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 14 Bioinformatics Engineer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 353 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 $108,845.
State
The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $108,845.
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 $90,474.
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 | 58.64% |
| Master's Degree | 51.56% |
| Doctoral Degree | 28.61% |
| Other | 0.85% |
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 | 28.9% |
| 3 to 5 years | 52.75% |
| 6 to 8 years | 12.84% |
| 9+ years | 5.5% |
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 (44.19%)
- Communication (30.03%)
- Management (20.11%)
- Problem Solving (16.71%)
- Writing (15.86%)
- Mathematics (14.16%)
- Troubleshooting (Problem Solving) (12.46%)
- Leadership (11.33%)
- Innovation (10.48%)
- Self-Motivation (8.22%)
Defining Skills
A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.
- Linux (24.48%)
- Git (Version Control System) (21.53%)
- Biology (32.74%)
- Version Control (25.07%)
- Data Analysis (33.63%)
- Software Development (28.61%)
- Software Engineering (53.98%)
- Python (Programming Language) (70.5%)
- Data Science (20.35%)
- R (Programming Language) (49.26%)
- Bioinformatics (59.29%)
- Amazon Web Services (36.87%)
- Scalability (17.7%)
- Docker (Software) (21.24%)
- DNA Sequencing (24.48%)
- Computer Science (54.28%)
- Genomics (31.27%)
- SQL (Programming Language) (22.42%)
- Next-Generation Sequencing (22.12%)
- Computational Biology (25.96%)
- Machine Learning (17.4%)
- Algorithms (25.96%)
- Workflow Management (44.25%)
Necessary Skills
A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.
- Perl (Programming Language) (10.32%)
- PostgreSQL (5.01%)
- Agile Methodology (9.44%)
- Big Data (3.83%)
- Molecular Biology (12.09%)
- Software Quality (SQA/SQC) (2.65%)
- Proteomics (9.44%)
- Code Review (5.01%)
- Data Visualization (7.37%)
- Data Modeling (6.49%)
- Bash (Scripting Language) (8.85%)
- Shell Script (5.9%)
- Ribonucleic Acid Sequencing (12.09%)
- Data Quality (4.72%)
- JavaScript (Programming Language) (10.03%)
- NoSQL (5.31%)
- RESTful API (5.31%)
- Java (Programming Language) (20.06%)
- Drug Discovery (4.72%)
- Open-Source Software (8.85%)
- JIRA (6.49%)
- Microsoft Azure (11.8%)
- Cloud Computing (14.16%)
- Relational Databases (11.21%)
- Artificial Intelligence (4.72%)
- Automation (13.86%)
- Genetics (9.73%)
- Kubernetes (6.49%)
- CI/CD (8.26%)
- Test Automation (4.42%)
- Biomarkers (5.01%)
- C++ (Programming Language) (11.5%)
- Application Programming Interface (API) (8.85%)
- Software Testing (3.83%)
- High Performance Computing (9.73%)
- Software Design (4.13%)
- Data Storage (7.67%)
- Debugging (6.78%)
- Workflow Management Systems (3.54%)
- Oncology (10.32%)
- Data Warehousing (10.03%)
- Github (10.91%)
- Data Engineering (9.44%)
- C (Programming Language) (6.78%)
- Scripting (17.11%)
- Containerization (9.73%)
- Data Processing (9.73%)
- Shiny (R Package) (6.19%)
- Extract Transform Load (ETL) (3.54%)
- New Product Development (5.9%)
- Unix (10.91%)
- Development Environment (4.13%)
- Life Sciences (4.72%)
- Data Management (6.78%)
- Data Pipelines (5.31%)
- Medical Research (7.67%)
- Go (Programming Language) (3.83%)
- Data Integration (3.54%)
- Deep Learning (1.18%)
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.
- Workflow Management (54.55%)
- Computer Science (66.91%)
- Computational Biology (32%)
- R (Programming Language) (60.73%)
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
- Microbiologist
- Bioinformatician
- Data Engineer
- Biomedical Information Systems Engineer
- Bioinformatics Researcher
- Director of Bioinformatics
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.
- Bioinformatician
- Computational Biologist
- Computer Scientist
- Software Developer / Engineer
- Data Scientist
- Application Developer / Engineer
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
- Moderna Therapeutics (18)
- Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (15)
- Harnham (13)
- Labcorp Drug Development (13)
- Genentech (11)
- Exact Sciences (11)
- Grail (9)
- University of Maryland (8)
- Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (8)
- Leidos (8)
North Carolina
- Labcorp Drug Development (4)
- Grail (3)
- University of North Carolina (2)
- Research Triangle Institute (1)
- Metabolon (1)
- Spirit AeroSystems (1)
- Genesis10 (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!
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.