Senior Data Scientist - Translational Informatics

About the Department                                                                                                                                             

You will be part of the Data Management & Informatics (DMI) department and the Data Products Organization, where we are responsible for providing scientific data and software products to support the global research and early development organisation at Novo Nordisk. Our work spans driving digitalisation of laboratories, enabling scientific data capture, creating harmonized data for analytics, and providing informatics tools. We enable disruptive innovation and data driven decision making across areas that include disease understanding, molecular design, portfolio management and external scouting. We have a strong focus on employee engagement, and on developing and retaining talent.

Working at Novo Nordisk
At Novo Nordisk, we don't wait for change. We drive it. We're a dynamic company in an even more dynamic industry, and we know that what got us to where we are today is not necessarily what will make us successful in the future. We embrace the spirit of experimentation, striving for excellence without fixating on perfection. We never shy away from opportunities to develop, we seize them. From research and development, through to manufacturing, marketing and sales - we're all working to move the needle on patient care.
 

The Position

The Senior Data Scientist is a skilled bioinformatics professional who leverages their scientific and technical acumen to deliver well curated data and software products via appropriately architected data pipelines to solve complex scientific problems for target and translational research. This role focuses on accelerating target identification and validation within our diabetes, obesity, chronic and rare disease therapeutic areas.

They will use their strong knowledge of digital to speed the ability of scientists and data professionals to access and work with data, and to use scientific applications. They will use their hands on expertise to provide solutions using preferred tooling and technologies, and will partner across Data Management & Informatics and Global IT to address larger needs. This position will also enable the data visualization needs and be well versed in best practices required to streamline data handling, and represent the local needs at the sites in the context of the global data management and informatics organization.

Do you believe that the digitalization journey in Research and Early Development (R&ED) is cruicial for  the success of pharmaceutical companies in the future? Then apply to become part of the next wave of scientific discovery by joining Digital Science & Innovation (DSI).
 
 

Relationships

The Senior Data Scientist I to the Sr Director, Data and Solutions Engineering. Internal partners include therapeutic area scientists, computational biologists, data and software engineers, software developers, platform and compute engineers in Research and Development and Information Technology.

External relationships include relationships with commercial and academic collaboration partners. 

External relationships include commercial and academic collaboration partners.

Essential Functions

• Understanding of the data and technology needs across our sites.  
• Represent DMI in global IT and informatics projects, including defining, communicating and delivering the needs of scientists.
• Participate in, Influence and accelerate Novo Nordisk R&ED pharmaceutical research projects through delivery of data and digital solutions for translational research.
• Keep scientific stakeholders informed on progress with strategic initiatives  
• Ensure scientists and data scientists are aware of available data and can access, integrate and query it in a performant manner 
• Enable streamlined sharing of rich data with collaborators through Cloud, accelerated compute and AI/ML approaches
• Assist with provisioning of compute and data pipelines to deliver performant data products via the research and enterprise data ecosystem
• Optimize workflows and exchange of research data within and to the global organization
• Partners with the Data Representation Organization to ensure that the data products have the appropriate technical and business meta data including ontologies and vocabularies.
• Partners with Information Technology to publish data products into the research and enterprise data catalogs. Enable context-specific research and enterprise specific search for data through the use of LLMs and semantic search
• Support the development and implementation of knowledge graphs embedded into the target and translational application ecosystem
• Develop platform capabilities and application solutions for the target and translational data and solution ecosystem
• Participate in Novo Nordisk R&ED pharmaceutical research projects
• Ensure researchers are familiar with and can use preferred applications
• Aid understanding of infrastructure requirements for the site
• Develop or acquire new systems and software in collaboration with internal and external partners
• Conduct end-user training and technical support of informatics systems
• Advocate for the use of data and data science including computational and machine learning approaches in research projects
• Participate in sustaining a suite of tools and application such as R, Jupyter Hub, Domino, Spotfire.

Physical Requirements

Up to 10% overnight travel required.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree, or PhD is preferred. Degree within Life Sciences, Physics, Statistics, Computer Engineering  preferred; Minimum of Bachelor’s degree required.
• Master’s degree with 3+ years’ relevant experience, or PhD with little to no years’ relevant experience, OR A Bachelor’s degree with 5+ years’ relevant experience can be considered
• Relevant experience includes:
  • Life sciences, medical device and/or pharmaceutical industry
  • Experience with public and private biological data types including one or more areas: DNA sequencing, RNAseq, single cell data, proteomics, epigenomics, pathway and imaging data
  • Broad expertise spanning data and digital, including the ability to perform hands on technical work
  • Basic understanding of the ontologies, vocabularies and standards for data representation across the research and development value chain.  Intermediate understanding preferred
  • Excellent communication skills at bench scientist/end-user level and with middle management
  • Resolute and able to negotiate complex expectations
  • Structured approach and detail oriented
  • Excellent written and oral communication skills is required
• Preferred experience includes:
  • Experience with public and private datasets in genomics, genetics, proteomics, metabolomics, and imaging data sets including the formulation of scientific hypotheses and analysis plans that require the integration of multi-modal data into integrated data products
  • Solid understanding of at least one therapeutic area (Diabetes, Obesity, Cardiovascular, Rare Diseasese). Intermediate knowledge of Diabetes and/or Obesity along with the molecular and physiological role of drug, food, and other factors relating to the diseases, is preferred.
  • Experience in regulated medical device development or in another regulated field is preferred.

We commit to an inclusive recruitment process and equality of opportunity for all our job applicants.

At Novo Nordisk we recognize that it is no longer good enough to aspire to be the best company in the world. We need to aspire to be the best company for the world and we know that this is only possible with talented employees with diverse perspectives, backgrounds and cultures. We are therefore committed to creating an inclusive culture that celebrates the diversity of our employees, the patients we serve and communities we operate in. Together, we’re life changing.

Novo Nordisk is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by local, state or federal laws, rules or regulations.

If you are interested in applying to Novo Nordisk and need special assistance or an accommodation to apply, please call us at 1-855-411-5290. This contact is for accommodation requests only and cannot be used to inquire about the status of applications.