The Garvan Institute of Medical Research Hiring for Head of Software Engineering Job at Sydney, Australia Full Time

Garvan’s 2030: Discoveries to Impact Strategy is designed to galvanise Garvan’s researchers, professional staff, partners, donors and community around our vision of Global leadership in discoveries to impact , and to enable us as an Institute to deliver on that vision – such that Garvan becomes an institute where research discoveries are taken through to patient impact (new treatments, tests and prevention approaches), on a global scale.

Garvan’s Data Science Platform (DSP) brings together computational experts working in: system administration/DevOps, software engineering, production bioinformatics and computational biology. The DSP works closely with teams across Australia, establishing national infrastructure for genomics and medical research. Our teams collaborate with leading genomics researchers at Garvan and beyond, providing computational expertise, building infrastructure and processing large datasets

The Opportunity

The Head of Software Engineering will be responsible for building and leading a team of talented software engineers, developing and maintaining software including cloud-based computational platforms for large-scale data analysis, and web-based tools providing intuitive access to complex scientific data sets. All software developed by the software engineering team will be open-source and designed using best practices to ensure widespread use by the wider scientific community, and rapid translation into impact on human biology and medicine. The incumbent will work in an environment that combines the intellectual freedom and collaboration of academia with rigorous, open software development practices.

Key Responsibilities

The key responsibilities include but not limited to:

• Recruitment and management of a team of engineers to develop and deploy open-source solutions to support research data analysis and sharing.

• Working closely with software engineers, technical leads, and external stakeholders to create detailed plans for the development, deployment, and maintenance of mission-critical software

• Working closely with a team of computational biologists developing and prototyping new analysis methods, with the software team being responsible for productionising these methods and deployment on massive genomic datasets

• Engaging with the Data Science Platform head and other senior Data Science Pillar staff to make key strategic, operational, and scientific decisions

• Delivering, supporting, documenting, managing, extending and being accountable for the developed software

• Developing a culture of rigorous best-practices, open-source software engineering and close collaboration between the software team and other groups across the institute

Snap shot of benefits

• This is a 4-year full time fixed term contract with a salary of up to $190,000 + 10% superannuation (dependent on experience)

• Generous salary packaging ($15,900 for general household expenses and $2,650 for meal/entertainment allowance on top of base salary)

• Ongoing training and development

• Flexible work arrangements

• Additional day’s leave as Garvan Day

• Employee Assistance Program

• Discounted Health Insurance

• Lifestyle discounts with our community partners

About You

KEY SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE INCLUDE:

• A BCST / BIT / BE / BSC degree in computer science, software engineering, information technology or a related field experience

• Appointment at this level would typically require at least 10 years of experience in software development

• Familiar with the Agile development process, and able to work independently, prioritise and self-manage effectively within this framework, even when working on multiple simultaneous projects

• Excellent ability to gather and refine specifications and requirements based on technical needs, and to communicate regularly with stakeholders to test prototype software

• Confidence to design and execute software development projects based on incomplete specifications

• Responsive, able to move rapidly when iteratively developing and deploying systems in a team environment

• Proven experience with rapid, iterative prototyping

• A pragmatic approach to software driven by project needs and timelines rather than a predetermined commitment to specific technical stacks

MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF STAFF

• Demonstrated experience in managing a software engineering team

• Guide and develop a high-performance work culture, aligned to Garvan’s values and focused on the achievement of the Program’s strategic plan

• Build and maintain a strong functional team through effective recruitment, coaching, team building

• Enhance individual and team effectiveness and efficiency through performance management and identification of appropriate training and development

INTERPERSONAL SKILLS

• Able to confidently interact with a multidisciplinary team of scientists, medical staff and other stakeholders, and integrate their viewpoints into a technically feasible and mutually advantageous solution

• A capable technical leader who sees management of a talented engineering team as an opportunity to increase impact, rather than a chore

• Comfortable communicating with both technical and non-technical individuals at across the organisation

DESIRABLE SKILLS

• Sufficiently broad knowledge of software engineering to confidently lead a mixed team spanning back end, cloud computation, front end, and DevOps engineers

• Experience with data visualisation tools

• Good working knowledge of continuous integration and source control

How to Apply

To apply for this position, please submit your application with a CV and cover letter as one document, stating why you are interested in this role. We are reviewing applications as they are received. If you think you’re the right person for this role, we’d love to hear how your capabilities, achievements and experience set you apart.

Job Type: Full-time