Director, Computational Biology

Company Summary: Arana Biosciences is one of the recent companies established through Flagship Pioneering's venture creation engine, which has also birthed companies like Moderna Inc. and Indigo Ag. Since Flagship's founding in 2000, the firm has initiated and supported the development of nearly 100 scientific ventures, cumulating $19+ billion in aggregate value, 500+ issued patents, and over 50 clinical trials for novel therapeutic agents. Arana Biosciences is combining the newest advancements in molecular biology and plant biology to develop a novel platform technology that facilitates adaptive, targeted, and sustainable solutions in agriculture. Position Summary: We are in search of a committed and result-oriented Director, Computational Biology, who is motivated to contribute to the company and product development. This role involves driving vital pipeline development, research, strategy, and optimization while collaborating across the pipeline to deliver products. The successful candidate must be highly collaborative, self-motivated, and capable of developing and growing a team. This role reports directly to the Chief Science Officer. Responsibilities: - Developing the data science team as a coach-player. - Establishing best practices for team's development of new company functionality for internal tools. - Identifying key areas for automation implementation and increasing the platform's throughput. - Managing the team's resources in the context of our pipeline, coordinating development projects to ensure timely and accurate data return to keep projects progressing. - Being a key part of the R&D leadership team, working with the CSO to develop the company's scientific direction. - Overseeing software development across the company. - Being an exemplar in software development, database architecture, AI/ML, and other areas related to functional excellence. Qualifications: - You should have a PhD or equivalent experience in computer science, data science, or bioinformatics - 5-8+ years industry experience - Proven experience in high-throughput molecular biology, including automation platforms and integrating data from different functions - Experience in designing systems to tie R&D together, tracking units moving through the pipeline and learning from the pipeline’s overall experience - Experience with AWS and implementing scalable analysis frameworks and AI/ML models - Familiarity with data science languages like Python and R, and various database systems like SQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB - Experience with good practices for reproducible research like Git, Jupyter - Proven success in team management and development - Direct experience with growing teams and developing platform strategy - Proven success in extracting knowledge from raw data at scale Location: Cambridge, MA More About Flagship Pioneering: Flagship Pioneering conceives, creates, resources, and develops first-in-category life sciences companies to transform human health and sustainability. Its unique hypothesis-driven innovation process has originated and fostered over 100 scientific ventures, leading to an aggregate value of over $50B. To date, Flagship has deployed over $2.2B in capital toward the founding and growth of its pioneering companies alongside more than $18B of follow-on investments from other institutions. Flagship Pioneering and its ecosystem companies are dedicated to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity, or Veteran status. At Flagship, we understand there is no perfect candidate. Hence, if you have some of the experience listed above but not all, we encourage you to apply. We value diversity and inclusion and look forward to learning more about your unique background. Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Flagship Pioneering and its affiliated Flagship Lab companies (collectively, “FSP”) do not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. Unsolicited resumes submitted by recruitment or staffing agencies to FSP or its employees are strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Flagship Pioneering’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency without a signed agreement automatically becomes the property of FSP, and FSP will not owe any referral or other fees for it.