Senior Principal Software Development Engineer

A healthier future. It’s what drives us to innovate. To continuously advance science and ensure everyone has access to the healthcare they need today and for generations to come. Creating a world where we all have more time with the people we love. That’s what makes us Roche.

Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. Roche’s Research and Early Development organisations at Genentech (gRED) and Pharma (pRED) have demonstrated how these technologies accelerate R&D, leveraging data and novel computational models to drive impact. Seamless data sharing and access to models across gRED and pRED are essential to maximising these opportunities. The new Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) is a strategic, unified group whose goal is to harness the transformative power of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist our scientists in both pRED and gRED to deliver more innovative and transformative medicines for patients worldwide.

The Opportunity

At Genentech and Roche, we're at the forefront of a revolutionary transformation in drug discovery powered by AI and machine learning. Our "lab in the loop" strategy processes massive quantities of experimental data to train AI models that accelerate the discovery of new medicines. To enable this vision, we're seeking an exceptional Senior Principal Software Engineer to lead the development of our next-generation cross-modality registration platform - a foundational component of our AI-driven drug discovery infrastructure.

This platform will serve as the central nervous system for managing and integrating molecular data across our global research organization, handling hundreds of billions of records and enabling unprecedented scale in virtual molecule design and testing. As the volume of AI-generated molecular designs grows exponentially, our new registration platform must evolve to become a high-performance, cloud-native system capable of supporting rapid iteration cycles between computational design and experimental validation. You will be instrumental in consolidating our molecule registration systems into a single, harmonized environment, unlocking the full potential of our data and accelerating the development of life-changing therapies.

We are looking for someone who combines deep technical expertise in building reliable, scalable software systems with proven technical leadership experience. The ideal candidate will excel at creating technical roadmaps, designing service architectures, and leading a small team of software engineers to execute on this transformative vision.

You will work closely with Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CS-CoE) colleagues, including our machine learning for drug development team, Genentech Research & Early Development (gRED) Drug Discovery teams including the Antibody Engineering division, and other teams across the Roche family of companies to identify, strategize, and productionalize high-impact applications from across the drug discovery and development pipeline. Genentech provides a dynamic and challenging environment for cutting-edge, multidisciplinary research in AI and drug discovery including access to rich sources of data, close links to top academic institutions around the world, as well as internal Genentech and Roche partners and research units.

In this role, you will:

• Provide technical leadership in the design, development, and implementation of a cutting-edge cross-modality molecule registration platform.

• Design and implement scalable, robust, and maintainable solutions that can handle massive data volumes (100M+ molecules) and support evolving business needs.

• Directly contribute to accelerating drug discovery by improving data accessibility, enabling faster decision-making, and unlocking the full potential of our molecule data.

• Utilize modern cloud-native technologies (AWS), advanced data systems, and innovative approaches to data management.

Who you are

• 15+ years of software engineering work experience

• Leadership experience with 3-5 person teams

• Expertise in scalable data systems (100B+ rows)

• Expert-level Python & relational database knowledge (Postgres preferred)

• Strong cloud-native architecture experience (AWS)

• Strong Java/Kotlin skills

• Advanced system design capabilities

• Excellent testing & communication skills

Preferred

• Open source cheminformatics experience (e.g., RDKit, chemfp, Indigo, HELM toolkit)

• Chemical database cartridge expertise

• Familiarity with biological sequence alignment

• Chemical & biological structure notation expertise

• Familiarity with chemical structure canonicalization 

• Molecular structure searching algorithm expertise

Relocation benefits are not available for this job posting.

The expected salary range for this position, based on the California location, is $189,200 - $351,400.  Based on the location of New York, the salary range is $181,100 - $336,100. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law.  A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance.  This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below. ​

Benefits

#ComputationCoE

#tech4lifeComputationalScience

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy and practice to employ, promote, and otherwise treat any and all employees and applicants on the basis of merit, qualifications, and competence. The company's policy prohibits unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, discrimination on the basis of Protected Veteran status, individuals with disabilities status, and consistent with all federal, state, or local laws.

If you have a disability and need an accommodation in relation to the online application process, please contact us by completing this form Accommodations for Applicants.