Job Description

Union: Non-Union
Number of vacancies: 1
New or Replacement Position: New
Site: Toronto General Hospital
Department: Laboratory Medicine Program, Genome Diagnostics
Reports to: Senior Manager, Advanced Diagnostics
Hours: 37.5 hours per week
Salary: $35.35 to $53.03 per hour
Shifts: All Shifts
Status: Temporary Full Time, 1 year with annual re-evaluation
Closing Date: August 28, 2026

The Laboratory Medicine Program, Genome Diagnostics, is seeking a highly motivated and experienced Software Developer, Genome Diagnostics Informatics to support the development, implementation, maintenance, and operational support of software, databases, applications, interfaces, and informatics workflows that enable clinical genomic testing.

The initial priority of this role will be to design, build, validate, document, and deploy software solutions that support Genome Diagnostics laboratory operations, including laboratory tracking, workflow automation, data management, reporting, and integration with laboratory information systems. Once the initial software build and implementation phase is complete, the role will transition to providing ongoing software maintenance, production support, workflow optimization, and bioinformatics support for clinical next-generation sequencing data analysis and laboratory operations.

The successful candidate will work closely with laboratory staff, bioinformaticians, scientists, clinicians, information technology teams, and operational leaders to translate requirements into reliable, maintainable, and well-documented informatics solutions. This role requires strong software development expertise, excellent communication skills, attention to detail, and an understanding of the rigour required to support clinical diagnostic testing environments.

Duties and Responsibilities

The responsibilities for this position include, but are not limited to:

Software Development, Application Build, and Implementation

• Lead the design, development, testing, validation, documentation, and deployment of software applications, databases, graphical user interfaces, APIs, web services, and reporting tools to support Genome Diagnostics laboratory operations.
• Develop and enhance applications that support laboratory tracking, workflow automation, sample and data management, quality control, operational reporting, and clinical testing workflows.
• Build and maintain interfaces between systems to improve data flow, reduce manual processes, support reporting, and enable integration with Laboratory Information Management Systems and related clinical or operational systems.
• Gather software requirements from laboratory, scientific, clinical, bioinformatics, and operational stakeholders, translating user needs into practical, maintainable solutions.
• Identify manual or inefficient processes that would benefit from automation and recommend appropriate technical solutions.
• Perform systems analysis, estimate implementation timelines, and contribute to prioritization of software development activities.
• Write clean, maintainable, well-documented code using source code control, unit testing, regression testing, continuous integration, and appropriate development practices.
• Deploy software applications and updates to development, staging, and production environments as required.
• Troubleshoot production issues, resolve bugs, support users, and implement improvements to prevent outages or workflow disruption.
• Create and maintain developer documentation, technical specifications, user guides, validation documentation, and standard operating procedures as required.

Genome Diagnostics Informatics and Bioinformatics Support

• Support the processing and analysis of clinical next-generation sequencing data sets, including DNA and RNA analysis.
• Develop, maintain, and improve clinical bioinformatics pipelines for the processing of large genomics and biomedical data sets.
• Identify, evaluate, test, and implement new tools, technologies, and methods for next-generation sequencing data analysis.
• Provide expertise in genomic data storage, data organization, data sharing, and data management practices.
• Support laboratory staff in the development and optimization of workflows within Laboratory Information Management Systems.
• Maintain and improve databases and graphical user interfaces that are key to laboratory operations.
• Support clinical laboratory operations through result analysis, reporting support, methods development, code development, troubleshooting, and documentation.
• Contribute to quality improvement initiatives that improve reliability, reproducibility, efficiency, and traceability of genomic testing workflows.
• Work with laboratory and scientific staff to support accurate, timely, and clinically appropriate genomic testing and reporting.

Collaboration, Quality, and Operational Support

• Work collaboratively with laboratory staff, bioinformaticians, scientists, clinicians, software developers, hospital IT personnel, and operational leaders.
• Communicate effectively with technical and non-technical stakeholders to clarify requirements, explain solutions, and support adoption of new tools and workflows.
• Maintain patient confidentiality and adhere to hospital, departmental, privacy, security, and quality requirements.
• Support clinical testing applications with the attention to detail, rigour, documentation, and change control expected in a diagnostic laboratory environment.
• Participate in planning, testing, validation, implementation, and post-implementation support for software and informatics initiatives.
• Contribute to a culture of innovation, collaboration, continuous improvement, and service excellence within Genome Diagnostics.

Qualifications

• At minimum, completion of a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Bioinformatics, Biology, or a related discipline is required. Equivalent combinations of education and relevant experience may be considered.
• A Master of Science degree is preferred.
• Two years of experience developing, maintaining, and operating software applications in a production environment.
• Hands-on experience with end-to-end software development, including requirements gathering, design, development, testing, deployment, troubleshooting, and maintenance.
• Proficiency with programming and scripting languages such as Python, R, Java, and JavaScript.
• Experience working in a Linux environment and using shell scripting.
• Experience with version control, including Git.
• Experience developing databases, web applications, APIs, web services, and/or data integration solutions.
• Experience developing ETL processes or custom data manipulation workflows to support operational or business needs.
• Experience with relational databases such as MySQL or PostgreSQL.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, organizational, and interpersonal skills.
• Strong verbal and written communication skills.
• Demonstrated ability to understand complex problems and develop practical, maintainable solutions.
• Acute attention to detail and rigour required for developing and supporting clinical testing applications.
• Demonstrated ability to work both independently and collaboratively in a multidisciplinary team environment.
• Knowledge of bioinformatics, particularly genome sequence analysis, gene annotation, and next-generation sequencing data workflows is preferred.
• Experience with bioinformatics resources, databases, tools, and common genomic data formats is preferred.
• Experience developing and implementing pipelines for the processing of large genomics or biomedical data sets is preferred.
• Familiarity with DNA and RNA sequencing workflows is preferred.
• Experience with full-stack development, software frameworks, APIs, and database-backed applications is preferred.
• Experience with Laboratory Information Management System development, implementation, configuration, or support is preferred.
• Familiarity with high-performance computing environments and running applications on HPC clusters is preferred.
• Experience with workflow automation systems, containerization, or cloud computing is preferred.
• Experience with Java application development, Spring, Hibernate, Docker, MongoDB, OpenStack, Microsoft Azure, or related technologies is an asset.
• Experience with clinical genomics, molecular diagnostics, cancer genomics, bioinformatics, healthcare, academic laboratories, or core facility operations is desirable.

Additional Information

Current UHN employees must have successfully completed their probationary period, have a good employee record along with satisfactory attendance in accordance with UHN's attendance management program, to be eligible for consideration.

All applications must be submitted before the posting close date.

UHN uses email to communicate with selected candidates. Please ensure you check your email regularly. At University Health Network (UHN), artificial intelligence technologies may be used to assist in the screening, assessment, and selection of candidates for this position.

Please be advised that a Criminal Record Check may be required of the successful candidate. Should it be determined that any information provided by a candidate be misleading, inaccurate or incorrect, UHN reserves the right to discontinue with the consideration of their application.