Shoreline, Washington
Rochester, Minnesota
Los Angeles, California
Houston, Texas
Madison, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Minneapolis, Minnesota
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago, Illinois
Los Angeles, California
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Los Angeles, California
Posted: 25-Feb-26
Location: Shoreline, Washington
Type: Full Time
Salary: $117,079 - $157,399 Annual
Internal Number: DOH8851
The Opportunity
The Bioinformatics Supervisor is a Data Science & Informatics Specialist 4 who will oversee the bioinformatics function within the Public Health Laboratories, supervising a team of senior informatic specialists and serving as a bioinformatics subject matter expert in the Division of Disease Control and Health Statistics. This role sets direction for genomic data analysis, infrastructure development, and operational standards that support pathogen surveillance, outbreak detection, and laboratory accreditation.
Day-to-day work includes planning and prioritizing projects, managing staff performance and development, guiding the design and validation of bioinformatics pipelines, and ensuring quality control for next generation sequencing data. The position partners closely with epidemiology, IT, quality assurance, and laboratory teams to align systems, data structures, and reporting tools with public health needs. It also oversees budgets, contracts, hardware planning, and data governance practices, while recommending infrastructure improvements to keep pace with evolving technology.
Beyond Washington, this role serves as a regional bioinformatics resource, supporting multiple states with technical assistance, training coordination, and sustainable informatics solutions. The impact is practical and measurable: stronger genomic surveillance, clearer data for decision makers, and a laboratory system equipped to respond to emerging health threats.
Key Responsibilities Include:
- Supervise and develop a team of bioinformaticians, including hiring, performance management, workload planning, and professional development
- Direct the design, validation, and optimization of bioinformatics pipelines for pathogen characterization, comparative genomics, and evolutionary analysis
- Ensure compliance with laboratory accreditation standards, quality assurance requirements, and data protection protocols
- Partner with IT and cross functional teams to strengthen cloud and local computing infrastructure, data retention practices, and reporting systems
- Manage program budgets, contracts, hardware planning, and grant supported activities
- Provide expert consultation to internal leadership, local health jurisdictions, academic partners, and national public health partners
- Serve as a regional technical resource, coordinating training and supporting informatics capacity across multiple states
- Contribute to emergency preparedness and surge response for communicable disease events
Why You’ll Love This Role:
- Oversight of a highly specialized team working at the intersection of genomics, data science, and public health practice.
- Opportunity to shape bioinformatics infrastructure and standards that influence laboratory operations statewide.
- Work that directly strengthens outbreak detection, surveillance, and public health decision making.
- Regional and national collaboration that advances genomic epidemiology beyond a single agency.
- Option 1: Eight (8) years of progressively responsible professional experience performing advanced bioinformatics or genomic data analysis in a public health, healthcare, or research setting, including demonstrated experience leading the design, validation, and operational implementation of bioinformatic workflows used to inform scientific or public health investigations AND demonstrated experience leading or supervising staff, projects, or programs.
- Option 2: A master’s degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, molecular biology, data science, or a closely related field; and at least Six (6) years of progressively responsible professional experience performing bioinformatics or genomic data analysis, AND demonstrated experience leading or supervising staff, projects, or programs.
- Option 3: A doctoral degree in bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, molecular biology, data science, or a closely related field; and at least four (4) years of professional experience applying bioinformatics or genomic data analysis in a public health, healthcare, or research setting, AND demonstrated experience leading or supervising staff, projects, or programs.
Additional Required Knowledge, Skills, Abilities, and Experience
- Experience developing, validating, and maintaining bioinformatics pipelines for next-generation sequencing data
- Knowledge of genomic analysis methods such as phylogenetics, SNP analysis, genome assembly, and genome annotation
- Experience working with large, complex, and unstructured genomic datasets
- Proficiency in bioinformatics or data analysis tools, scripting languages, or workflow management systems commonly used in genomic analysis
- Ability to communicate complex technical information clearly to nontechnical audiences in writing and verbally