Scientific Portfolio Data Lead

Do you want to help us improve human health and understand life on Earth? Make your mark by shaping the future to enable or deliver life-changing science to solve some of humanity’s greatest challenges.

Open Targets is seeking a proactive and delivery-focused Scientific Portfolio Data Lead to accelerate the sharing, curation and ingestion of genetics and genomics data across the Open Targets partnership. This is a key role at the interface of research teams, pharma partners, operational programme teams, the Open Targets Platform team and senior stakeholders.

• Lead coordination of data sharing across Open Targets research activities, ensuring that datasets are identified early, prepared appropriately and shared rapidly with partners.
• Act as the main bridge between research teams, pharma partners, operational support teams and the Open Targets Platform team for data-sharing and ingestion-related activities.
• Work with scientists to understand upcoming genetics and functional genomics datasets and define the metadata, formats and documentation needed for reuse.
• Support the preparation of data and metadata using relevant standards, controlled vocabularies and ontologies.
• Coordinate and work closely with Open Targets core team colleagues to assess which datasets are suitable for ingestion into the Open Targets Platform or associated data products.
• Track datasets from generation through metadata collection, quality review, partner sharing and, where relevant, Platform ingestion.
• Build trusted working relationships with research groups, programme managers, pharma partners, the Platform team and senior stakeholders.
• Develop lightweight processes, templates and guidance to improve the speed, consistency and quality of data sharing. Identify bottlenecks in data sharing and take the initiative to resolve them.
• Ensure that data-sharing activities are aligned with agreed governance, access, confidentiality and partnership requirements.
• Provide regular updates to internal and partner stakeholders on data availability, readiness, risks and progress.

Open Targets is a public-private partnership that takes a systematic approach to drug target identification and prioritisation. The consortium brings together academic institutes the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the EMBL-European Bioinformatics Institute with global pharmaceutical companies MSD, GSK, Pfizer, Sanofi and Genentech. The Open Targets research programme generates a variety of data types through large-scale, systematic experiments to inform drug target identification and prioritisation. We have a diverse portfolio of cutting-edge experimental and informatics projects, handling a wide range of different types of data including patient clinical data, multi-omics, and large scale perturbations at different biological levels. Our project teams include clinicians working closely within the NHS to recruit patients, scientists developing cutting-edge technology platforms, developers working on innovative new AI applications and groups managing resources used globally.

This role offers the opportunity to work across multidisciplinary teams, collaborating closely with pharmaceutical partners and senior stakeholders. You are able to identify issues and work with others to find practical solutions. You will be able to translate between scientific teams, informatics resource teams and partner stakeholders, ensuring that data is not only scientifically valuable but also well described, reusable and shareable.

• Strong understanding of genetics, genomics or functional genomics data types, such as GWAS, QTL, sequencing, variant, perturbation, single-cell, CRISPR screen, expression or disease-relevant datasets.
• Practical knowledge of metadata, data standards, controlled vocabularies or ontologies relevant to biomedical data.
• Experience supporting scientific data sharing, data coordination, data curation, data management or data product delivery.
• Good judgement around data quality, metadata completeness, confidentiality and appropriate data use.
• Experience manipulating data within HPC and/or Cloud environments.
• Fluency in a UNIX environment.
• Programming skills (preferably Python) and data analysis frameworks (e.g. pandas, spark, polars).
• PhD in Biological Sciences, Bioinformatics, Data Sciences or a related discipline or equivalent experience.
• Ability to work across scientific, technical, operational and industry-facing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, including the ability to build relationships with senior scientists, programme teams, platform/data teams and external partners.
• Ability to communicate clearly with both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong organisational skills and the ability to track multiple datasets, deadlines, dependencies and stakeholder requirements.
• A proactive, delivery-focused approach, with evidence of taking initiative and driving work forward without close supervision.

For further details, please see the role profile.

(dependent upon skills and experience): £54,791-£65,091

3 years

Please apply with your CV and Cover Letter outlining how you meet the criteria set out above.

2nd August 2026