Head of Clinical Genetics (Maternity cover - 12 months)

About Sano

At Sano, we're accelerating the future of precision medicine by connecting patients, healthcare providers, and life sciences companies through a platform designed to improve access to research and clinical trials. Our mission is to ensure that everyone can benefit from advances in genomic medicine, regardless of where they live or the condition they have.

We work with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies worldwide to identify, engage, and support participants for precision medicine programmes, leveraging genetics, technology, and patient-centric design to transform clinical research.

Curious to dive deeper? Read more about what we do here

Headlines:

• Role - Head of Clinical Genetics

• Salary - 80,000 to 90,000

• Location - UK (remote only)

How you’ll make an impact:

We are seeking an experienced Head of Clinical Genetics to join Sano on a 12-month maternity cover contract. This is a senior leadership role responsible for the scientific quality, clinical validity, and operational excellence of all genetic analyses delivered through the Sano platform.

As the accountable owner of our Clinical Genetics function, you will sit at the intersection of genetics, bioinformatics, clinical science, operations, and commercial delivery. You will oversee the end-to-end lifecycle of genetic testing and interpretation, ensuring that participant-facing and sponsor-facing outputs are clinically robust, scalable, compliant, and audit-ready.

This role offers a unique opportunity to lead a multidisciplinary team while shaping how genetic data is analysed, interpreted, and applied across precision medicine programmes globally.

What you'll do:

Lead Clinical Genetics Strategy and Delivery

• Own the end-to-end genetic analysis and interpretation process across all Sano programmes.

• Act as Sano's senior clinical genetics expert, providing guidance on test selection, interpretation, and clinical applicability.

• Ensure the quality, consistency, and clinical validity of genetic results returned to participants and sponsors.

• Oversee the development and validation of new genetic reporting capabilities and return-of-results workflows.

Oversee Bioinformatics and Quality Assurance

• Lead and support Bioinformatics and Bioinformatics QA teams.

• Establish standards for pipeline validation, quality control, release management, and audit readiness.

• Provide strategic direction for bioinformatics infrastructure, workflow development, and pipeline evolution.

• Maintain oversight of code review practices, change control processes, and quality management activities.

Own Return of Results Operations

• Lead Sano's return of results strategy and governance framework.

• Review and approve participant-facing genetic reports and analyses.

• Partner with Clinical Science to ensure findings are interpreted and communicated appropriately.

• Ensure compliance with ethical, clinical, and regulatory requirements across jurisdictions.

Drive Population and Statistical Genetics Initiatives

• Lead population genetics, GWAS, and polygenic risk score (PRS) activities.

• Provide expert guidance on cohort design, participant stratification, and statistical methodology.

• Deliver advanced analyses supporting sponsor programmes and internal research initiatives.

• Support feasibility assessments through genetic cohorting and variant frequency analyses.

Partner Across the Business

• Collaborate closely with Commercial, Product, Engineering, Delivery, Compliance, and Clinical Science teams.

• Provide genetics expertise during proposal development, protocol review, and client discussions.

• Support business development activities through conference participation, client meetings, and scientific thought leadership.

• Contribute to strategic decisions regarding genetic testing services, laboratory partnerships, and programme design.

Ensure Regulatory and Quality Compliance

• Maintain genetics operations aligned with applicable regulatory and quality standards.

• Support sponsor audits, due diligence activities, and quality management processes.

• Develop and maintain SOPs, governance frameworks, and operational documentation.

• Drive continuous improvement and operational scalability across the Clinical Genetics function.

About you:

We're looking for a leader who combines deep scientific expertise with strong operational and people leadership skills.

Essential Experience

• Advanced degree (PhD, DPhil, MD, MSc, or equivalent experience) in Genetics, Genomics, Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, or a related discipline.

• Significant experience in clinical genetics, genomics, bioinformatics, or precision medicine environments.

• Experience leading multidisciplinary scientific or technical teams.

• Strong understanding of genetic testing methodologies, including genotyping arrays, WES, WGS, targeted sequencing, and related technologies.

• Experience overseeing participant-facing genetic reporting and return-of-results processes.

• Strong knowledge of population genetics and statistical genetics methodologies.

• Experience working in regulated or quality-controlled environments.

Technical Expertise

• Strong understanding of variant interpretation, clinical genetics workflows, and genomic data analysis.

• Experience with bioinformatics pipelines, NGS data processing, and genomic data quality control.

• Familiarity with tools and technologies such as Python, R, SQL, Nextflow, AWS, Docker, GitHub, and modern bioinformatics workflows.

• Experience analysing large-scale genomic datasets and translating findings into actionable insights.

Leadership and Communication

• Demonstrated ability to lead teams, influence stakeholders, and drive cross-functional initiatives.

• Strong project management and prioritisation skills.

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.

• Comfortable presenting to clients, sponsors, scientific audiences, and senior leadership teams.

• Ability to translate complex scientific concepts into practical business and operational decisions.

Even better if you have:

• Experience supporting pharmaceutical, biotechnology, or clinical research programmes.

• Familiarity with CLIA/CAP laboratory environments.

• Experience developing GWAS or PRS methodologies.

• Publication record or conference presentation experience in genetics, genomics, or bioinformatics.

• Experience working in high-growth startups or scale-ups.

Why Join Sano?

• Work on programmes that directly impact patients and accelerate precision medicine.

• Collaborate with a highly motivated, mission-driven team.

• Influence the future direction of genetics-enabled healthcare.

• Flexible remote working environment.

• Competitive salary and benefits package.

• Opportunity to make a meaningful impact during a critical period of company growth.

Research shows that some people are less likely to apply for a role unless they are 100% qualified. Your experience, skills and passion will set you apart so tell us about your achievements, irrespective of whether they are personal or work-related, tell us about your journey, and about what you learnt.

So, if this role excites you, don't let our role description hold you back, get applying!

Hiring Process

1. Initial screening with Head of Clinical Genetics

2. Take home task

3. Stakeholder Interview

4. ⭐️ Interview with SVP Product and Delivery

Support - If you have a medical condition or an individual need for an adjustment to our process, and you believe this may affect your ability to be at your best - please let us know so we can talk about how we can best support you and make any adjustments that may be needed. All interviews at Sano take place virtually. Please let us know if we can help make a virtual interview run smoother for you.

Please note:

We can only accept applications from those eligible to live and work in the UK or in the USA (for specific roles). We are unable to sponsor visas for this position.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

At Sano, we're committed to creating an environment that promotes diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. We are a global community and we believe our unique qualities should be celebrated as they are critical to our innovation. It's essential to us that you bring your authentic self to work every single day, no matter your age, ethnicity, religion, citizenship, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability status, caring responsibilities, neurodiversity, or otherwise. Inclusion isn't just an initiative at Sano. We strive to embed it not just into our values but throughout our entire culture.