Career Opportunities

Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM) is a part of Partners HealthCare. Partners HealthCare, founded by Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital is one of the largest health care systems in the United States. Our hospitals are world-renowned for their contributions to the advancement of health care through patient care, research and teaching the next generation of physicians. Partners HealthCare comprises over 10 acute care and specialty hospitals, a physicians network, home care and many research facilities. We serve the health needs of the local community as well as those of patients from throughout the country and the world.

The Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine currently has exciting positions open for candidates. For position descriptions and to apply, please visit the Partners Careers page and search by job ID or career title. We look forward to hearing from you! The positions currently available at PCPGM are:

Principal Software Developer (GeneInsight):

The PCPGM is seeking a Principal Software Developer who will build infrastructure required to support the clinical use of genetics.
To apply, search for Job ID# 2229042 on the Partners HealthCare website (www.partners.org/careers)

Bioinformatician:

The PCPGM is seeking a Bioinformatician to build and support our bioinformatics pipelines.
To apply, search for Job ID# 2240580 on the Partners HealthCare website (www.partners.org/careers)

Molecular Diagnostic Technician 1:

The PCPGM is seeking an entry level Molecular Diagnostic Technician to perform routine clinical diagnostic testing.
To apply, search for Job ID# 2240419 on the Massachusetts General Careers website (http://www.massgeneral.org/careers/)

Molecular Diagnostic Technician 2:

The PCPGM is seeking a mid-level Molecular Diagnostic Technician to organize and perform clinical diagnostic testing.
To apply, search for Job ID# 2238281 on the Massachusetts General Careers website (http://www.massgeneral.org/careers/)

Executive Assistant:

The PCPGM is seeking an Executive Assistant to the Chief Laboratory Director of our Laboratory for Molecular Medicine, and the Executive Director for Information Technology
To apply, search for Job ID# 2240570 on the Partners HealthCare careers website (www.partners.org/careers)

Principal Software Developer (GeneInsight)

General Summary/Overview Statement:

The Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM) focuses on leveraging genetics to improve the care of patients and to help realize the promise of personalized medicine both inside and outside the Partners HealthCare system. GeneInsight is a critical part of this mission. GeneInsight is a suite of IT tools designed to help diagnostic laboratories streamline the analysis, interpretation and reporting of complex genetic test results and facilitate the electronic delivery of these test results to treating clinicians.

We believe GeneInsight has the potential to accelerate the advancement of personalized medicine and lead to significant improvements in patient care. We are working to bring the benefits of Whole Genome Sequencing to frontline clinical care. At the same time we are creating a network that will instantly alert clinicians around the world when new clinically relevant information emerges on a genetic variant identified in one of their patients.

This position offers an opportunity to become a part of the GeneInsight development team. The candidate must be comfortable working on systems that provide cutting edge, mission critical clinical support. Experience in supporting laboratory processes and/or understanding of molecular biology is not required to apply for this position; however, the successful candidate must be willing to invest the time required to come up to speed in these areas. This position will involve interfacing closely with laboratory personnel.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

We are seeking a talented and experienced principal software developer. While the successful candidate will spend the majority of their time developing functionality as an individual contributor, this position requires an individual who has enterprise level architectural skills. The successful candidate will join an experienced team of highly motivated individuals. After a ramp up period, the candidate must be able to take responsibility for the design and implementation of complex projects, both new functionality and enhancements to existing functionality. Success will require developing data and object models that correctly model genetic data and transactional clinical processes, designing and implementing functionality in multi-tier architecture built on Java EE & Flex technologies, maintaining required documentation and enabling and expanding interoperation between multiple application components serving the needs of multiple organizations.

You will be joining a small team and therefore must be willing to play multiple roles. You must be comfortable interacting with a varied set of end users. You will be called on to assist with both testing and support. You must be willing to take on other duties the team may need as assigned and participate in the off-hours on-call rotation. However, the majority of your time will be spent coding.

We are looking for an individual that will thrive as a member of an intense, high performing team. A desire and ability to take ownership of complex projects and drive them to completion is important. If you want to make a meaningful contribution to the genetics revolution in healthcare, let’s talk.

Qualifications:

The most important qualification is an ability and willingness to rapidly produce very high quality code
Ability to interact with end users, understand complex clinical processes and develop object models and code that accurately models these processes
Bachelors Degree Required: Computer Science Major preferred
10 years in information technology, 5 years as a software developer
Exceptional Java programming skills
Experience implementing web-based, enterprise applications
In depth knowledge of the Java EE platform and related technologies
Experience developing across presentation, middle and backend application layers
Comfortable with Eclipse IDE, Linux, Shell and/or Perl Scripting
A desire and willingness to develop a deep understanding of the issues surrounding genetic testing (prior knowledge in this area is not required)
Great communication and interpersonal skills

Any of the following would be a plus:

Experience working in an FDA 21 CFR Part 820 regulated environment
Experience in an ISO 13485 setting
Knowledge of genetics, genomics, or biological laboratory processes
Knowledge of clinical processes / clinical systems
Specific knowledge and experience with specific technologies:
JPA/Hibernate, EJB3
Flex Development
Oracle, SQL
JBoss, JMX, JQuery, Velocity, Tiles, Tomcat
XML, XSL, XSD
JDBC, JMS, JTA, JCA, JNDI
JAX-WS, SOAP
JSP, JSF, HL7, EDI, LLP
Ant
JUnit, Cobertura
Byte Code Engineering
Experience working with distributed applications that exchange data.
Experience delivering and developing applications in a multitenant hosted environment
Experience working with and building real applications using big data technologies such has Apache Hadoop, Apache Cassandra, or Hypertable

Bioinformatician

Job Description:

The Partners HealthCare Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM) is a leader and innovator in helping realize the promise of personalized medicine by accelerating the integration of genetic knowledge into clinical care. The PCPGM is tasked with translating the latest genetic discoveries into routinely orderable genetic tests that are used to improve clinical decision making for patients around the world.

