Senior Application Specialist – Molecular Diagnostics & Sequencing

Roche; Cape Town; On-site; ZAR 900,000 - 1,200,000; Full time

Job summary

F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG is seeking a Senior Application Specialist in Molecular Diagnostics & Sequencing in Cape Town.

You will act as a technical expert, leading cross-functional projects, supporting customers, and mentoring junior team members through troubleshooting and requirements definition. You will collaborate with development teams to drive new applications from development to on-market support, contribute to training programs, and ensure high-quality customer documentation and notes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry or related field.
• 5+ years in a lab, technical support, or troubleshooting with customer contact.

Responsibilities

• Lead and support complex projects across cross-functional teams.
• Troubleshoot and resolve Level 2 inquiries after market launch.
• Design and deliver training programs for internal teams and customers.
• Create and review customer-focused documentation and technical notes.
• Represent service perspective in design reviews and ensure requirements met.
• Promote quality compliance and drive process improvements.

Skills

NGS expertise

Analytical thinking

Strong communication

Independence and structure

Team collaboration

Service-oriented mindset

Technical & development experience

Bioinformatics

Documentation

Training/mentoring

Project management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in cell biology or related field

Tools

NGS instruments (Illumina)

Bioinformatics tools

Job description

Senior Application Specialist – Molecular Diagnostics & Sequencing### Senior Application Specialist – Molecular Diagnostics & SequencingApply: Cape Town: Full time: Posted Today: End Date: November 9, 2026 (10 days left to apply): 202610-127709At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections, where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.### ### The Position## **Your New Team**As a member of our Global Customer Support Team, you’ll serve as a technical expert for our products, drive our customers’ success by leading/supporting complex projects and supporting cross-functional teams, and mentor junior team members in troubleshooting and defining requirements.## **Responsibilities | What you can expect*** **Innovation Driver:** You’ll work closely with our development team and passionately support new applications from development to on-market support.* **Partner Consultant:** You’ll assist potential partners in developing new applications, leveraging your deep understanding of customer workflows and our portfolio.* **Expert Support:** After the market launch, you will take responsibility for complex Level 2 inquiries. Thanks to your experience in troubleshooting and best practices, you will solve technical challenges independently and confidently.* **Knowledge Sharing Specialist:** You will design and optimize training programs for internal teams and customers and competently conduct training sessions and at regional support centers.* **Content Expert:** You create and/or review customer-focused documentation and technical application notes to ensure the highest quality.* **Design Strategist:** In design review teams, you represent the service and application perspective, lead projects, and ensure that design changes meet all functional requirements.* **Quality Ambassador:** You ensure compliance with the Roche quality system, identify opportunities for process optimization, and actively help shape new departmental procedures.* **Flexible Team Player:** You take on additional exciting tasks and projects in consultation with management.## **Qualifications | What you bring to the table**You hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in cell biology, molecular biology, biochemistry, or a related field, and have at least 5 years of relevant experience in a laboratory, technical support, or troubleshooting—ideally with direct customer contact. The following points round out your profile:* **NGS expertise:** You possess in-depth theoretical and practical knowledge in the field of next-generation sequencing (NGS), particularly in sample preparation, NGS workflows and common molecular biology techniques.* **Analytical thinking:** You find it easy to understand complex customer workflows and quickly familiarize yourself with new portfolio strategies.* **Strong communication skills:** You can present complex technical solutions in an understandable way and convey them effortlessly to users—regardless of whether they have prior technical knowledge or not.* **Work style:** You enjoy working independently and in a structured manner, even complex tasks and with minimal guidance.* **Team player:** You enjoy collaborating with cross-functional teams across different regions.* **Service-oriented mindset:** You are polite, customer-focused, and take ownership to meet the expectations of your internal and external stakeholders.* **Technical & Development Expertise:** Experience with sequencing instruments (NGS, e.g., Illumina or other systems) and close collaboration with development teams is a major plus.* **Bioinformatics:** You have knowledge of bioinformatics and the analysis of NGS data.* **Documentation:** You have already had exposure to creating and reviewing technical documentation.* **Training:** You have already gained experience in training or mentoring colleagues.* **Project Management:** Ideally, you have already gained some initial experience in project management.## **Your Application**Please submit the following documents:* Current resume* Motivation letterNo additional documents are currently required. Please note that once you submit your application, you will not be able to add any further documents.