Principal Software Engineering Lead (eCOA) - Evinova

AstraZeneca GmbH; Gaithersburg (MD); Hybrid; USD 165,656 - 217,424; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

401(k) retirement program

Paid vacation and holidays

Health benefits including medical and dental coverage

Job summary

AstraZeneca GmbH, located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, is seeking a hands-on engineering leader with expertise in software engineering to lead their eCOA product area. The role emphasizes technical leadership, collaboration, and innovative problem-solving.

The successful candidate will engage deeply with their team, making architectural decisions and integrating AI tools to improve workflows. This position is pivotal in driving agile methodologies within a cross-functional setting, contributing to AstraZeneca's commitment to enhancing patient outcomes through technology.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Experience leading engineering teams while remaining hands-on with code.
• Deep knowledge of AI-assisted development tools.

Responsibilities

• Review pull requests and provide code-level feedback.
• Make architectural decisions for the eCOA platform.
• Drive AI-assisted development workflows and establish conventions.

Skills

Coding and Technical Leadership

Agile Methodologies

AI-Assisted Development Tools

Architectural Decision-Making

Education

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

Tools

React

Node.js

AWS

Job description

WHY JOIN US?

Evinova is a health-tech business, accelerating the delivery of better health outcomes by propelling the life sciences sector forward in digital health, from the inside. Through our application of science-based expertise, evidence-led rigour, and human insight, our digital solutions are deliberately designed so that everyone can reach better health outcomes together. Evinova is a health-tech business within the AstraZeneca Group.

Digital health, the point at which healthcare, technology, data and analytics converge, is the subject of phenomenal promise, with the World Health Organisation believing it has the potential to improve health for everyone. At AstraZeneca, we’ve been working hard to make this a reality, with the years of experience we have accumulated enabling us to now embed digital health at scale across R&D.

To achieve our goal of improving patient experience and outcomes AstraZeneca has Digital Health as one of the top 4 strategic priorities for the company, details on digital health strategy can be found here. Oncology is the largest therapeutic area within AstraZeneca and second highest cause of death globally, with AstraZeneca’s ambition to eliminate cancer as a cause of death.

Recognizing the importance of individualized flexibility, our ways of working allow employees to balance personal and work commitments while ensuring we continue to create a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork by engaging face‑to‑face in our offices 3 days a week. Our head office is purposely designed with collaboration in mind, providing space where teams can come together to strategise, brainstorm and connect on key projects.

About Our Engineering Organization

Our Product Engineering organization consists of cross‑functional squads with the people and skills needed to deliver innovative digital products to patients and healthcare providers in clinical trials worldwide. We ship on quarterly program increments using agile methodology. We are proud to have one of the strongest software development teams in the health tech space, with deep technical and domain skills. This is a place where you build real things, solve hard problems, and grow alongside engineers who care deeply about their craft and its purpose.

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.

SO, WHAT’S NEXT?

To be considered for this exciting opportunity, please complete the full application on our website at your earliest convenience – it is the only way that our Recruiter and Hiring Manager can know that you feel well qualified for this opportunity. If you know someone who would be a great fit, please share this posting with them.

Where can I find out more?

• Learn more about Evinova www.evinova.com
• Our Social Media, Follow AstraZeneca on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/company/1603/
• Follow AstraZeneca on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/astrazenecacareers/
• Follow AstraZeneca on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/astrazeneca_careers/?hl=en
• Our US Footprint: Powering Scientific Innovation - YouTube

Are you interested in working at Evinova, apply today!

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].

#LI-Hybrid

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 included a qualified retirement program [401(k) plan]; paid vacation and holidays; paid leaves; and, health benefits including medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage in accordance with the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

Additional details of participation in these benefit plans will be provided if an employee receives an offer of employment. If hired, employee will be in an “at‑will position” and the Company reserves the right to modify base pay (as well as any other discretionary payment or compensation program) at any time, including for reasons related to individual performance, Company or individual department/team performance, and market factors.

Date Posted

08-Jun-2026

Closing Date

29-Jun-2026

Our mission is to build an inclusive environment where equal employment opportunities are available to all applicants and employees. In furtherance of that mission, we welcome and consider applications from all qualified candidates, regardless of their protected characteristics. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please complete the corresponding section in the application form.