Principal Software Engineer (f/m/d) - Lab Automation

Roche; Penzberg; On-site; EUR 110,000 - 145,000; Full time

Job summary

Roche is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to help build automation systems for drug discovery in a lab environment in Germany. You will design software that interfaces with lab instruments, develop drivers and APIs, and deliver robust, scalable systems that scientists rely on for cutting-edge research.

You will bring 8+ years of software engineering experience with strong Python and/or TypeScript, plus deep knowledge of cloud-native architectures (AWS/GCP), RESTful APIs, microservices,

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience in biotech or pharmaceutical R&D environments preferred.
• Strong Python and/or TypeScript, with cloud-native architecture expertise.
• Experience with RESTful APIs, microservices, serverless, and distributed systems.
• Familiarity with NATS, Kafka, MQTT, or GraphQL is beneficial.
• A vision for AI coding workflows and actionable architectural decisions.

Responsibilities

• Architect and deliver automation software for lab instruments and workflows.
• Develop drivers, APIs, and middleware to connect robotic platforms with LIMS/ELN.
• Lead technical roadmap and align with CoE goals.
• Collaborate with scientists to deploy robust, monitorable systems.
• Advise on AI-enabled optimization and scheduling for experiments.

Skills

Python

Typescript

Cloud-native architectures

RESTful APIs

Microservices

Serverless

Distributed systems

AI tooling workflows

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent

Tools

NATS

Kafka

MQTT

GraphQL

Job description

The Position

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.

Your Opportunity

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 this 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. Within the CoE organisation, the Data and Digital Catalyst (DDC) organisation drives the modernisation of our computational and data ecosystems and integration of digital technologies across Research and Early Development to enable our stakeholders, power data-driven science and accelerate decision-making.

As a Principal Software Engineer (fm/d), you will be a key contributor to the architecture and delivery of automation systems for drug discovery. You will work with a team of software-focused engineers to bring the software and hardware layers into production. You will empower our scientists with robust, error-resilient and well monitored systems.

Your Key Responsibilities

• Architecture & Development: Build software that controls lab instruments (e.g., liquid handlers, plate readers, robot arms) and develop instrument drivers and APIs using different protocols (e.g., serial, USB, TCP/IP)
• System Integration: Lead the development of drivers, APIs, and middleware to seamlessly connect custom and commercial robotic platforms with LIMS and ELNs
• Agentic Systems & Digital Twins: Build agentic systems and digital representations of labs to execute scientific experiments for drug discovery, reasoning over factors such as sample identity, instrument state, and resource availability
• Technical Roadmap: Drive the technical roadmap for the work that we do, ensuring alignment with the goals of the CoE organization, and partner with stakeholders to define the long-term technical strategy for a standardized and scalable framework
• Consulting & Leadership: Serve as the senior technical expert and consultant for engineers across the Lab Automation capability regarding system control, data extraction, and workflow connectivity strategies
• AI & Optimization: Leverage techniques such as reinforcement learning, in-context learning, or reasoning in order to optimize dynamic scheduling algorithms and workflow execution engines that drive the lab

Who You Are

• A study degree in Computer Science or a similar technical field, or equivalent practical experience, and substantial (ideally 8+ years) professional experience
• Practical exposure working in a biotech or pharmaceutical research environment
• Strong passion for software engineering with expert-level proficiency in Python and/or Typescript, and deep expertise in cloud-native architectures (ideally AWS/GCP), RESTful APIs, microservices, serverless architectures, and distributed systems
• Experience in at least two protocols/technologies such as NATS, Kafka, MQTT, or GraphQL
• A strong opinion on how the team can adopt AI coding workflows to deliver higher-quality code faster than was possible in the pre-agentic era, using AI tools heavily as foundational software platforms (e.g., loop and graph engineering)
• You've owned or significantly shaped a technical roadmap, made the call on what to build, defer, and decommission, and you make pragmatic tradeoffs
• A skilled communicator capable of building trusted partnerships with scientists and defining high-level technical architecture for complex work
• Preferred but not required: Experience in training, evaluating, or adopting AI/ML models (including reinforcement or imitation learning for robotics) and capable of building and evaluating AI-enabled systems (defining evals, establishing guardrails, and measuring reliability)

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.