The Bioinformatician will be responsible for developing and maintaining bioinformatics capabilities to support the activities of the Laboratory for Molecular Medicine (a CLIA-certified molecular diagnostic laboratory) and the PCPGM’s research cores. A focus will be the development and support of next-generation sequencing pipelines in the research and clinical settings. Assigned tasks will depend on the center’s priorities and may encompass responsibilities beyond those described here.

The successful candidate should have a strong scientific background with prior exposure to genetics and/or genomics, excellent communication and problem-solving skills, and the ability to interact with multidisciplinary staff in a fast-paced environment. This position requires the ability to prioritize and manage a variety of tasks, and shift priorities rapidly.

Requirements:

M.Sc. in bioinformatics, computer science or related field
2-3 years minimum experience in bioinformatics
Experience with sequence analysis, next-generation sequencing pipelines, and large dataset management
At least 1-3 years coding experience with Perl and Java in a UNIX/Linux environment
Good knowledge of common NGS tools (BWA/GATK/Picard Tools, etc)
Experience with common bioinformatics databases and genome browsers (e.g. Ensembl, GenBank, dbSNP, IGV, UCSC etc.)
Experience with RDBMS (MySQL, Oracle) and SQL is preferred
Experience with high-performance computing clusters, batch processing and LSF is preferred

Molecular Diagnostic Technician I

Under close supervision of the senior technician(s) and laboratory manager the Molecular Diagnostic Technician I performs routine tests.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

1) Extract and quantify DNA from blood and other tissue samples.

2) Perform gel electrophoresis and other techniques to analyze DNA and RNA products.

3) Perform PCR and DNA sequencing reactions.

4) Use robotics to perform repetitive laboratory techniques.

5) Learn how to use new instruments and implement their use in new tests.

6) Participate in lab meetings and generate ideas for improving efficiency and productivity in the lab’s operations.

7) Optimize diagnostic tests and update existing standard operating protocols with significant guidance.

8) Follow existing protocols and regulations to QC equipment and reagents.

9) Enter requisition information and other report related data into a computer system.

10) Uses universal safety precautions and proper personal protective equipment to protect self and co-workers from biohazardous materials, including blood-borne pathogens

11) Complies with biohazard/radiation safety standards through proper handling of potentially hazardous chemical and biological agents and/or radiation sources in the workplace

12) Completes annual biohazard/universal precaution safety training, as appropriate

13) All other duties as assigned

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, genetics or related field.

Molecular Diagnostic Technician II

The Molecular Diagnostic Technician II works independently, under general supervision of the laboratory manager to organize and perform tests.

The clinical lab technician will organize and perform routine laboratory tests including but not limited to:

1) Extract and quantify DNA from blood and other tissue samples.

2) Perform gel electrophoresis and other techniques to analyze DNA and RNA products.

3) Perform PCR and DNA sequencing reactions.

4) Use robotics to perform repetitive laboratory techniques.

5) Learn how to use new instruments and implement their use in new tests.

6) Participate in lab meetings and generate ideas for improving efficiency and productivity in the lab’s operations.

7) Optimize diagnostic tests and update existing standard operating protocols with general guidance.

8) Follow existing protocols and regulations to QC equipment and reagents.

9) Enter requisition information and other report related data into a computer system.

10) Independently troubleshoot abnormal results with general guidance and feedback from senior laboratory members.

11) Train technicians on existing platforms.

12) Independently run new technologies with minimal supervision (after adequate training).

13) Act as a liaison with other laboratories and scientific cores.

14) Give general technical guidance to other members of the lab.

15) Communicates basic lab needs to Lab Manager for both technical and administrative issues.

16) Uses universal safety precautions and proper personal protective equipment to protect self and co-workers from biohazardous materials, including blood-borne pathogens

17) Complies with biohazard/radiation safety standards through proper handling of potentially hazardous chemical and biological agents and/or radiation sources in the workplace

18) Completes annual biohazard/universal precaution safety training, as appropriate

19) All other duties as assigned

Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Biology, biochemistry, biotechnology, genetics or related science field. Requires a minimum of one year experience, but in most cases 2+ years of molecular laboratory experience.

Executive Assistant

General Summary/Overview Statement:

The successful candidate will serve as a staff assistant to both the Chief Laboratory Director of our Laboratory for Molecular Medicine (LMM) and the Executive Director for Information Technology for the Partners Center for Personalized Genetic Medicine (PCPGM). This is an entry-level position with great exposure to one of the world’s most cutting edge genome centers.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities:

Calendar management for both the Chief Laboratory Director, LMM and the Executive Director, IS, PCPGM; and others on their respective teams as required
Support communication with organizations on behalf of both Directors
Basic administrative duties; for example, ordering office supplies through eBuy and Ergonomics, completing expense reports through PeopleSoft, phone support, meeting planning, entering payroll through Kronos timekeeping
Meeting planning, including booking conference rooms and coordinating catering
Manage special projects, over time, in support of the genomic medicine initiatives at PCPGM
Other duties as assigned

Qualifications:

Bachelor’s degree preferred. This position requires excellent interpersonal, organizational and customer service skills, the ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously, and the ability to work effectively with many different personalities. High attention to detail is mandatory.
We are seeking a person who will perform these core duties and also focus on taking on additional responsibilities and opportunities with time.