Life Science Data Engineer

Job Summary

Are you passionate about transforming complex biological data into scalable solutions that drive scientific discovery?

IFF is a global leader in flavors, fragrances, food ingredients and health & biosciences. We deliver sustainable innovations that elevate everyday products.

Health & Biosciences: Channeling our passion for nature and bioscience into sustainable, life-enhancing technologies that power innovative solutions across healthcare, food, consumer and industrial markets.

As a Life Science Data Engineer, you will play a key role in advancing digital transformation within microbiology and microbiome research and development. You will partner with scientists, bioinformaticians, and statisticians to design and scale data systems supporting experimental workflows, enabling data-driven discovery and real-world application of microbiome insights.

The role is based in Madison, Wisconsin (on-site role). Be part of a collaborative, innovative, and solution-oriented team where together we can achieve meaningful impact. Your potential is our inspiration.

Where You’ll Make a Difference

• Collaborate with scientific teams to design scalable data capture systems and user-friendly visualizations of experimental results
• Design and implement database architectures, data models, and automated data pipelines across platforms (e.g., Amazon Web Services, Laboratory Information Management Systems, Benchling, and contract research organization systems)
• Develop structured data models capturing microbial strain metadata, growth conditions, and experimental outputs
• Partner with researchers to standardize experimental metadata, ontologies, and data structures to improve data quality, reproducibility, and traceability
• Build and maintain data warehouses supporting probiotic growth, strain characterization, and clinical datasets
• Develop and implement robust data quality and integrity checks across data ingestion workflows, including integration of externally generated clinical data
• Build pipelines integrating multi-modal datasets (e.g., sequencing, metabolomics, in vitro assays, and clinical endpoints)
• Partner cross-functionally to prototype and deploy digital solutions that enhance research and development efficiency and scalability
  
  

What Makes You The Right Fit

• Ph.D. in Data Engineering, Computational Biology, Data Science, or a related field with relevant experience; or M.S. with equivalent professional experience
• Strong Structured Query Language (SQL) skills and experience with database systems such as SQL Server, PostgreSQL, or Oracle
• Proficiency in Python, R, or Spark for data processing and analysis
• Experience working with biological or experimental datasets with complex metadata structures
• Familiarity with statistical or computational analysis of biological systems
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple projects and work independently in a dynamic environment
• Strong communication and collaboration skills, with experience partnering effectively with scientific teams
• Experience designing scalable data architectures and optimizing data workflows for downstream users
  
  

How Would You Stand Out?

• Knowledge of clinical data standards and models (e.g., Observational Medical Outcomes Partnership (OMOP), Clinical Data Interchange Standards Consortium (CDISC)) and healthcare coding systems
• Experience working with microbiome or host–microbiome datasets, including translational or clinical research
• Understanding of microbial physiology, fermentation processes, or multi-omics data integration
  
  

Why Choose Us?

• Opportunity to work on impactful, real-world data and digital transformation projects
• Exposure to cutting-edge microbiome and probiotic research
• Collaborative environment with highly skilled scientists, engineers, and data experts
• Access to learning and development opportunities to grow technical and domain expertise
• Inclusive and purpose-driven culture focused on innovation and sustainability
  
  

We are a global leader in taste, scent, and nutrition, offering our customers a broader range of natural solutions and accelerating our growth strategy. At IFF, we believe that your uniqueness unleashes our potential. We value the diverse mosaic of the ethnicity, national origin, race, age, sex, or veteran status. We strive for an inclusive workplace that allows each of our colleagues to bring their authentic self to work regardless of their religion, gender identity & expression, sexual orientation, or disability.

Visit IFF.com/careers/workplace-diversity-and-inclusion to learn more