Lab Scientist, Microscopy

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; Basel; On-site; CHF 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Roche's Microscopy Technology Platform within the 360 Labs Chapter seeks an experienced senior scientist with a strong background in fluorescence-based optical microscopy. You will design, optimize and execute 2D/3D imaging workflows across diverse sample types including organoids and complex cultures, while collaborating with cross-functional teams to advance early drug discovery.

You will train platform users, ensure robust data generation, and stay at the forefront of imaging technologies.

Qualifications

• MSc or PhD in biology, chemistry or physics with 5+ years (or 3+ years for certain tracks) of fluorescence-based optical microscopy experience.
• Deep theoretical and hands-on knowledge of optical microscopy techniques across biological samples.
• Ability to collaborate across matrix teams and educate scientists on instruments and workflows.
• Excellent English communication and a customer-focused, growth-minded mindset.

Responsibilities

• Provide in-depth training to platform users on optical microscopy instrumentation and fluorescence-based approaches.
• Plan, develop, execute, and validate fluorescence microscopy workflows and discuss findings with stakeholders.
• Ensure high-quality FAIR data through QC and troubleshooting of microscopy instruments and workflows.
• Stay updated with emergent technologies in advanced optical microscopy.

Skills

Fluorescence microscopy

Optical microscopy techniques

Collaborative mindset

Scientific communication

Education

MSc or PhD in biology, chemistry or physics

Tools

Widefield microscopy

Confocal microscopy (laser-scanning, live-cell spinning disk)

Multiphoton imaging

Super-resolution imaging

Fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM)

Job description

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organisation (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients in order to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility, and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life‑changing innovation at speed.

Strategy, Portfolio & Operations (SPO) is a unified function that serves as the strategic and operational backbone enabling pRED's strategy from lab to clinic. Operating under a dynamic Chapter Model, SPO centralizes specialized skills across critical areas including Sites & Lab Services, Program & Project Management, Strategy, Clinical Operations, External Operations, Capability Development, Core Lab Technology Platforms (360Labs) and Asset Team Leadership. SPO’s mission is to drive enterprise value creation by delivering operational excellence, and accelerating portfolio productivity. As a trusted partner, SPO fosters a culture of collaboration and accountability to ensure pRED transitions assets smoothly from early research to late‑stage development.

360 Labs Chapter at a Glance

The primary mission of the 360 Labs Chapter within SPO is to provide greater access and support for the use of cutting‑edge biomedical research technologies by scientists across our discovery portfolio. 360 Labs delivers core scientific technologies, expertise and enabling activities, as well as facilitating knowledge sharing in close collaboration with our therapeutic areas and functions. Our ambition is to bring to life a thriving workplace environment, where your collaborative mindset is as valued as your professional expertise. Our goal is to act as a highly integrated ecosystem, supporting research and development, working collaboratively, and focused on fostering excellence and sustainability. Together, these efforts will serve to increase the speed, enhance the robustness and improve the sustainability of our exploratory research and early discovery activities.

The Opportunity

The Microscopy Technology Platform in the 360 Labs Chapter is seeking an experienced, highly motivated, collaborative, and customer‑centered lab‑based senior scientist. The successful candidate will have a strong theoretical and practical background in the use of state‑of‑the‑art optical microscopy techniques. Candidates with a solid understanding of how to best design and execute optical microscopy‑based assays as applied to a variety of 2D and 3D sample types (including complex cell and organoid cultures and fixed cell/tissue preparations) are strongly desired. You will work as part of a matrix team, collaborating with specialists from each of our therapeutic disease areas and functions to advance early drug discovery programs, and you will also contribute to the ongoing development and operations of the Microscopy Technology Platform within the pRED organisation.

Your Role and Responsibilities

• You will provide in‑depth training to platform users in the appropriate use of both optical microscope instrumentation and fluorescence‑based microscopy approaches;
• You will support platform users in the planning, development, execution, and validation of both routine and custom workflows concerning fluorescence microscopy‑based assays and experiments, as well as engage with stakeholders to present and discuss findings in a dynamic and flexible manner;
• You will ensure the continued production of high‑quality FAIR research data by performing regular quality control and troubleshooting of optical microscopy instruments and workflows;
• You will embrace a continuous learning mindset by actively engaging the scientific literature to stay abreast of emergent technologies /approaches in the advanced optical microscopy field.

Who You Are

• You hold an MSc or PhD degree in biology, chemistry or physics, with either 5+ or 3+ years of experience, respectively, focused on fluorescence‑based optical microscopy approaches, either in an academic research laboratory/core facility setting and/or the pharmaceutical industry/biotech sector;
• You possess in‑depth theoretical and proven hands‑on knowledge in a variety of optical microscopy techniques and their adaptation across various biological sample types. Specifically, robust experience in the use of widefield, confocal microscopy (both laser‑scanning and live‑cell spinning disk) as well as multi‑photon/label‑free imaging is required. Further experience with super‑resolution imaging, fluorescence lifetime Imaging, and feedback microscopy workflows is highly desired;
• You have a proven ability to collaborate within and across matrix teams, including molecular biologists, microscopists, research histopathologists, and image analysis experts, educating scientists on optical microscopy instruments and workflows, as well as in designing experiments based on complex research questions, including interpretation of results.
• In addition to your scientific expertise and critical technical skills, we are looking for candidates who are: Customer-focused with a drive for growth and a questioning mindset. Skilled in creative problem‑solving, organisation, and implementing innovative ideas efficiently in a fast‑paced research context; Excellent communicators with a high fluency in English, a desire to continuously build a personal network, and the ability to thrive in a dynamic, inclusive environment which gives you full accountability for your own contributions and development.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life‑changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life‑changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact. Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer. We believe it’s urgent to deliver medical solutions right now – even as we develop innovations for the future. We are passionate about transforming patients’ lives. We are courageous in both decision and action. And we believe that good business means a better world. That is why we come to work each day. We commit ourselves to scientific rigor, unassailable ethics, and access to medical innovations for all. We do this today to build a better tomorrow. We are proud of who we are, what we do, and how we do it. We are many, working as one across functions, across companies, and across the world. We are Roche.