Computational and Data Staff Scientist Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Design

- Job portal
- All vacancies Computational and Data Staff Scientist Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Design We seek an experienced, highly motivated, and independent computational and data scientist to support the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Design (CPD), University of Copenhagen (UCPH). The post suits someone with experience in computational chemistry, biology, and/or structural biology, as well as managing big data. This is a full-time position, starting 1 February 2027 and employment through 31 July 2032. Our research The CPD is a new initiative at UCPH. It is a multidisciplinary centre that works across the university—notably with the Departments of Biology, Drug Design and Pharmacology, Chemistry, and Computer Science—and with national and international academic and industrial partners. CPD is funded by an initial grant of 700M DKK for seven years from the Novo Nordisk Foundation. At capacity, the CPD is expected to have ≈8 research groups, ≈80 researchers, and support staff. Research will encompass the growing protein design landscape with computational, experimental, applied and hybrid projects. The CPD's vision and mission are to accelerate protein design by deepening understanding of sequence-to-structure/function relationships in proteins, and to train the next generation of protein scientists to apply protein-design approaches and methods to a diverse array of fundamental and real-world challenges. CPD research is broadly organised into three themes: Programmable De Novo Protein Design, aimed at improving methods for protein design by combining rational, physics-based and AI-based approaches; Contextualised Protein Design, that is, designing proteins that are fit for purpose such as working directly and optimally in cells, chemical reactors, etc; and Biodesign for Sustainability and Healthcare, for instance working with biotech and industry to deliver synthetic proteins to address grand challenges in these areas. Data science at CPD Increasingly, modern protein science is about data: collecting it, organising it, analysing it, and learning from it to build a deeper understanding of how proteins fold and function. Protein design is no different. Indeed, through the application of generative AI, it is at the leading edge of the confluence of data science and protein science. To coordinate this in the CPD, we are looking for someone experienced in and excited about working at this interface. Further information on the CPD see: cpd.ku.dk. Learn more about the Department of Drug Design and Pharmacology, https://drug.ku.dk/ Your job Specifically, we seek a talented computational and data scientist and team player to help develop research infrastructure, including hardware and computational tools, to advance the CPD’s research and mission. The successful candidate will join a growing multidisciplinary team to help collect, organise, analyse, and exploit data from computationally designed protein sequences and structural models, through protein expression levels, and onto a wide range of experimental structure-function studies. A key part of the role will be integrating into the wider team and working collaboratively with CPD researchers, rather than simply providing a data-management service. For example, we anticipate that the successful candidate would assist with and lead on various projects with CPD researchers to develop robust, reliable, and scalable data and computational tools to enable the very best protein design.

Key Responsibilities
Will Include
- Helping establish CPD's computational infrastructure to provide computing and data management for its researchers
- Developing automated pipelines that convert raw instrument output files directly into data plots suitable for analysis, saving time and resources across the research pipeline
- Collecting data and generating databases of designed proteins, e.g., constructs, sequences, models, and biophysical data (LIMS)
- Assisting in the development of new predictive models based on the gathered experimental and computational data using machine learning methods
- Being responsible for data management plans at the CPD and coordinating these plans with the host departments
- Related to the above, managing (i.e., best practice in collecting, organising, accessing) data generated by computational protein design workflows and by the CPD’s Protein Biophysics Facility
- Advising and training CPD scientists in creating and analysing large computational datasets, linking their experimental data and computational data to extract key information, and managing their computational protein design pipelines
- Contributing to, and where appropriate leading, grant applications for and publications from CPD research projects
- Teaching appropriate aspects of the above on CPD Master’s and PhD courses
- Serving as the primary technical bridge between the CPD and central KU IT to set up CPD’s computing systems in close c