Head of Bioinformatics - Sanofi : Job Details

Job title: Head of Bioinformatics

Location: Cambridge, MA

Are you ready to shape the future of medicine? The race is on to speed up drug discovery and development to find answers for patients and their families. Your skills could be critical in helping our teams accelerate progress.

The Target, Disease and Systems Biology (TDSB) function within Sanofi Research brings together a talented and multidisciplinary team of computational scientists, bioinformaticians, engineers, and experimental scientists. United by a shared mission, the team is dedicated to accelerating scientific discovery across all stages of the drug development pipeline—spanning immunology and inflammation, oncology, neuroscience, rare diseases, and ophthalmology. Within TDSB, the Computational Biology Cluster is seeking a highly motivated Head of Bioinformatics to lead efforts in advancing discovery of novel targets and therapeutic opportunities, based on the analysis of large volumes of multi-modal disease data (including but not limited to genetics, genomics, cellular, clinical and pathological disease data).

The ideal candidate is a proven leader with deep expertise in computational biology and data science applied to the identification of novel therapeutic targets, and a strong focus on biopharmaceutical innovation. A passion for learning and developing new methodologies to enhance our capabilities is essential. This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of data-driven drug / target discovery in a dynamic and mission-driven environment.

About you:

• Global leader in bioinformatics with a strong strategic leadership with relevant therapeutic expertise and a track record of leading teams in a matrix-oriented and project-centered working model
• The ideal candidate is a ”bilingual” computational and biological scientist that can plan and execute on target discovery, credentialing and positioning projects, and lead translation to pipeline progression, in close interactions with oncology, immunology, neurology and ophthalmology experts, as well as colleagues in early development.
• Proven ability to design and scale bioinformatics infrastructure in a biopharma setting
• Deep expertise in target biology across Sanofi's key therapeutic areas: immunology, inflammation, oncology, rare diseases, neuroscience, and ophthalmology.

• Proven experience in advanced data-driven research and integration including building data-rich solutions using multi-omics, imaging, NGS, and diverse patient datasets (e.g., DNA, RNA-seq, single-cell, proteomics, flow cytometry).
• Skilled in integrating biological, clinical, and healthcare data using advanced tools and workflows.

• You have an AI-first mindset and technical excellence with strong scientific background
• Strong background in data modeling, data integration, pipeline development AI/ML, DataOps, ModelOps and cloud-native architectures to support Sanofi's AI-first vision.
• Working knowledge of agile principles and experience presenting complex data to senior leadership.

• You are a champion of collaborative ecosystem building and leads collaborations with internal (e.g., Sanofi's Data Office) and external partners (vendors, CROs, academia) to develop big data products like Genetic, Transcriptomic, and Proteomic Data Lakes.

• Experienced in mentoring and coaching scientists, data engineers, and ML engineers.
• Excellent cross-functional communication skills with a consultancy mindset.

Education:

• PhD Mathematics, Physics, Biomedical Engineering, Computational Biology/Bioinformatics or other relevant quantitative sciences
• Expertise, competence and working knowledge in at least one of the following areas: Oncology, Immunology, Neurology, Ophtalmology
• Experience of Target identification projects in a biomedical research setting
• 10+ years of experience in a biotech and/or biopharmaceuticals setting

Technical Skills

• Experience with target biology-centric computational biology solutions
• Experience in integration of data, analytics and experimental approaches for selection of novel targets​
• Experience in databases, tools and workflows for target identification, prioritization and positioning
• Proficiency in programming languages such as Python or R for data analysis.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (AWS/GCP/Azure) for large-scale data processing.
• Knowledge of workflow management tools (e.g., CWL or Snakemake) and big data technologies (e.g., Spark/PySpark).
• Experience in contributing to large-scale target and disease biology centric consortiums and related resources and analytics platforms (Eg. OpenTargets, Illuminating Druggable Genome, Pharos) or commercial products (Qiagen, IPA etc.)
• Experience in workflow management, orchestration tools, and solutions including Seven Bridges, DNA Nexus, etc.
• Experience in AI/ML Ops and Data Ops for petabytes of data and database optimization

Why Choose Us?

• Bring the miracles of science to life alongside a supportive, future-focused team.
• Discover endless opportunities to grow your talent and drive your career, whether it's through a promotion or lateral move, at home or internationally.
• Enjoy a thoughtful, well-crafted rewards package that recognizes your contribution and amplifies your impact.
• Take good care of yourself and your family, with a wide range of health and wellbeing benefits including high-quality healthcare, prevention and wellness programs and at least 14 weeks' gender-neutral parental leave.

Sanofi Inc. and its U.S. affiliates are Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action employers committed to a culturally diverse workforce. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race; color; creed; religion; national origin; age; ancestry; nationality; marital, domestic partnership or civil union status; sex, gender, gender identity or expression; affectional or sexual orientation; disability; veteran or military status or liability for military status; domestic violence victim status; atypical cellular or blood trait; genetic information (including the refusal to submit to genetic testing) or any other characteristic protected by law.

All compensation will be determined commensurate with demonstrated experience. Employees may be eligible to participate in Company employee benefit programs, and additional benefits information can be found here.