Staff Software Engineer

Burns Sheehan Limited; Greater London; Hybrid; GBP 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Burns Sheehan Limited is recruiting a Staff Software Engineer (User Experiences) for our London-based robotics and life sciences client. This hybrid role focuses on React and TypeScript, building intuitive experiences on top of complex systems, and owning features end-to-end.

You'll mentor peers, help define frontend architecture, and collaborate with Product and Design in an early-stage environment as the company scales across pharma, biotech and healthcare.

Qualifications

• Strong experience building complex user-facing applications with React and TypeScript.
• Proven technical leadership experience as a Staff Engineer, Lead Engineer or equivalent.
• Product-engineering mindset with genuine end-to-end ownership.
• Experience working across frontend and backend systems, with a willingness to contribute beyond the UI layer.
• Strong understanding of how to design scalable, maintainable software systems.

Responsibilities

• Design and build high-quality user experiences using React and TypeScript.
• Own features end-to-end, from understanding user problems through to designing, building and shipping solutions.
• Work across the stack, collaborating with backend engineers and contributing to APIs and systems where needed.
• Translate complex scientific and operational workflows into intuitive product experiences.
• Partner closely with Product and Design to shape solutions in an ambiguous, early-stage environment.
• Help define frontend architecture, technical standards and engineering best practice.
• Mentor engineers and raise the quality bar across the team.
• Contribute to future-facing product experiences, including exploring more adaptive and generative interfaces.

Skills

React

TypeScript

Technical leadership

End-to-end ownership

Tools

Node.js

Python

Go

Job description

Staff Software Engineer (User Experiences) – Robotics & Life Sciences | Complex Product Engineering

London hybrid, 3 days per week

React, TypeScript, Node/Python/Go, AI-enabled interfaces

Staff Software Engineer (User Experiences) - We're working with a technology company building the software platform that enables the next generation of laboratory automation across pharma and biotech.

Their technology is helping scientists automate complex workflows across areas such as drug discovery and diagnostics. Following a complete rebuild of their platform over the last year, they are now scaling the product to support larger pharma and biotech customers and are looking for senior engineers who want to have genuine influence over the future direction of the platform.

The team is intentionally lean and flat, giving senior engineers the opportunity to shape architecture, engineering standards and product direction rather than operate within established processes.

The Staff Software Engineer

As a Staff Software Engineer (User Experiences), you'll own some of the hardest product problems around how complex scientific workflows are presented and interacted with by users.

This is a Full Stack role with a focus on React and TypeScript, building intuitive experiences on top of technically complex systems. You'll take ownership from user problem through to production, working closely with Product, Design and Engineering to turn difficult concepts into simple, powerful workflows.

You'll become the most senior React engineer in the team, helping define frontend architecture, engineering standards and how the product evolves as the company scales.

What will the Staff Software Engineer do?

• Design and build high-quality user experiences using React and TypeScript
• Own features end-to-end, from understanding user problems through to designing, building and shipping solutions
• Work across the stack, collaborating with backend engineers and contributing to APIs and systems where needed
• Translate complex scientific and operational workflows into intuitive product experiences
• Partner closely with Product and Design to shape solutions in an ambiguous, early-stage environment
• Help define frontend architecture, technical standards and engineering best practice
• Mentor engineers and raise the quality bar across the team
• Contribute to future-facing product experiences, including exploring more adaptive and generative interfaces

What will the Staff Software Engineer bring?

• Strong experience building complex user-facing applications with React and TypeScript
• Proven technical leadership experience as a Staff Engineer, Lead Engineer or equivalent
• A product-engineering mindset with genuine end-to-end ownership
• Experience working across frontend and backend systems, with a willingness to contribute beyond the UI layer
• Strong understanding of how to design scalable, maintainable software systems
• Experience simplifying complex domains, data or workflows into intuitive user experiences
• Ability to operate effectively in ambiguity and define solutions rather than wait for detailed specifications
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence technical decisions across the organisation

This is an unusual opportunity for a Staff Software Engineer who enjoys solving difficult product problems and wants to define how users interact with complex technology.

You'll join a small, high-autonomy engineering organisation after a major platform rebuild, working on software that directly supports scientific breakthroughs across pharma, biotech and healthcare.

Staff Software Engineer (User Experiences) – Robotics & Life Sciences | Complex Product Engineering

London hybrid, 3 days per week

React, TypeScript, Node/Python/Go, AI-enabled interfaces