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 Development Engineer to lead the development of our next-generation Therapeutic Molecule Registration (TMR) 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 TMR 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.

In this role

You are someone who combines deep technical expertise in building reliable, scalable software systems with proven technical leadership experience.

You 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 Genentech Computational Sciences (gCS) 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.

You will provide technical leadership in the design, development, and implementation of a cutting-edge therapeutic molecule registration platform.

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

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

You will utilize modern cloud-native technologies (AWS), advanced data systems, and innovative approaches to data management.

Who you are

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field (or equivalent experience)

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 available for this job posting

The expected salary range for this position, based on the location of California, is $189,200 - 351,400. 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.​

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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.

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