(Archived) Principal / Senior Principal Scientist – Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics

Principal / Senior Principal Scientist – Molecular Genetics and Bioinformatics

POSITION SUMMARY

Zoetis is seeking a leader in molecular genetics, specializing in the design, execution, analysis, and interpretation of results of multi-omics studies involving complex sample types and across several diverse biological systems. The position has a leadership role in both livestock and companion animal molecular genetics and bioinformatics and will provide scientific leadership and direct expertise as part of a cross-functional Genetics and Bioinformatics Team.

The position will require a good understanding of both mammalian and microbial molecular genetics as well as the relevant data and analytics archetypes to allow the development of innovative strategies and portfolio of projects. The role will oversee applied research to design, develop, and deploy a variety of molecular assays including for sequencing, genome assembly, genotyping, gene expression, proteomics, and metabolomics.

The role will also provide technical support to external innovation partnerships with companies, academia, and other research institutions. Excellent communication skills will be necessary to enable work with these multi-disciplinary teams. The successful candidate will demonstrate an enthusiasm to work, collaborate, and clearly communicate with both computational and experimental colleagues.

POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

• The successful candidate will work across internal teams and external partners to deploy molecular genetics tools and concepts to design and implement studies that provide genomic and other multi-omics information for a broad range of applications in livestock and companion animals.
• Specifically, the position supports the design, execution, and quality control of large-scale functional genomics experiments leading to genomic assays across a variety of platforms, for library generation and cloning, sequencing (including next-generation sequencing), allele discovery, and genotyping.
• The position requires designing experiments, analyzing data, and iterating on experimental parameters to improve our understanding and application of animal genomics and bioinformatics to livestock and companion animals.
• The successful candidate will work in a highly collaborative and multidisciplinary team of talented and experienced quantitative geneticists, computational biologists, data scientists, vaccine and drug experts.
• Develop, troubleshoot, and utilize molecular and analytical methodologies for characterizing internal and external samples.
• The successful candidate will have to maintain awareness of emerging technologies and methods in molecular genetics and applications of novel omics technologies, including establishing collaborations to evaluate technologies for acquisition.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

• Ph.D. in Molecular Genetics, with specialization in genome assembly, molecular assay design, bioinformatics, biochemistry, biology, molecular biology or related scientific discipline, with minimum of 5 years of relevant postdoctoral and/or pharmaceutics experience
• Advanced molecular biology expertise, with working knowledge of synthetic biology, cellular biology, physiology, biochemistry, systems biology, quantitative genetics, and molecular immunology, or related field required
• Extensive experience in the development and application of functional genomics assays and NGS workflows, including single cell RNA-seq is a must.
• Ability to work independently but requires excellent networking and partnership skills to develop strong collaborations with staff across the organization and external experts and key opinion leaders.
• General quantitative reasoning and statistical analysis skills with ability to apply them to relevant scientific projects and interpretation of the results. Candidates should be familiar with at least one statistical analysis language (such SAS or R).
• Have a strong attention to detail, organizational skills, the ability to multitask, and effective interpersonal and communication skills.
• Strong written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills required with strong well-cited journal publications and presentations record in molecular genetics.
• General understanding of the statistical methods commonly used in omics analyses and experience with high density SNP data generation and analysis, such as genome wide association studies (GWAS) and genomic selection is a plus