Software Developer and Data Coordinator

Location: Atlantic Cancer Research Institute (ACRI)
Type: Full-time / one-year contract with possibility to renew; on-site
Reports to: Eric P Allain, ACRI Bioinformatics Platform Scientist & Daniel Gaston, Bioinformatics Co-lead, ACC

About the Role
We are seeking a motivated Software Developer to join our team as a Data Coordinator and Administrator for a data sharing platform (CanDIG) with the Atlantic Cancer Consortium (ACC) as a part of the Terry Fox Research Institute's Marathon of Hope Cancer Centers Network. In this role, you will manage and support our CanDIG clinical/genomic data platform while also contributing to broader software development efforts across cancer genomics analysis pipelines and reporting workflows. You will also be responsible for coordinating transfers of large genomic sequencing files between the sequencing centre(s) and our High-Performance Computing platform as well as validating data integrity after the transfer.

This is a hands-on position for someone comfortable working across databases, scripting, and Linux/HPC environments, who enjoys building reliable tools that handle the messiness of real-world biomedical data.

Key Responsibilities

CanDIG Administration

• Serve as an administrator for the CanDIG data sharing platform
• Manage clinical data ingestion, troubleshoot ingest failures, and maintain data completeness/quality reporting
• Monitor system health, apply updates, and coordinate with the broader CanDIG network on deployment issues
• Investigate and document data quality issues (e.g., schema constraints, sentinel value handling, referential integrity across clinical data tables)
• Manage API calls with payload

Software Development

• Develop and maintain Python-based tools and pipelines for data management, quality auditing, and reporting
• Contribute to software development for cancer genomics analysis pipelines and reporting workflows
• Write and maintain SQL queries against various databases to support reporting and data audits
• Build robust, production-quality scripts that gracefully handle real-world data inconsistencies (naming conventions, missing values, malformed inputs)

Data Management/Coordination

• Oversee movement, transfer, and verification of large genomic/clinical data files between the sequencing centre(s) and HPC environment
• Implement and maintain data integrity checks (checksums, referential integrity, audits) for large-scale data transfers
• Support organization and lifecycle management of data on shared HPC filesystems
• Communicate effectively with the Bioinformatics/Data Team, Sequencing Centre, CanDIG development group, and users
• Keep track of sample and data movement, outstanding tasks, and data processing
• Track and audit turn-around-times and other key performance indicators

Required Skills Qualifications

• Experience with relational databases, particularly PostgreSQL and SQL query writing
• Proficiency in Python for scripting and pipeline development
• Comfortable working in a Unix/Linux terminal environment, Shell scripting, and administration of shared compute resources.
• Strong attention to detail and ability to troubleshoot data inconsistencies systematically
• Good written communication skills for documenting findings and technical decisions
• Experience with version control (Git) and collaborative software development workflows
• Your combination of education and experience will be assessed individually

Assets (Not Required, But Valuable)

• Experience with Docker containers and Django
• Experience with HPC job scheduling systems (e.g., LSF, Slurm, or similar)
• Familiarity with bioinformatics file formats (BAM, VCF) or tools (bcftools, samtools, GATK)
• Prior exposure to clinical/genomic data standards or platforms (e.g., CanDIG, GA4GH standards)

What We Offer

• Salary between 76,500 and 103,000. Commensurate with level of experience.
• Health insurance.
• Opportunity to contribute to cancer genomics research infrastructure with real-world clinical impact
• Collaborative, learning-oriented team environment