Staff Computational Biologist, Translational Science (Remote)

Why join Freenome?

Freenome is a high-growth biotech company developing tests to detect cancer using a standard blood draw. To do this, Freenome uses a multiomics platform that combines tumor and non-tumor signals with machine learning to find cancer in its earliest, most-treatable stages. 

Cancer is relentless. This is why Freenome is building the clinical, economic, and operational evidence to drive cancer screening and save lives. Our first screening test is for colorectal cancer (CRC) and advanced adenomas, and it’s just the beginning. 

Founded in 2014, Freenome has ~500 employees and more than $1.1B in funding from key investors, such as the American Cancer Society, Andreessen Horowitz, Anthem Blue Cross, Bain Capital, Colorectal Cancer Alliance, DCVC, Fidelity, Google Ventures, Kaiser Permanente, Novartis, Perceptive Advisors, RA Capital, Roche, Sands Capital, T. Rowe Price, and Verily.  

At Freenome, we aim to impact patients by empowering everyone to prevent, detect, and treat their disease. This, together with our high-performing culture of respect and cross-collaboration, is what motivates us to make every day count. 

Become a Freenomer

Do you have what it takes to be a Freenomer? A “Freenomer” is a determined, mission-driven, results-oriented employee fueled by the opportunity to change the landscape of cancer and make a positive impact on patients’ lives. Freenomers bring their diverse experience, expertise, and personal perspective to solve problems and push to achieve what’s possible, one breakthrough at a time.

About this opportunity:

At Freenome, our goal is to improve patient outcomes by pioneering the next-generation of blood tests using our combined multiomics and machine learning platform, starting with the early and accurate detection of cancer and continuing to early intervention.

As part of Translational Science at Freenome, you will be joining a multi-disciplinary team partnering with biopharma companies to advance new applications of our platform to improve outcomes in cancer. Example project areas with a focus on early intervention include: (1) identifying molecular subtypes of cancer to aid in patient selection for clinical trials/therapies, and (2) discovering predictive biomarkers of therapeutic response from pre-/post-treatment timepoints in pharma trials. As a senior member of the team, you will use a strong foundation of knowledge of the biological mechanisms of cancer and treatments (as well as experience from biopharma) to help advance our team’s research from early planning through to final delivery of results to our partners. As an experienced computational analyst, you will also serve as a technical lead for the team, supporting analysis review and identifying opportunities to scale our capabilities. 

What you’ll do:

• Lead the analysis and interpretation of molecular and clinical data, particularly in the context of early cancer intervention where Freenome is partnering with biopharma
• Leverage prior experience working in/with biopharma and in cancer biology, including but not limited to cancer diagnosis and molecular signatures across various types and stages of cancer; through this knowledge, help to shape our strategic plans and execution of projects
• Serve as a technical lead / key-thought leader for the Translational Science team in statistical analyses of data
• Motivate research hypotheses and areas for potential capabilities improvement, particularly interpretable biological features arising from different multiomics data types; subsequently plan, scope, and execute associated research with a talented team of computational biologists and wet lab scientists
• Leverage, develop, and apply machine-learning and statistical tools for model development and interpretation
• Clearly and concisely present analyses to and lead discussions with a range of scientific and non-scientific audiences, including both internal and external partners
  

Must haves:

• PhD or equivalent experience in a relevant field such as computational biology, computer science, and other quantitative fields
• 6+ years post-PhD experience working in industry, ideally in biopharma, applying computational techniques for biomarker discovery and product development
• Extensive knowledge of cancer biology and molecular biology, with experience leveraging this knowledge for problems in cancer computational biology and diagnostics
• Strong quantitative reasoning and statistical analysis skills, with a demonstrated ability to apply them effectively to relevant scientific problems
• Experience in developing, applying, and evaluating statistical and/or machine learning algorithms
• Experience with computational and statistical programming, including experience with Python statistical and machine-learning packages. Equivalents in other languages like R are also suitable
• Experience in the analysis of high-throughput, quantitative technologies in genomics, epigenomics, proteomics, transcriptomics, or immunomics (e.g., Hi-C, ATAC-seq, RNA-seq, immunoassays)
• Expertise with biological and genomic data, tools, and associated public databases (e.g., ENCODE, TCGA, Blueprint, Cosmic)
• Excellent oral and written communication skills to communicate to both scientific and broader audiences
• Experience mentoring or managing junior scientists, with an ability to work on a cross-functional team (with both computational and experimental scientists)
  

Benefits and additional information:

The US target range of our base salary for new hires is $183,000 - $280,000. You will also be eligible to receive pre-IPO equity, cash bonuses, and a full range of medical, financial, and other benefits depending on the position offered. Please note that individual total compensation for this position will be determined at the Company’s sole discretion and may vary based on several factors, including but not limited to, location, skill level, years and depth of relevant experience, and education. We invite you to check out our career page @ https://careers.freenome.com/ for additional company information.  

Freenome is proud to be an equal-opportunity employer, and we value diversity. Freenome does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, marital status, age, national origin, ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, pregnancy, genetic information, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran status, or any other status protected under federal, state, or local law.

Applicants have rights under Federal Employment Laws.  

• Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA)
• Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO)
• Employee Polygraph Protection Act (EPPA)

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