Daniel Levin
2012-Mar-15 14:15 UTC
[R-jobs] Job in Scotland - Analyst Programmer/Data Warehouse Manager
Grade: Grade 7 - 8 depending on experience and skills Salary range: Grade 7 (spine point 29; ?29,099) up to grade 8 (point 40; ?40,280) Duration of Post: Two years in the first instance Location: Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine, Dentistry & Nursing, Ninewells Hospital & Medical School Campus, University of Dundee, DD1 9SY. The Diabetes Epidemiology Group at the University of Dundee Medical Research Institute is seeking a skilled programmer to interface with software developers in the various teams from whom we source data. The Group is at the cutting edge of exploiting large scale data including, electronic health records and large genetic datasets, to lead to advances in disease prevention and medical treatments. Examples of the sort of work we do include using large scale data on drug prescribing linked with hospitalisation data to detect and quantify adverse reactions to drugs used in diabetes care. Other examples are using large genome wide genotype data linked with clinical data to understand the genetics of complications of diabetes. This post provides a great opportunity for an enthusiastic programmer to develop core expertise in this rapidly expanding field. Such expertise was recently identified as being of growing strategic importance for UK science by the Medical Research Council (http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Utilities/Documentrecord/index.htm?d=MRC007896) and one where there will be many future job opportunities. We are seeking a person with good programming skills to provide a key link between the source of our raw data and the analytics team. Our data can come from many different sources in different formats and has often had minimal cleaning or processing before we receive it. The data providers often provide it as flat files though are moving to holding data on ORACLE, Netezza and other platforms. Our analytics team comprises machine learning specialists, biostatisticians and epidemiologists. Key attributes are good interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate clearly, experience with a relational database management package such as MySQL and familiarity with the LINUX environment. The appointee should have a sound understanding of good code documentation practices and tools. The principal responsibilities of the post are: * Continue development of our current database (now MySQL but you can migrate to another platform if needed) to create a local front end for analysis * Integrate data held in various formats and coming from various platforms * Implement structures and metadata to support data definition, quality definition and data transformation from a variety of information sources * Process the data to a state ready for subsequent analysis using a language such as PYTHON, PERL or other and write it back to the database for use by the analytic team who work in R, MATLAB , SAS STATA * Work with the analytic team to improve analytic efficiency such as by re-writing some R Functions in a lower level language such as C or by parallelising the code or application * Work with the analytic team to ensure data flows and data version control are adequately documented and that data analysis code and functions common to different projects are organised in shared libraries * Work with the analytic team to ensure appropriate sharing of tools and methods across specific projects and to set up the necessary systems to facilitate this For more experienced applicants we also envisage a leadership role that involves * establishing operational policies on data processing and data security across the team * being the point of communication between the University IT support and the Diabetes Epidemiology group and to represent the group in any IT and computing related discussions across the University * providing advice on investment in software and hardware within the group * participating in the recruitment, management and appraisal of the programming team as it expands Person Specification: Essential: Experience in setting up and maintaining a relational database Experience with an open source relational database management package such as MySQL or ORACLE or other Experience of working within a Unix/Linux environment Good interpersonal skills and an ability to communicate clearly Able to work on one's own initiative Ability to understand and debug an inherited codebase Desirable Experience of working with statisticians A degree in a related discipline such as computer science, mathematics or statistics Experience with an array programming language such as R or Matlab would be an advantage but is not essential Experience in any of: Java, C++,-/- C#, Python, Experience of developing Web applications & Web Services Experience of managing a Linux server Ability to resolve relatively complex issues and manage change Experience of project management and team management How to Apply: To apply on-line please visit: www.dundee.ac.uk/jobs<http://www.dundee.ac.uk/jobs>. Please quote reference number MDN0306. Potential applicants are encouraged to have an informal discussion about the post with Professor Helen Colhoun: please email: m.z.mccann at dundee.ac.uk<mailto:m.z.mccann at dundee.ac.uk> The University of Dundee is committed to equal opportunities and welcomes applications from all sections of the community. The University of Dundee is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC015096 [[alternative HTML version deleted]]