Executive Director, Head of Bioinformatics

Role Summary

Executive Director, Head of Bioinformatics is a hands-on scientific leadership role to build, lead, and scale a best-in-class bioinformatics and computational biology function supporting discovery, translational, and clinical development programs across oncology and immunology. The role combines strategy and technical expertise to define Janux’s bioinformatics vision, own multi-omic and computational strategies from discovery through early clinical development, and serve as a key scientific partner across Research, Translational Medicine, Biometrics, and Clinical Development. Location: On site in San Diego, CA.

Responsibilities

• Define and own Janux’s bioinformatics strategy across discovery, translational research, and clinical development.
• Serve as a key scientific advisor to program teams, influencing strategy from discovery through clinical proof‑of‑concept.
• Establish scientific, technical, and data quality standards to support regulatory‑grade analyses where applicable.
• Translate complex computational results into clear scientific narratives for internal governance, executive leadership, and external audiences.
• Represent bioinformatics in senior‑level discussions and contribute to portfolio and platform‑level strategy.
• Lead hands‑on and/or directed analysis of complex, high‑dimensional clinical datasets, including ctDNA, CTC’s, flow, PK, ADA, NAb, tissue-based RNA/IHC, PET, CT (RECIST 1.1), and other comparable data types.
• Develop and oversee development, maintenance, and enhancement of scalable, reproducible bioinformatics dashboards, pipelines and analytical frameworks to support target discovery, mechanism‑of‑action studies, biomarker development, and patient stratification.
• Develop and implement computational strategies for data mining and exploration using statistical and machine learning methodologies.
• Partner closely with IT, Translational Medicine, Research, and Clinical teams to design and execute exploratory and hypothesis‑driven biomarker analyses.
• Support clinical programs by ensuring bioinformatics deliverables meet project timelines and expectations for data integrity, traceability, and documentation.
• Foster strong, collaborative relationships across functions and with external collaborators.
• Other duties as deemed necessary.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of biotech or pharmaceutical industry experience, with progressive leadership responsibility and a strong record of scientific impact.
• Demonstrated experience supporting translational and/or clinical development programs, preferably in oncology, immunology, or related therapeutic areas, e.g. cell & gene therapy.
• Strong programming skills (e.g., Python, R) and experience with reproducible research practices, data visualization, and modern analytical workflows.
• Proven experience evaluating and applying data science, machine learning, and AI methods in biological and clinical contexts.
• Ability to bridge computation and biology, translating complex analyses into actionable insights.

Education

• Ph.D. (or equivalent experience) in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biostatistics, Genomics, Computer Science, or a related discipline.

Additional Requirements

• Work Authorization: United States (Required)
• Work Location: On site (San Diego, CA)