Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity's greatest challenges.
We are seeking a highly motivated and creative
bioinformatician or staff scientist
to join the Martin group at the Wellcome Sanger Institute for a 1-year fixed-term contract (maternity cover). The group uses large-scale genetic and phenotypic data to investigate the genetic architecture of rare and common diseases and complex traits.
You will have the opportunity to contribute to projects using data from the following studies:
* Birth cohorts: The Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, the Millenium Cohort Study, Born in Bradford, and the Norwegian Mother and Child Study. These cohorts include rich phenotypic data across a wide range of traits and genotype-chip data. We are generating exome-sequence data on ~60K children and a subset of their parents. Current and future projects seek to investigate the contribution of both common and rare variants to traits related to early growth (e.g. birthweight and premature birth), and cognitive and behavioural outcomes (eg. Malawsky et al., accepted in principle at Nat. Hum. Behav; Wootton et al., medRxiv).
* Clinical rare disease cohorts: Genomics England's 100,000 Genomes project and Genomic Medicine Service (~52,000 whole-genome sequenced rare disease patients), the Deciphering Developmental Disorders study (13,000 exome-sequenced patients with rare, severe paediatric disorders), and >100k patients from the GeneDx cohort. Current projects use these data to study role of rare and common variants in rare developmental disorders and other phenotypes related to neurodevelopment (e.g. extensions of Chundru et al., Nature Genetics, 2024; Samocha et al., medRxiv, 2024; Huang et al., Nature 2024; Wootton et al., Genome Med 2025).
The group is also planning new multi-omic projects in reproductive genomics, fetal medicine, and neonatology. You may have the opportunity to contribute to these projects as they develop. These may involve methods development to enable the use of cell free DNA for studying fetal genetics noninvasively, and proteomic analyses of neonatal blood spots for risk stratification of serious neonatal conditions. The staff scientist may also be asked to assist with the set-up of new studies, including writing proposals and ethics applications.
Essential Skills
* Creativity and original scientific ideas
* Enthusiasm and commitment
* Attention to detail
* Strong problem-solving skills
* Ability to communicate ideas and results effectively both verbally and in writing
* Ability to prioritise, work independently and organise own workload
* Ability to collaborate effectively with other scientists in the group and externally
Additional Skills For Staff Scientist
* Postdoctoral experience and PhD in a relevant area (genetics, genomics, bioinformatics)
* Experience analysing large-scale human genetic and/or other omic (e.g. proteomic) data
* Full working proficiency in R and/or Python/Perl and Unix/Linux
* Knowledge of the literature on genetics of rare disease and/or complex traits and/or cell free DNA and/or reproductive/fetal/neonatal medicine
* Knowledge of statistical methods appropriate for large-scale genetic research
* Experience supervising students or junior colleagues
* Strong publishing record
Additional Skills For Bioinformatician
* Proficiency in Python or R
* Ability to learn quickly to deploy new software and build it into pipelines
* Experience analysing large-scale genetic data and/or other omics data (e.g. proteomics, metabolomics, transcriptomics)
* Understanding of the key principles of genetics
Other Information
For further details, please see the Staff Scientist and Bioinformatician.
Salary Per Annum (dependent Upon Skills And Experience)
Bioinformatician - £36,924-43,867 per annum
Staff Scientist - £44,890-£53,331 per annum
Application Process
Please apply with your CV and a Cover letter outlining how you meet the criteria set out above.
Interviews will be held in April 2026, and we are ideally seeking a candidate to start in May 2026. Prospective candidates are welcome to contact Hilary Martin or Olivia Wootton for informal queries.
Closing Date: 24 March 2026
Hybrid Working At Wellcome Sanger
We recognise that there are many benefits to Hybrid Working; including an improved work-life balance, with more focused time, as well as the ability to organise working time so that collaborative opportunities and team discussions are facilitated on campus. The hybrid working arrangement will vary for different roles and teams. The nature of your role and the type of work you do will determine if a hybrid working arrangement is possible.
Equality, Diversity And Inclusion
We aim to attract, recruit, retain and develop talent from the widest possible talent pool, thereby gaining insight and access to different markets to generate a greater impact on the world. We have a supportive culture with the following staff networks, LGBTQ+, Parents and Carers, Disability and Race Equity to bring people together to share experiences, offer specific support and development opportunities and raise awareness. The networks are also a place for allies to provide support to others.
We want our people to be whoever they want to be because we believe people who bring their best selves to work, do their best work. That's why we're committed to creating a truly inclusive culture at Sanger Institute. We will consider all individuals without discrimination and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees, where everyone can thrive.
Our Benefits
We are proud to deliver an awarding campus-wide employee wellbeing strategy and programme. The importance of good health and adopting a healthier lifestyle and the commitment to reduce work-related stress is strongly acknowledged and recognised at Sanger Institute.
Sanger Institute became a signatory of the International Technician Commitment initiative In March 2018. The Technician Commitment aims to empower and ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines.