Principal Software Engineer (SRE & Architecture)

Phia LLC; Boston (MA); Hybrid; USD 88,000 - 168,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

401K matching

Paid time off

Job summary

SOPHiA GENETICS is hiring a Principal Software Engineer in the SRE & Architecture team in Boston. You will own resilience, performance and cost optimization for the SOPHiA DDM Platform, using AI‑assisted development and strong system design to guide decisions and improvements.

The role is hybrid with 3 days onsite in Boston and 2 days remote, reporting to the Head of Architecture and SRE. You will work closely with customers and stakeholders to deliver scalable, reliable cloud-native services.

Qualifications

• Significant hands-on experience designing, building, testing and operating full‑stack web applications and services in production.
• Ability to identify complex technical problems and drive solutions to delivery.
• Strong architectural and systems‑design judgment for performance, resilience and cost trade‑offs.
• Experience using observability data (monitoring, logs, dashboards); Grafana is valuable.
• Pragmatic approach to modernising systems; avoid unnecessary rewrites.
• Confidence using AI‑assisted development tools and knowing when AI is the right tool.
• Experience working close to customers with accountability for quality and performance.
• Willingness to participate in weekend on‑call rotations with remuneration discussed.

Responsibilities

• Own improvements to resilience, performance and operational cost of the platform.
• Build monitoring and analysis capabilities to surface scaling risks before incidents.
• Design and deliver high‑performing full‑stack solutions from analysis to deployment.
• Decide when to optimise, refactor or rebuild while preserving proven design elements.
• Raise engineering quality through design reviews and code reviews.

Skills

Full-stack development

System architecture

Observability & monitoring

AI-assisted development

Performance optimization

Cloud platforms

On-call readiness

Tools

Grafana

Job description

Do you bring deep full-stack software engineering experience and the judgment to identify, design and deliver the right solutions? Are you comfortable using AI-assisted development to improve the resilience, performance and cost efficiency of a cloud platform?

If this sounds like you and you are driven by purpose, join SOPHiA GENETICS as a Principal Software Engineer and enable us to make a positive impact on the outcomes for cancer and rare disease patients worldwide.

Enjoy the flexibility of a hybrid work schedule allowing 2 days PW home working, collaborating closely with colleagues in our Boston, MA corporate office.

Our Mission

We believe there is a smarter, more data-driven way to make decisions in healthcare and our cloud-native AI powered SOPHiA DDM Platform makes that vision a reality on a daily basis. You will have direct input to our mission to democratize data-driven medicine for the ultimate benefit of cancer and rare disease patients across the globe.

Your Mission

As a Principal Software Engineer in our SRE & Architecture team within Tech, reporting to the Head of Architecture and SRE, you will take ownership of improving the resilience, performance and operational cost of the SOPHiA DDM Platform. You will understand the platform and its domain, use monitoring and analysis to anticipate scaling risks, and make pragmatic decisions about when to improve, redesign or rebuild services. This is a hands‑on engineering role for someone comfortable developing with AI and contributing to AI-related projects; you do not need to be an AI engineer.

The value you add

• Improve platform resilience and reduce operational cost by identifying, prioritising and resolving the issues with the greatest impact.
• Build systematic monitoring and analysis capabilities that surface performance constraints and scaling risks before they become production incidents.
• Design and deliver clean, simple and high‑performing full-stack solutions, from root‑cause analysis and prototyping through testing and deployment.
• Make well‑reasoned decisions about when to optimise, refactor or rebuild, preserving what works while addressing fundamental design limitations.
• Raise the engineering quality bar through architectural design reviews, technical reviews and code reviews, providing clear challenge when proposed solutions are not ready for production.

We know that every background is different, but to be best set for success we see you bringing:

• Significant hands‑on experience designing, building, testing and operating full‑stack web applications and services in production.
• Evidence of independently identifying complex technical problems, proposing appropriate solutions and taking them through to delivery.
• Strong architectural and systems‑design judgment, including the ability to assess performance, resilience, scalability and operational cost trade-offs.
• Experience using observability data such as monitoring, logs and dashboards to analyse service and infrastructure performance; experience with Grafana is valuable.
• A pragmatic approach to modernising systems, with the judgment to distinguish between unnecessary rewrites and changes required to solve fundamental problems.
• Confidence using AI‑assisted development tools and the ability to decide when AI is—and is not—the right tool for the work.
• Experience working close to customers or users, with direct exposure to feedback and accountability for the quality and performance of what you deliver.
• The willingness to participate in a weekend on‑call rotation; details of the associated remuneration will be discussed during the process.

You will be joining an organization with the patient at the heart of every decision and action, driven by purpose as we pursue exponential growth.

Business recognition and accolades include:

• World's most innovative companies (Top 10)
• World's smartest companies (Top 50)
• 100 Best Places to Work in Boston
• Top 10 European Tech Startup
• Top 10 European biotechs startup to watch
• Top 25 East-Coast Biotech to watch

Our benefits package is comprehensive, but varies internationally in‑line with local standards and laws. You can discuss a full breakdown with us, but as a brief overview:

US:

Outstanding Medical, Dental & Vision with 90% Employer Contribution

Company matched 401K at 4%

Company-paid short & long‑term disability insurance

FSA commuter benefits

20 Days PTO, increasing to 25 with tenure; 5 Days Sick and 14 Public Holidays

Free EAP

Our DNA

Like the strands of DNA itself, SOPHiA GENETICS and the team are deeply interconnected and reliant on each other to deliver. There are common threads across the team. Things that bind us together. Those things are Relentless Curious; Resilient & Nimble and Fearlessly Adventurous

Our Virtues

At SOPHiA GENETICS we established our 7 Virtues to clarify how our principles show up each day through action. We Decide; We Do; We Collaborate; We Innovate; We Empower; We Adapt and We Learn.

At the centre of our Virtues is our Mantra, We Care, which provides a constant reminder of the compassionate, benevolent, and hopeful nature of our mission and how it should be threaded through each of our Virtues and everything we do. Learn more about our DNA and Virtues on our Careers portal

The Process

We use the power of AI to help our partners make decisions. If you’re utilizing AI in your search and application process, why not use some of these prompts, or read our AI guide.

‘What impact can I expect to have on the world by working at SOPHiA GENETICS?’

‘I have an interview with SOPHiA GENETICS. What should I know before I meet with them?’

‘I am a *job title* - What can SOPHiA GENETICS offer my career?’

Suitably qualified candidates will be invited through an interview and screening process where you will speak with members of our Talent Acquisition Team, the hiring leader alongside key colleagues and stakeholders from across the business. If you need additional support or accommodations for accessibility, please contact our TA team for assistance on [e-mail]. SOPHiA GENETICS recruiters only contact candidates from @sophiagenetics.com addresses and never request payment at any stage. Verify any offer before responding.

Starting Date: As available

Location: Boston (3x week onsite)

Contract: Permanent

MA Pay Range: $88,000 - $168,000

Disclaimer:The estimated pay range represents a good faithestimate of what the Company expects to pay a successful applicant for the listed position andappliesspecificallyto candidates based in Massachusetts. Due to various factors, the estimated pay range may vary in other locations. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base range may be updated accordingly. Compensation decisions are dependent on several factors including, but not limited to, an individual’s qualifications, job related skills, years of experience, location, relevant education or training, internal equity, and alignment with market data. The range does not include benefits, and if applicable, bonus, commission, or equity.