - Level 8 -9 dependent on experience ($110,249 – $139,222). Up to 17% superannuation and very attractive salary packaging options are available.

General enquiries can be directed to Carlo Diaz ****@wehi.edu.au.

A position description is available here.

How to Apply
Please apply by uploading your CV, cover letter and a document addressing the key selection criteria in pdf format.

Application Closing Date: 28 May 2024.