Is it possible to spend a couple of years after a post doc working as a bioinformatician and then return to academia? I have been a postdoc for 2+ years now with 1 high impact paper and couple more possible in the next 6 months. I have just got an offer for a Bioinformatician position with a decent salary (CAD 80K). I am wondering if it is possible to work as a Bioinformatician (which is a staff position) for a year or so and then pursue academia again? Will this be a good idea to take the Bioinformatician position now, whereas my current PI thinks I have a good chance to attain a faculty position in two years? I have a co-first author publication in Nature Genetics (IF 29), one co-first possibly in Cancer cell (IF 21) and at least one first author (probably IF 6). Thanks a lot for your feedback!
As long as you are doing your own research and publishing, I don't think this should necessarily be a problem. If the position is de facto similar to a post-doc with a higher salary you should be fine and it will probably just be treated like a second post-doc.

However, if you are just giving services and not leading any research project that can be a problem.

So the bottom line is what matters is mainly what you actually do and less the title of the position - I know of someone who after completing his PhD took a bioinformatician position in academia, rather than a post-doc, and used that to get a faculty position.