Job Description
School of Medicine Established in 1930, Duke University School of Medicine is the youngest of the nation's top medical schools. Ranked sixth among medical schools in the nation, the School takes pride in being an inclusive community of outstanding learners, investigators, clinicians, and staff where interdisciplinary collaboration is embraced and great ideas accelerate translation of fundamental scientific discoveries to improve human health locally and around the globe. Composed of more than 2,600 faculty physicians and researchers, nearly 2,000 students, and more than 6,200 staff, the Duke University School of Medicine along with the Duke University School of Nursing, and Duke University Health System comprise Duke Health, a world-class academic medical center. The Health System encompasses Duke University Hospital, Duke Regional Hospital, Duke Raleigh Hospital, Duke Health Integrated Practice, Duke Primary Care, Duke Home Care and Hospice, Duke Health and Wellness, and multiple affiliations.
Be You. Be Bold. Choose Duke.
Bioinformatician I
Department of Surgery
Be You.
At Duke, we celebrate individuality and the unique perspectives that each member of our community brings. As the Bioinformatician I, you'll play a key role in advancing innovative translational medicine research by helping build and maintain the sophisticated data infrastructure that powers cutting-edge clinical and scientific discovery.
Working alongside interdisciplinary teams of researchers, clinicians, engineers, and data scientists, you'll contribute to multi-modal data fusion initiatives that integrate electronic health records, physiological waveform data, and multi-omic datasets. Your expertise will help transform complex healthcare data into meaningful resources that drive impactful research and improve patient outcomes.
Be Bold.
Join a nationally recognized Department of Surgery and take on some of the most complex data challenges in healthcare research. In this role, you'll help architect scalable systems and high-throughput pipelines that support advanced machine learning, reinforcement learning, and foundation model research across large-scale clinical environments.
What You'll Do:
- Design, build, and optimize distributed data processing workflows utilizing technologies such as PySpark, Dask, and cloud-based computing platforms.
- Develop and maintain automated, version-controlled ETL/ELT pipelines that support large-scale clinical and research datasets.
- Process and manage terabyte-scale inpatient healthcare data, including electronic health records, physiological waveform data, and multi-omic datasets.
- Support multi-site initiatives and federally sponsored programs through rigorous data validation, verification, and quality assurance activities.
- Contribute to research efforts focused on reinforcement learning methodologies and multi-modal time-series foundation models.
- Standardize and harmonize complex healthcare data using clinical interoperability frameworks such as the Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP) Common Data Model.
- Collaborate with technical and clinical teams to translate complex data requirements into practical research solutions.
- Implement scalable cloud-based data management solutions within Azure, AWS, or comparable environments.
- Utilize optimized data storage formats, including Parquet and HDF5, to support efficient retrieval and analysis of large datasets.
- Partner with multidisciplinary stakeholders to advance innovative research initiatives across multiple institutions and research networks.
What You'll Bring:
Required Qualifications
- Strong programming expertise in Python and advanced SQL, including large-scale query optimization.
- Experience designing, developing, and maintaining robust data pipelines in cloud computing environments.
- Knowledge of distributed data processing frameworks and large-scale data engineering principles.
- Experience working with electronic health records and complex healthcare datasets.
- Familiarity with containerization technologies such as Docker and deployment of scalable applications.
- Strong communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively with both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience with OMOP Common Data Model or other healthcare interoperability standards.
- Experience processing high-frequency physiological waveform data.
- Familiarity with Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform environments.
- Knowledge of machine learning infrastructure, reinforcement learning, or foundation model research environments.
- Experience working with large-scale clinical research initiatives or multi-center collaborations.
Choose Duke.
At Duke, you'll find more than a job—you'll discover an opportunity to make a meaningful impact through innovation, collaboration, and scientific discovery. As part of the nation's #1 NIH-funded Department of Surgery, you'll work alongside world-class researchers tackling some of healthcare's most pressing challenges.
We are committed to fostering an inclusive environment where all team members can thrive, contribute their unique perspectives, and grow professionally while advancing groundbreaking research.
Anticipated Pay Range: Duke University provides an annual base salary range for this position as USD $82,159.00 to USD $132,722.00. Duke University considers factors such as (but not limited to) scope and responsibilities of the position; candidate's work experience, education/training, and key skills; internal peer equity; as well as market and organizational considerations when extending an offer.
Your total compensation goesbeyond the dollars on your paycheck. Duke provides comprehensive and competitive medical and dental care programs, generous retirement benefits, and a wide array of family-friendly and cultural programs to eligible team members. Learn more at: https://hr.duke.edu/benefits/
Equal Opportunity Employer: Duke is an Equal Opportunity Employer committed to providing employment opportunity without regard to an individual's age, color, disability, gender,gender expression, gender identity, genetic information, national origin, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy and pregnancy- related conditions), sexual orientation, or military status.
Duke aspires to create a community built oncollaboration, innovation, creativity, and belonging. Our collective success depends on the robust exchange of ideas—an exchange that is best when the rich diversity of our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences flourishes. To achieve this exchange, it is essential that all members of the community feel secure and welcome, that the contributions of all individuals are respected, and that all voices are heard. All members of our community have a responsibility to uphold these values.
Essential Physical Job Functions: Certain jobs at Duke University and Duke University Health System may include essential job functions that require specific physical and/or mental abilities. Additional information and reasonable accommodation(s) can be requested with Duke Access and Accommodations Services (email: DAAS@duke.edu; phone: 919-668-1267).
