Lead Data Engineer

Day Zero Diagnostics (DZD) is an exciting revolutionizing infectious disease diagnostics, by leveraging cutting-edge sample prep technologies, whole genome sequencing and machine learning. We are building the next generation of IVDs, able to perform comprehensive bacterial species ID and antimicrobial resistance and susceptibility (AMR/S) profiling in less than 8 hours of sample receipt, without the need for culture.

Our first application is for Sepsis. Sepsis is responsible for about a third of hospital deaths and costs hospitals in the US about $24B annually. Using the current culture-based approach for pathogen ID and AST that takes 2-5 days and has a 40% failure rate, patients with Sepsis are treated with broad-spectrum antibiotics, leading to significant toxicity, higher rates of organ injury, increased risk of c. difficile infection, and contributing to the growth of the antibiotic resistance problem, globally.

By providing an accurate and comprehensive diagnosis within the first cycle of treatment, patients can get appropriate antibiotic therapy for systemic infections such as sepsis, reducing hospital treatment durations and costs while positively impacting patient outcomes.

At DZD, we are passionate about our mission of modernizing infectious diseases diagnosis and treatment. Employees gain experience in a multidisciplinary and fast-paced start-up, and have ample opportunities to acquire new skills, engage with emerging technologies, work closely with our accomplished team, and communicated their results, all while working in a supportive and energetic environment.

This Lead Data Engineer position is on the data science team at DZD, which is responsible for training machine learning models to predict antimicrobial resistance from genomic sequencing data. The Senior Data Engineer will primarily be responsible for MicrohmDB®, our comprehensive database of sequencing data and paired antimicrobial resistance profiles for a wide array of clinically relevant microbial strains that powers our machine learning models. The team will rely on you to maintain, extend, and modernize not only the database itself, but also the computational pipelines for data ingestion and transformation of the raw data into highly processed forms immediately usable for downstream R&D tasks via a range of bioinformatics tools as well as custom algorithms. This role will collaborate closely with our computational biology team to determine appropriate pipeline function as well as our software engineering team to deploy all components to our cloud infrastructure. There is also an opportunity to lead a small team of data engineers working on this critical component of the company’s infrastructure. Being able to work both collaboratively and independently are key.

Primary Responsibilities:

Develop, improve, and maintain code for key data processing pipelines
Build a robust and scalable data ecosystem for one of our company's most important data assets
Provide expertise and drive best practices around database management, data pipeline design, and workflow automation
Work closely within the data science team and with outside collaborators
Maintain close communication with the team regarding process

Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in computer science, data science, computational biology, or a related quantitative field
Fluency in Python, SQL, and Linux
3+ years (5+ preferred) experience in data engineering
3+ years (5+ preferred) experience with Python and Linux
2+ years (3+ preferred) of experience with version control and CI/CD systems/processes
2+ years (3+ preferred) of experience with workflow orchestration systems (e.g. Airflow, Prefect, etc)
2+ years (3+ preferred) of experience working in a cloud environment
Familiarity with fundamentals of database design and management
Dedication to coding best practices
Familiarity with biological sequencing data analysis helpful, but not required
Enthusiasm for learning about and solving problems in a new field
Highly motivated and independent, with the ability to in a dynamic team environment
Strong oral and written communication skills

We are an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, pregnancy, age, national origin, disability status, genetic information, protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.