Principal Software Developer, Shasta, Science

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative

The Opportunity
By pairing engineers with leaders in our education and science initiatives, we can bring technology to the table in new ways to help drive solutions. We are uniquely positioned to design, build, and scale software systems to help educators, scientists, and policy experts better address the myriad challenges they face.
In our Science Initiative, our mission is to support science and technology that will help make it possible to cure, prevent, or manage all diseases by the end of the century. Interdisciplinary teams of physicians, biologists, computational scientists, and engineers can expand our understanding of the human body and illness — the very science behind medicine. CZI fosters collaboration between scientists and engineers, develops tools and technologies, and builds support for basic scientific research.
The Shasta team goal is routine, accurate and cost-effective de novo genome sequencing of any individual or organism, for use in both research and clinical settings. In partnership with the University of California Santa Cruz Genomics Institute, the CZI team is building a de novo genome assembler for nanopore DNA sequencing. Shasta can assemble genomes in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods, and is used by scientists to explore the genomic diversity of all species.
As a Software Engineer in the Shasta team, you will work with scientists and engineers to advance the state of genome sequencing.
You will
  • Design and build state of the art bioinformatics software to assemble de novo genomes
  • Work within the multidisciplinary Shasta team, alongside scientists, engineers, clinicians and computational biologists
  • Have the opportunity to learn the science behind the technology. Opportunity to interact with users and subject matter experts, and learn about their requirements and the impact of your work
You have
  • 5+ years of relevant industry or academic experience
  • Strong computer science (data structure & algorithm) fundamentals, ideally with past experience building high performance data analysis and/or computational kernels
  • Excellent software engineering tradecraft, and experience with modern open source development methodologies
  • Ideally, a solid working knowledge of C++, Linux, AWS/GCP and open source development environments
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills
  • A passion for learning new fields and technologies, with a particular interest in the sciences
CZI believes that vaccines are one of the most powerful tools to fight COVID-19 and save lives. It aligns to our mission and work to cure, manage, and prevent disease. Proof of completed COVID-19 vaccination will be required for all applicants and employees to come onsite to a CZI facility. CZI will consider exceptions to this policy for medical or religious reasons on an individualized basis.
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