Jack Sleight

R Developer and Data Scientist

Summary

I am an R developer and data scientist with over 6 years of experience. My current role as R/R Shiny developer at Audit Scotland involves acting as a lead developer for the design and maintenance of web-based data applications. These are used by a team of auditors for the analysis of financial and performance audit data generated by public sector organisations in Scotland. In my previous role at Fios Genomics I acted as a lead bioinformatic data scientist providing statistical analyses for a range of clients in the pharmaceutical and academic sectors. From my experiences in both the private life science and public audit sectors, I have acquired transferable skills in analysing complex data sets and developing data-centred products.

Skills

Programming

  • R
  • Python
  • SQL
  • JavaScript
  • Bash

Bioinformatics

  • DNA/RNA sequencing
  • ASO design
  • Proteomics
  • High-throughput screening development

Data science

  • Tidyverse/Tidymodels
  • Quarto/RMarkdown
  • Shiny/Plotly
  • Numpy/Pandas/Matplotlib/Seaborn

Engineering

  • Git
  • Docker
  • CI/CD
  • NextFlow
  • Linux
  • Azure
  • Relational database design

Experience

Audit Scotland, Glasgow

R/R Shiny Developer2025-Present

  • I design and maintain web-based data applications using R, SQL and Python that are used by teams of financial and performance auditors to perform a range of analyses. Typical analyses include but are not limited to:
    • Analysis of general ledger and financial statement data.
    • Collation of Audit Scotland parliamentary interaction data.
  • I design and maintain data pipelines for extracting, transforming and loading public sector data into structured and semi-structured data sets such as relational databases or JSON file stores, respectively.
  • I use Git for version control and develop GitHub pipelines for maintaining code and adhering to continuous integration (CI) and continuous development (CD) practices.
  • I am involved in the maintenance of Microsoft Azure services for hosting web-based applications.
  • I lead the development of best practice guidance documentation for R programming at Audit Scotland.

Fios Genomics, Edinburgh

Senior Bioinformatics Developer2023-2025

  • I contributed to an internal codebase using R, SQL, Python and JavaScript that was used by a team of bioinformaticians. Typical analyses included but were not limited to:
    • Critical and confounding factors analysis of biological experimental study designs.
    • Analysis of high dimenstional data such as gene expression and custom array data sets.
    • Hypergeometric and gene-set enrichment testing of biological pathways.
    • Designing personalised allele-specific anti-sense oligonucleotide using whole genome sequencing data.
    • Data mining of public bioinformatic databases.
    • Development of machine learning models for predicting drug response using omics data.
  • I was involved in the communication of code updates and new features via blog posts and presentations.
  • I was responsible for ensuring reproducibility of statistical analyses using tools such as Docker and GitLab CI pipelines.

Senior Bioinformatician2021-2023

  • I acted as a lead bioinformatic data scientist for a range of different statistical analysis projects.
  • I provided scientific and technical guidance to junior bioinformaticians.
  • I was regularly involved in scoping statistical analysis plans for new and existing clients.

Bioinformatician2021-2023

  • I acted as a junior bioinformatic data scientist, performing statistical analyses for clients in the pharmaceutical and academic sectors.

Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute, Glasgow

Laboratory Aide2015-2016

  • I was part of a large team responsbile for preparation of tissue culture solutions and autoclaving of laboratory waste.

Education

University of Glasgow

MSc - Bioinformatics with Distinction with Distinction2018-2019

  • I was awarded a Scottish Funding Council scholarship based on undergraduate academic performance.

University of Strathclyde

BSc - Pharmacology and Biochemistry with First Class Honours2016-2018

  • I was awarded the Biochemical Society prize for academic achievement.

University of Glasgow

DipHE - Medical Science2013-2015

Training and teaching

  • 2025 – I attended the Shiny in Production conference run by Jumping Rivers Ltd.
  • 2022 – I completed the Exploring Genetic Variation EMBI-EBL virtual course.
  • 2021 – I presented a COVID-19 R Shiny application at the Edinburgh Data Visualisation Meetup
  • 2019 – I participated in a study group on “Introduction to Statistical Learning” by James et. al.