GA4GH Implementation Forum (GIF) Co-Lead

In this role, you will contribute to the leadership and direction of the GA4GH Implementation Forum (GIF). This includes developing GIF strategy, identifying work that can be taken forward by the group, chairing calls, leading and listening to the community as it works through technical issues, building consensus, and liaising with stakeholders within GA4GH and externally.

About the team

The Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) is a global standards development organisation dedicated to realising the potential of genomics in health. Supported by staff across five host institutions (Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard,  Wellcome Sanger Institute, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute, and McGill University’s Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Institute of Genomic Medicine), GA4GH’s volunteer community provides expert leadership to its Work Streams and other entities such as the GA4GH Implementation Forum (GIF).

The GA4GH Implementation Forum (GIF) advances the adoption of GA4GH standards across scientific, clinical, and industry domains. By facilitating implementation, ensuring interoperability across all axes, and promoting best practices, GIF helps translate GA4GH solutions into real-world impact.

Key objectives include fostering collaboration, accelerating interoperability, and supporting communities of practice. These goals are achieved through newly launched initiatives such as GIF Projects and the Ask Me Anything (AMA) programme.

We are seeking a dynamic Co-Lead to help drive GIF’s initiatives forward and identify new opportunities for collaboration within the GA4GH ecosystem.

Learn more about GIF’s mission, vision, and strategy here.

Your role

This is an opportunity to be at the heart of GA4GH’s standards implementation and integration strategy. Working closely with your Co-Lead, the GA4GH Secretariat, and members of the GA4GH community, you will contribute to the leadership and direction of GIF’s efforts, in line with GA4GH’s wider institutional vision and goals. 

This will involve developing the GIF strategy, identifying work that can be taken forward by the group, chairing calls, working through technical issues as a group, listening to the community, and building consensus. As GIF works with standards and groups from across GA4GH, a key part of the role will be to liaise and engage with other teams within GA4GH, and work with those teams on potential further development of their products.

You have

• a forward looking vision for federated genomic data sharing, access, and analysis based on open data standards;
• substantial experience with any of the following areas: biomedical informatics, genomics, computational development, or related disciplines;
• experience working in a large, federated genomic data environment;
• the ability to work effectively with, listen to, and provide leadership to a broad range of people from multiple disciplines and cultures;
• the ability to engage with others, explore multiple points of view, and build consensus;
• the capacity to identify opportunities aligned with the group’s goals and translate these into actionable plans;
• the ability to translate scientific or organisational needs expressed, for example, in implementation groups, and translate those into action;
• a demonstrable ability to work collaboratively and inspire others to work together across traditional institutional boundaries;
• an understanding of the complexity of integration across projects and standards in genomics, with previous experience in this area and a deep understanding of the need for standards to work in disparate national contexts.

You might also have

• experience working with GA4GH or other standards development organisations;
• experience working as part of a volunteer community;
• experience authoring, designing, or consuming APIs for bioinformatics;
• experience working with a custodian of genomic data;
• experience developing, assessing, or improving “best practices” within your domain;

Why join us

GA4GH accelerates progress in human health by building tools that expand responsible, effective, and democratised use of genomic and clinical data. With a global volunteer community made up of hundreds of individuals from a variety of organisations and institutions, GA4GH provides an active environment in which to drive these aims forward while building on our foundational commitments to human rights, ethics, and security.

Having a truly global community of contributors and leadership is key to GA4GH’s work. We are committed to providing an inclusive and welcoming environment for contributors at all levels and welcome nominations from all interested individuals.