Bioinformatics Engineer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Bioinformatics Engineer uses technology and computational methods to analyze biological data and compile data bases. May analyze data sets having to do with the human genome.

Job Outlook

There were 11 Bioinformatics Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 310 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Biomedical Engineer industry, which includes the Bioinformatics Engineer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Bioinformatics Engineer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $117,693.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $117,693.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Bioinformatics Engineer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $103,917.

Education and Experience

Posted Bioinformatics Engineer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education Level	Percentage
Associate's Degree	0%
Bachelor's Degree	60.65%
Master's Degree	55.48%
Doctoral Degree	29.03%
Other	0.97%

Posted Bioinformatics Engineer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of Experience	Percentage
0 to 2 years	32.47%
3 to 5 years	50.52%
6 to 8 years	12.37%
9+ years	4.64%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Bioinformatics Engineer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

Research (48.71%)
Communication (31.61%)
Management (20.97%)
Writing (17.42%)
Problem Solving (15.81%)
Mathematics (14.52%)
Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (12.9%)
Innovation (12.26%)
Leadership (10.65%)
Quality Control (10%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

Workflow Management (49.49%)
Git (Version Control System) (25.08%)
Amazon Web Services (41.02%)
Java (Programming Language) (22.71%)
Agile Methodology (10.17%)
Algorithms (27.46%)
Software Development (34.24%)
DNA Sequencing (26.44%)
Linux (27.12%)
Python (Programming Language) (77.97%)
Biology (37.29%)
Bioinformatics (65.08%)
Computer Science (59.66%)
Computational Biology (27.12%)
R (Programming Language) (51.86%)
Version Control (24.75%)
Data Analysis (36.27%)
Machine Learning (19.32%)
Scalability (17.97%)
Genomics (35.59%)
Software Engineering (51.53%)
SQL (Programming Language) (28.14%)
Next-Generation Sequencing (23.73%)
Docker (Software) (28.47%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

Proteomics (9.83%)
Apache Airflow (10.17%)
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) (9.49%)
Molecular Biology (12.54%)
Data Processing (10.85%)
C (Programming Language) (7.46%)
Full Stack Development (5.76%)
C++ (Programming Language) (11.86%)
JavaScript (Programming Language) (11.86%)
Data Curation (3.39%)
Automation (19.66%)
Medical Research (7.46%)
Artificial Intelligence (5.42%)
Biochemical Assays (10.51%)
Technical Support (2.03%)
Application Programming Interface (API) (7.46%)
Microsoft Azure (11.19%)
Big Data (2.71%)
Clinical Trials (9.15%)
Cloud Computing (15.93%)
Bash (Scripting Language) (8.81%)
Data Integration (3.05%)
JIRA (8.14%)
Extract Transform Load (ETL) (5.42%)
Perl (Programming Language) (12.2%)
Data Engineering (11.19%)
Development Environment (5.08%)
Unix (14.24%)
Data Quality (6.1%)
Data Visualization (7.46%)
Containerization (10.17%)
Data Management (9.49%)
Relational Databases (14.92%)
Github (13.56%)
Data Warehousing (12.54%)
PostgreSQL (7.12%)
Genetics (11.19%)
MySQL (7.12%)
Oncology (10.51%)
RESTful API (4.07%)
Programming Languages (13.9%)
Software Design (4.75%)
CI/CD (12.54%)
Data Science (18.64%)
Data Storage (8.47%)
Informatics (5.76%)
Kubernetes (7.8%)
Scripting (18.64%)
Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (13.22%)
High Performance Computing (11.19%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

Algorithms (30.8%)
Data Analysis (40.68%)
Linux (30.42%)
Python (Programming Language) (87.45%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Bioinformatics Engineer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

Bioinformatics Software Engineer
Bioinformatics Programmer
Bioinformatics Intern
Data Engineer
Data Curator
Director of Bioinformatics
Bioinformatician
Systems Engineer
Bioinformatics Scientist

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Bioinformatics Engineer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (16)
Moderna Therapeutics (15)
Exact Sciences (14)
Harnham (11)
Tempus (9)
Leidos (9)
Labcorp (9)
Grail (7)
Eli Lilly (7)
Ginkgo Bioworks (7)

North Carolina

Grail (3)
APR Consulting (2)
University of North Carolina (2)
Spirit AeroSystems (1)
Labcorp (1)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!

Nanoengineering Master's Degrees

All wages, job posting statistics, employment trend projections, and information about skill desirability on this page represents historical data and does not guarantee future conditions. Data is provided by and downloaded regularly from Lightcast. For more information about how Lightcast gathers data and what it represents, see Lightcast Data: Basic Overview on Lightcast's Knowledge Base website.

Engineering