Senior Principal Software Engineer, Scientific Platform Lead

Lila Sciences; San Francisco, Cambridge (CA, MA); On-site; USD 204,000 - 348,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus potential

Equity

Comprehensive benefits

Job summary

Lila Sciences is seeking a Senior Principal or Principal Software Engineer to lead the Scientific System of Record team in Cambridge/San Francisco. You will define architecture spanning UI, services, APIs, and data systems to support AI-driven scientific platforms.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical direction, and collaborate with scientists and ML researchers to deliver scalable, reliable systems across SQL, NoSQL, and data lakehouse environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 8-15 years of engineering experience building and deploying large-scale systems; strong in either front-end or back-end.
• TypeScript, React, and Python: strong experience building modern applications.
• Deep experience in scalable architectures, APIs, data modeling, and distributed data systems.
• Experience with SQL and NoSQL, vector databases, or data lakehouse architectures.
• Operational excellence with observability and reliability.
• Technical leadership and mentoring abilities.
• Strong communication with scientists, engineers, and executives.

Responsibilities

• Define architectural direction for the AI Lab Execution System and related Scientific System of Record capabilities.
• Design lab execution and scientific workflows across complex processes.
• Lead design of high-performance UIs and APIs for scientists, automation, and ML workflows.
• Model data across SQL, NoSQL, vector databases, and data lakehouses.
• Set standards for reliability, observability, and performance at scale.
• Guide Cloud and infrastructure using AWS, Kubernetes, and DevOps practices.
• Mentor engineers and drive architecture reviews across teams.
• Collaborate with scientists, ML researchers, and product leaders to translate needs into architecture.

Skills

TypeScript

React

Python

System design

Leadership

Communication

AI-assisted coding

Education

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree

Job description

Lila Sciences is seeking a Senior Principal or Principal Software Engineer to lead the Scientific System of Record team in Cambridge/San Francisco. You will define architecture spanning UI, services, APIs, and data systems to support AI-driven scientific platforms.

You will mentor engineers, shape technical direction, and collaborate with scientists and ML researchers to deliver scalable, reliable systems across SQL, NoSQL, and data lakehouse environments.