Software Engineer, Platform (Developer Experience)

Benchling; United States; Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Benchling is building AI-powered biotech tools and developer platforms. This role leads Developer Experience in the Platform pillar, crafting tools and workflows that reduce engineering friction and accelerate AI-enabled product development.

You will guide cross-functional teams and drive adoption of scalable engineering practices. You’ll collaborate with product, design, and engineering peers to deliver high-quality software, improve developer happiness, and scale teams and processes in a

Qualifications

• 4+ years of software engineering experience.
• Ship code quickly with a product-first mindset.
• Experience with at least one web framework (Node or Python).
• Strong problem-solving and feedback iteration.
• Ownership mindset and building key product pieces.
• Empathy for customers and curiosity about their challenges.
• Clear communicator in cross-functional settings.
• Interest in life sciences and learning.

Responsibilities

• Enhance the BFF layer between client and backend APIs to ship changes with high confidence.
• Build tooling for efficient development, testing, and packaging for production release.
• Iterate on developer experience improvements using feedback (qualitative & quantitative).
• Implement feedback loops that integrate quality into workflows.
• Champion engineering and operational patterns across the org.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address engineering workflow challenges affecting happiness and productivity.
• Work with product managers, designers, and peers to make Benchling a great place to develop software.
• Help scale the product and team while maturing tooling and processes.

Skills

Software development

Web frameworks

Problem solving

Ownership

Customer empathy

GraphQL

Tools

GraphQL

Job description

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.
When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.
Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.
We’re building an AI scientist for our customers. We can’t do that if we haven’t built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it’s core to how we work, and we’re committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you’ll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Developer Experience is a crucial function that empowers our engineers to excel in their craft. As a technical leader in the Platform pillar, you’ll work on the Developer Productivity team to create tools and frameworks that enhance developer experience and drive AI enablement and adoption across the Build org. Your success will enable our engineering teams to efficiently deliver high quality products. By understanding the unique challenges developers face and crafting solutions to remove engineering friction, you’ll play a key role in driving innovation and fulfilling Benchling’s mission.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Enhance the BFF layer between our client and backend APIs, allowing us to ship changes frequently with high confidence.

• Build and implement tooling for efficient, frictionless development, testing, and packaging for production release.

• Iterate on developer experience improvements using qualitative and quantitative feedback.

• Implement feedback loops that integrate quality into software development workflows.

• Champion effective engineering and operational patterns across the Engineering org.

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address challenges in engineering workflows that impact developer happiness and productivity.

• Work closely with product managers, designers, and peers in engineering to make Benchling a delightful place to develop software.

• Help rapidly scale our product and team. As a member of the engineering team, you’ll be an integral part of how we mature our tooling, best practices, engineering processes, and hiring.

QUALIFICATIONS

• You have 4+ years of experience in software engineering.

• Build tools and software with a product-first approach. You ship code quickly and care about the real world impact of your code.

• Expertise with at least one web framework, preferably node or python.

• Have strong abilities in problem solving and iterating on feedback.

• Enjoy ownership and building key pieces of product.

• Have empathy for your customers and curiosity about their challenges.

• Experience with GraphQL preferred.

• Are interested in learning more about life science (prior knowledge is not required; desire to learn is a must).

• Clear and effective communicator, especially in cross-functional settings

HOW WE WORK

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

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Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.
We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.