Principal / Senior Principal Software Engineer

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG; United Kingdom; Remote; GBP 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Roche in the United Kingdom is seeking a Principal/Senior Principal Software Engineer within the Computational Sciences Center of Excellence. You will design and build scalable, data-centric platforms that accelerate drug discovery, collaborating with researchers and engineers across disciplines.

You will lead interactive tooling, data pipelines, and cloud-native architectures (AWS) while mentoring peers and advancing AI-assisted development practices to deliver impactful science.

Qualifications

• Ph.D. or equivalent in life sciences with full-stack software experience.
• Experience building scalable, data-centric, cloud-native platforms.
• Proven SDLC, testing, CI/CD, observability, and maintainable code practices.
• Ability to mentor and lead junior developers.

Responsibilities

• Design and build interactive tooling for drug discovery workflows.
• Develop scalable data ecosystems and pipelines for scientific data.
• Lead architectural decisions using microservices and cloud-native patterns (AWS).
• Integrate AI/ML capabilities and agentic coding practices across teams.
• Collaborate with scientists to translate challenges into robust tech solutions.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship on ongoing initiatives.

Skills

Life sciences domain knowledge

Full-stack engineering

Communication & collaboration

AI-assisted development

Education

Ph.D. or equivalent in life sciences

Tools

Python

Java

React

Vue

AWS

GraphQL

REST

CI/CD tooling

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 PositionThe **Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CS CoE)** is a strategic, unified group whose mission is to harness the power of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist scientists in delivering innovative, life-changing medicines to patients worldwide. Within the CS CoE, the Data and Digital Catalyst (DDC) organization leads the modernization of our computational ecosystems.**The Role & Opportunity**As a Software Engineer (Principal / Senior Principal) within our Solutions team, you will design and develop the modernized, interconnected computational and data ecosystems foundational to our research. You will build robust, scalable systems that unlock the potential of diverse scientific data, directly accelerating drug discovery and development.## **Key Responsibilities*** **Interactive Tooling & Platforms:** Design and build interactive tools for small and large molecule drug discovery, seamlessly integrating molecular design workflows, data, computational algorithms, and AI models.* **Scalable Data Ecosystems:** Build and enhance a modern, scalable ecosystem of applications and pipelines to acquire, capture, move, store, transform, link, share, and prepare scientific data for analysis.* **Architectural Leadership:** Leverage modern architecture patterns—such as microservices, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native frameworks (AWS)—to improve data workflows across key scientific domains.* **AI & Agentic Engineering:** Integrate diverse data sets to power Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Search capabilities. Apply and champion modern AI-assisted and agentic coding practices within the engineering team.* **Stakeholder & Scientific Collaboration:** Partner directly with computational and research scientists to translate complex scientific challenges into high-performing, user-friendly technology solutions.* **Technical Excellence & Mentorship:** Provide technical leadership on ongoing strategic initiatives, define reusable architecture patterns, and mentor junior developers to uphold high engineering standards.**Who You Are**You are a passionate, collaborative full-stack engineering leader who thrives on solving complex scientific problems and driving software engineering best practices.## **Key Qualifications & Experience*** **Domain Expertise:** Ph.D. or equivalent experience in the life science domain building full-stack software solutions, with a strong preference for drug discovery or pharmaceutical environments.* **Full-Stack Engineering:** Deep technical expertise across all stack layers, including backend (e.g., Python, Java) and modern frontend technologies (e.g., React, Vue).* **Data Engineering & Cloud Architecture:** Extensive experience in modern data engineering (ETL/ELT, SQL/NoSQL, REST & GraphQL APIs) and cloud-native deployments (preferably AWS).* **SDLC & Engineering Excellence:** Proven track record in establishing robust SDLC patterns, including versioning, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, and maintainable code bases.* **Agentic & AI-Assisted Development:** Demonstrated proficiency in adopting AI-assisted and agentic coding workflows individually and across teams.* **Communication & Collaboration:** Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate complex architectural concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike.Apply if you are ready to shape the future of computational medicine!