Senior Scientist in Flow Cytometry

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; Basel; On-site; CHF 120,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

Roche Basel seeks a senior scientist to lead the Flow Cytometry Platform within pRED. You will support drug discovery by designing complex panels, analyzing high‑dimensional data, and advancing assay development.

You’ll train users, perform fast instrument troubleshooting, and contribute to the platform's growth in a collaborative, fast‑paced environment. You hold a PhD and have 3–5 years in flow cytometry, with hands‑on experience in cell sorting, imaging, and bioinformatic pipelines.

Qualifications

• PhD with 3–5 years in a flow cytometry‑intensive lab.
• Experience designing and executing flow cytometry experiments.
• High‑dimensional data pipelines and semi‑automated analysis.
• Multicolor panel design and validation experience.
• Imaging flow cytometry and cell sorting expertise.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with pRED teams to advance drug discovery with expert flow cytometry support.
• Design high‑parameter panels, 40+ parameters, and analyze complex data.
• Provide training and onboarding for analysts; offer rapid instrument troubleshooting.
• Stay current with literature and implement new flow cytometry approaches.
• Present findings to internal stakeholders and at conferences.

Skills

Customer-focused

English fluency

Communication

Collaboration

Problem solving

Education

PhD in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry or related field

Tools

Flow cytometry

FlowSOM

UMAP

Cell sorting

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 organization (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 Flow Cytometry Technology Platform in the 360 Labs Initiative is seeking an experienced, highly motivated, collaborative, and customer‑centric lab‑based senior scientist. The successful candidate will possess deep expertise across the entire flow cytometry workflow, from complex sample preparation to high‑parameter data analysis and advanced instrument troubleshooting, along with a proven track record in assay development and validation. Experience in multidisciplinary, multi‑omic projects (integrating flow cytometry with genomics, proteomics, or imaging) is highly desirable. You will work with a sense of urgency as a part of a matrix team, collaborating with specialists from each of our therapeutic disease areas and functions to propel drug discovery projects forward. You will also contribute to the ongoing development and operations of the Flow Cytometry Technology Platform within the pRED organisation.

Your Role and Responsibilities

• You will work closely with research teams across pRED's therapeutic areas to advance drug discovery projects through expert flow cytometry support. This includes collaborating on high‑parameter panel design (up to 40+ parameters), advanced data analysis and interpretation, and consulting on how flow cytometry, including functional assays and emerging applications, can best be leveraged within pharma R&D;
• You will coordinate and execute, in collaboration with the rest of the flow cytometry team, daily quality control on instruments, monitor results for accuracy, and conduct regular maintenance and troubleshooting on equipment to ensure the continual generation of high‑quality experimental data;
• You will deliver multi‑tiered training and user onboarding to enable independent analyser operation, as well as provide high‑speed cell sorting as a core service for complex biological samples (e.g., primary tissues and organoids) through expert, independent operation of cell sorters;
• You will embrace a culture of continuous learning by actively engaging with the latest scientific literature to stay at the forefront of emergent flow cytometry‑based technologies and approaches;
• present findings and updates to internal stakeholders and at scientific conferences (where appropriate), ensuring cutting‑edge expertise is cultivated and maintained.

Who You Are

You hold a PhD degree in Biology, Biochemistry, Chemistry, or a related field, with at least 3‑5 years of professional experience working within a flow cytometry‑intensive research laboratory or shared resource laboratory. You possess in‑depth knowledge of flow cytometry with practical experience in designing and executing flow cytometry experiments, as well as high‑dimensional bioinformatic data pipelines and semi‑automated analysis (e.g. FlowSOM, UMAP). This includes assay development and validation, multicolour spectral panel design, and expertise in imaging flow cytometry, metabolic and functional assays. You have extensive hands‑on experience with cell sorting for a wide range of different applications.

• 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.

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.