Senior Scientist - SBG

The Department of General Services, Division of Consolidated Laboratory Services (DCLS) seeks to hire a qualified candidate to serve as a Senior Scientist in the Sequencing and Bioinformatics Group (SBG). SBG performs Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) to support enteric, respiratory and nosocomial pathogen characterization for disease surveillance, outbreak response and tracking, and to discover antimicrobial resistance genes in bacterial pathogens.

This position is responsible for serving as one of three NGS Team Leaders and CLIA Technical Supervisors in the SBG. The Senior Scientist is responsible for coordinating a timely laboratory response to communicable disease and foodborne outbreaks, reporting critical results directly to Epidemiologists at the Virginia Department of Health, and serving as a point of contact for the Mid-Atlantic region PulseNet community to assist with the coordination of all PulseNet Foodborne Disease Surveillance initiatives specifically related to next NGS testing and analysis. As a team leader, the Senior Scientist will coordinate daily customer service efforts impacting the Sequencing and Bioinformatics Group, coordinate analysis with members of the Bioinformatics Team and Lead Scientists, review and report analytical WGS results, write, review and update laboratory Standard Operating Procedures, monitor all Quality Assurance procedures, and perform routine analysis of specimens. In addition, this position will perform method review, assist in method validation and implementation, perform cost analyses, maintain and monitor laboratory safety practices, coordinate continuing education for DCLS and Mid-Atlantic region public health lab scientists, and maintain the laboratory competency assessment program. These duties are performed independently with minimal supervision from the Group Manager.