Principal Software Engineering Lead (eCOA) - Evinova

Evinova; Gaithersburg (MD); On-site; USD 165,656 - 217,424; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) retirement plan

Paid vacation and holidays

Health benefits including medical, dental, and vision

Job summary

Evinova, based in Gaithersburg, Maryland, seeks a hands-on engineering leader who will take charge of the technical direction and delivery of our eCOA product area. You will be responsible for leading a multi-squad engineering organization while actively engaging in code reviews, architecture decisions, and team development.

The ideal candidate will possess 8+ years of software engineering experience and at least 3 years in leadership positions. This role demands strong skills in modern technology stacks and demonstrated experience in AI-assisted development processes.

Benefits include health coverage and retirement plans, alongside competitive compensation ranging from $165,656.80 to $217,424.55 USD annually.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience with a strong track record of building and shipping production systems.
• 3+ years leading engineering teams while remaining hands-on with code.
• Deep proficiency in at least one core stack and daily use of AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Regularly review pull requests and provide substantive code-level feedback.
• Make and own architectural decisions for the eCOA platform.
• Lead, mentor, and grow a multi-squad engineering organization.

Skills

Hands-on coding

Technical leadership

AI-assisted development tools

Agile delivery frameworks

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or Engineering

Tools

React/React Native

Node.js/Java

AWS cloud services

Job description

About the Role

This is not a traditional management role. We are looking for a hands‑on engineering leader who writes and reviews code, makes architecture decisions in pull requests, and leads by building alongside their team. You will own the technical direction and delivery of our eCOA product area while leading a multi‑squad engineering organization.

You will spend a significant portion of your time in the codebase: reviewing pull requests, pairing with engineers on complex problems, evaluating AI‑assisted development workflows, and ensuring our architecture scales. The remainder of your time is spent on team development, cross‑functional collaboration, and technical strategy.

We expect you to be the strongest technical voice in the room on your product area, someone who can credibly challenge an architectural decision, spot issues in a code review, and prototype solutions to unblock the team.

Key Responsibilities

Hands‑On Technical Leadership (50%+ of your time)

• Regularly review pull requests, provide substantive code‑level feedback, and enforce quality standards across squads.
• Make and own architectural decisions for the eCOA platform, including API design, data models, service boundaries, and infrastructure choices.
• Write production code, particularly for complex or foundational components where your expertise accelerates the team.
• Pair with engineers on difficult problems and use these sessions as coaching opportunities.
• Drive adoption of AI‑assisted development tools and workflows, establishing team conventions for AI code generation, prompt engineering, and automated testing.
• Define and enforce technical standards: testing strategy, CI/CD pipeline health, observability, and deployment practices.

AI‑Native Engineering Culture

• Embed AI tools (coding assistants, agentic workflows, automated code review) into the team’s daily development process as a force multiplier, not an experiment.
• Evaluate and integrate AI capabilities into the eCOA product itself, including intelligent data capture, adaptive questionnaire logic, and patient experience personalization.
• Champion a culture where engineers own AI‑generated output with the same rigor as hand‑written code: thorough review, testing, and accountability.
• Stay current with rapid advances in AI‑assisted development and translate those into practical team‑level improvements.

Team Leadership & Development

• Lead, mentor, and grow a multi‑squad engineering organization. Develop squad leads into strong technical leaders in their own right.
• Set a high technical bar in hiring: personally conduct technical interviews and assess candidates’ ability to build, not just describe.
• Foster a culture of continuous improvement, psychological safety, and intellectual honesty about technical debt and tradeoffs.
• Manage performance with clear, measurable expectations rooted in engineering output and quality, not just process compliance.

Product & Delivery

• Partner with Product Owners to translate clinical requirements into sound technical plans, ensuring feasibility, scalability, and regulatory compliance.
• Drive execution against quarterly program increments with predictable, high‑quality delivery.
• Collaborate across the Unified Trial Solution engineering organization to ensure architectural coherence and shared platform leverage.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent demonstrated through professional experience.
• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong track record of building and shipping production systems.
• 3+ years leading engineering teams (squads, chapters, or similar) while remaining hands‑on with code.
• Deep proficiency in at least one of our core stacks: React/React Native (frontend), Node.js/Java (backend), AWS cloud services.
• Demonstrated ability to make sound architectural decisions across frontend, backend, and infrastructure.
• Practical, daily experience using AI‑assisted development tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, or similar) in your own coding workflow.
• Strong understanding of agile delivery frameworks (Scrum, Kanban, SAFe) applied in practice, not just theory.

Desired Qualifications

• Experience building or deploying AI/ML features in production applications, including agentic AI systems or LLM integrations.
• Experience developing and delivering electronic Clinical Outcome Assessments (eCOA) or patient‑facing clinical trial software.
• Familiarity with GxP, SaMD validation, or regulated software development processes.
• Experience with remote patient monitoring (RPM) solutions including patient‑reported data and clinician‑facing visualizations.
• Contributions to open‑source projects or a visible track record of technical thought leadership (blog posts, conference talks, published architectural decisions).
• Clinical research domain experience.

What This Role Is Not

• A pure people‑management position where you are removed from the codebase. If you haven’t written or reviewed code in the past month, this role is not the right fit.
• A project management role. We have Product Owners and delivery support for process coordination. You own the technical how, not the project timeline.
• A checkbox exercise in AI adoption. We need someone who has genuinely transformed their own development workflow with AI tools and can credibly lead others to do the same.

The annual base pay for this position ranges from $165,656.80 – $217,424.55 USD. Base pay offered may vary depending on multiple individualized factors, including market location, job‑related knowledge, skills, and experience. In addition, our positions offer a short‑term incentive bonus opportunity; eligibility to participate in our equity‑based long‑term incentive program. Benefits offered include a qualified retirement program (401(k) plan), paid vacation and holidays, paid leave, and health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental, and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

AstraZeneca is an equal‑opportunity employer that is committed to diversity and inclusion and providing a workplace that is free from discrimination. AstraZeneca is committed to accommodating persons with disabilities. Such accommodation is available on request in respect of all aspects of the recruitment, assessment and selection process and may be requested by emailing [e-mail].