Join to apply for the Associate Bioinformatician role at Esox Biologics.
Title: Associate Bioinformatician, 40 hours per week – BI002.
Location: White City, London, UK (minimum three-days onsite per week).
Compensation: £38k-52k plus equity, pension, health insurance and free lunch!
Posted date: April 10th, 2025.
Start date: June 9th, 2025, or before. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis.
Company: Esox Biologics is a bio-tech company ensuring food security by improving the efficiency of aquaculture. We do this by preventing the spread of infectious diseases among aquatic animals. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food production sector yet aquatic veterinary medicine lacks innovative tools to detect and prevent the spread of aquatic pathogens. With more than ninety percent of aquatic microorganisms uncharacterised and undescribed by science, our Detect platform harnesses metagenomics to resolve this biological dark-matter to reduce mortalities and improve the welfare of aquatic animals. As the leader of a government-backed consortium developing a regulatory framework for metagenomics in aquaculture, and with a growing client base, Esox Biologics is setting the standard for health monitoring through total microbiome analysis. We are not just innovating; we are shaping the future of sustainable aquaculture.
Role: We are hiring an Associate Bioinformatician to join our team in an office-based role. Our Detect platform enables clients to identify total microbiomes sampled from livestock and their environments. Stored and visualized through our web-app, this data advances their understanding of aquatic ecosystems. Alongside the lead bioinformatician, you will be writing and maintaining our bioinformatics workflows, incorporating automation and transparency throughout. Additionally, you will be generating insights that support our R&D and product development programmes and working with client data. This role will suit a candidate interested in combining periods of focused pipeline development with periods of pipeline maintenance and meeting ad-hoc bioinformatics needs.
Team: Esox Biologics is a tight-knit and highly collaborative team of scientists, engineers and creatives with a passion for translating innovative technologies into real-world solutions. Backed by private equity and generating revenue, Esox Biologics has established its position within aquaculture by transforming existing knowledge of aquatic microbiomes. You will be the company’s second full-time bioinformatics hire.
Responsibilities
* Develop and maintain bioinformatics workflows: Work with your team to maintain and continually develop our bioinformatics pipelines for processing Nanopore sequencing data, compiling our metagenomics database and generating metagenomic insights.
* Research and develop novel features: Work with your team to develop novel features, informed by R&D and commercial needs. These could include MAG assembly, metatranscriptomics and customised QC workflows.
* Perform benchmarking and parameter sweeps: Work with your team to ensure optimal performance of our workflows.
* Help meet ad-hoc bioinformatics requirements: Work with your team to meet ad-hoc bioinformatics needs, such as bioinformatics requests within the company and analyses requested by clients.
Requirements:
* Essential – A degree in Bioinformatics/Computational Biology or equivalent discipline with at least one year of experience developing reproducible bioinformatics workflows.
* Essential – Experience using Python scripting for bioinformatics data processing, ideally including unit testing.
* Essential – Experience writing clear code and documentation such that work can be traced, replicated and reproduced.
* Essential - Strong independent work ethic: You will be working in a small team requiring a self-motivated individual who thrives in an autonomous yet highly collaborative role.
* Essential - Collaborative and growth-focused mindset: We value individuals who actively seek opportunities to learn, welcome constructive feedback, and engage thoughtfully in team discussions to contribute ideas effectively.
* Essential – Candidates must have the right to work and live in the UK. We are unable to sponsor visas currently.
* Desirable - Experience using a bioinformatics workflow manager, ideally Snakemake.
* Desirable - Experience with quality control of Nanopore sequencing data.
* Desirable – Experience with metagenomics, phylogenetics and taxonomic binning.
* Desirable – A passion for aquaculture, aquatic organisms, and sustainable food systems.
Technical Skills
Nice-to-Have: Snakemake/Pytest/GitHub Actions/Nanopore QC/R/Azure
All staff at Esox Biologics are expected to contribute towards our enjoyable work environment by treating colleagues and partners with respect.
Recruitment Process
If you're excited about using your bioinformatics expertise to make a real-world impact in aquaculture, we’d love to hear from you. Please apply through the application form linked at the top of this advertisement. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis. The recruitment process will involve:
* Chat with lead bioinformatician
* Technical assessment
* In-person interview + meet the team
Seniority level
Entry level
Employment type
Full-time
Job function
Research, Analyst, and Information Technology
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