Director, Software Engineering

Roche; Plymouth; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

A global healthcare leader in Plymouth seeks a Director of Software Engineering to lead and deliver engineering solutions that empower scientists. The ideal candidate will have extensive experience in software and data engineering, with a focus on cloud-native designs and technical excellence. This role offers a chance to make a significant impact in healthcare innovations and be part of a diverse and inclusive work environment.

Qualifications

• Experienced in leading software and data engineering teams.
• Proven success delivering enterprise-scale solutions.
• Skilled in modern software engineering approaches.

Responsibilities

• Lead engineering strategy by driving consolidation.
• Inspire and grow talent through hiring and mentoring.
• Champion innovation adopting an Open Source, Cloud-first approach.

Skills

Leadership in software and data engineering

Cloud-native design

APIs and microservices

Data pipeline construction

Collaboration and mentoring

Tools

SQL

NoSQL

Python

Java

JavaScript

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

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 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, the Data and Digital Catalysts (DDC) organisation is modernising our computational and data ecosystems, building interconnected solutions that accelerate discovery and decision-making. The Solutions team within DDC creates engineering solutions on top of this data ecosystem—designing applications and pipelines that support computational scientists, bench scientists, and ML/AI engineers across the globe.

As Director, Software Engineering, you will provide visionary leadership to shape and deliver engineering solutions across our data stack. Your work will directly empower scientists and researchers, enabling breakthroughs that bring innovative medicines to patients faster.

The Opportunity

• Lead engineering strategy by driving consolidation, reducing technical debt, and developing common solutions across domains.

• Inspire and grow talent through hiring, mentoring, and creating opportunities that unleash potential and strengthen team capability.

• Deliver technical excellence by ensuring solutions are scalable, modular, FAIR-compliant, and aligned with industry best practices.

• Influence roadmaps and standards in collaboration with Product Leaders, Distinguished Engineers, Architects, and domain experts.

• Advance interoperability by designing global applications that integrate seamlessly across data workflows, supporting use cases from lab science to AI/ML.

• Foster collaboration to break down silos, share best practices, and accelerate impact across the enterprise.

• Champion innovation by adopting an Open Source, Cloud-first, API-first, AI-first approach.

Who You Are

• Experienced in leading software and data engineering teams, with proven success delivering enterprise-scale solutions.

• Skilled in modern software engineering approaches (cloud-native design, APIs, microservices, event-driven systems) and working experience with Databases and Data Analytics (SQL/NoSQL, ETL, ELT), APIs (REST, GraphQL).

• Strong technical background in building robust data pipelines, applications, and full-stack solutions (front-end, back-end, databases - HTML/CSS, JavaScript, Python and Java).

• Strategic thinker who balances long-term vision with urgent delivery.

• Passionate about technical excellence, product usability, and reducing complexity.

• Recognised as a collaborative leader, mentor, and coach who builds trust and fosters shared ownership.

#ComputationCoE

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.

The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees, and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of Roche Products Ltd. At Roche Products we believe diversity drives innovation and we are committed to building a diverse and flexible working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion or belief, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, disability or age. We recognise the importance of flexible working and will review all applicants’ requests with care. At Roche difference is valued and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where you are encouraged to bring your whole self to work.