Senior Software Engineer Research Informatics

Key Skills

Unix Operating system, Python Programming, R Programming, Bioconductor, Biomedical Imaging, Statistical modeling, Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Genomic data, Novel algorithms, CRISPR technology, ChIP-Seq, ATAC-seq

Job Description

The Research Informatics and Software Engineering Department (RI&SE) within Genentech Research and Early Development (gRED) seeks a Senior Software Engineer to lead software development efforts supporting the Research organization at Genentech.

You will play a critical role in delivering transformational software that enables the discovery of life-changing therapies. Over the last few years, both the scale and complexity of scientific experiments has seen tremendous growth. New technologies like single cell profiling and spatial transcriptomics are fundamentally changing the way Pharma research is done. New complex in-vitro models for human diseases like induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cultures are not only changing the science but also the informatics systems that support the science. You will lead the Informatics efforts to understand the impact these new technologies have on the lab workflow, sample registration and inventory management and design and develop software solutions to support them, so that we can track samples and their lineage, automate lab workflows, and automate data pipelines for consumption of the metadata and results from these experiments in downstream computational workflows.

Applicants should have an agile mindset, and have the ability to communicate difficult concepts and influence others in order to solve real business problems and deliver transformative impact to the business unit. You should be able to work in a fluid and dynamic environment, and should have a strong desire to pursue creative solutions with broad guidance and a high degree of independence.

Who You Are

In hiring new employees, we look for people who are inspired by our mission and can thrive with the collaborative, rigorous, and entrepreneurial spirit of our company culture. Because we know that employees are critical to our success in bringing novel medicines to patients, we are dedicated to remaining a great place to work and to providing employees with programs, services, and benefits that allow them to bring the best to the organization and to their personal lives.

The ideal candidate will satisfy many of the following requirements:

• BA/BS/MS degree or higher in Computer Science or related field, or a Scientific discipline
• At least 10 years experience in software development working as a Software Lead or Architect involved in all phases of the software development process, including: requirements gathering, design, implementation, testing, release, and maintenance.
• Experience working in a scientific environment, especially one that is related to drug development.
• Relevant experience working closely with scientific stakeholders in collecting, translating, and documenting user requirements into software requirements and working with offshore development teams to get those implemented.
• Ensure we are bringing the greatest value to our team and our collaborators by working with the team to properly align and prioritize work with our key stakeholders, including leadership, while navigating across organization boundaries to align those stakeholders.
• Experience leading large, globally distributed, and agile software development teams, either as a Product Owner, or Technical Leader to solve complex, high-risk problems with innovative solutions.
• Embracing data-centric thinking and data-first architectures when architecting solutions for complex, enterprise-scale problems.
• Experience working in a life sciences or biopharmaceutical environment such as early-stage research, drug discovery, or other biological sciences discipline is preferred.
• Demonstrated success working independently on initiatives of high complexity, uncertainty, and risk with minimal guidance and direction.
• Ability to present your work, both verbally and in writing, to diverse audiences including scientific stakeholders, technical teams, as well as research leadership.
• Ability to harmonize business processes and solution architectures across sites and departments by propagating common standardized data models, applications and technologies that are in line with the cross-functional or functional Informatics strategies and architectures.
• Demonstrated adherence to best practices in software engineering, particularly usability, version control, testing, and appropriate use of abstraction.
• Comfortable working across the full application stack.
• Demonstrated Interest in exploring other technologies and processes, along with determining how they would fit well in our environment.
• Demonstrated experience with Agile Scrum software development methodologies
• Experience developing or implementing Biospecimen registration systems or similar software is preferred
• Experience with software development on a public cloud platform like AWS, GCP, Azure, etc. is a plus.
• Familiarity with formal build/release/deploy and continuous integration frameworks (e.g., Jenkins) is a plus.

In addition,

• You are enthusiastic about working in a scientific environment, especially one that is related to drug discovery and development.
• You are a quick learner, are curious about new areas and the opportunity to build expertise, and courageously and creatively take initiative to see your ideas implemented.
• You are able to perform at a high level in a fast changing and demanding environment.
• You are pragmatic about the tradeoffs between features, quality, and timeliness.

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer, and we embrace the increasingly diverse world around us. Genentech prohibits unlawful discrimination based on race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, national origin or ancestry, age, disability, marital status and veteran status.

Genentech requires all new hires to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 as of their start date. This requirement is a condition of employment at Genentech, and it applies regardless of whether the position is located at a Genentech campus or is fully remote. If you are unable to receive the vaccine due to a disability or serious medical condition, or because it is prohibited as a result of your sincerely held religious beliefs, you will have an opportunity to request a reasonable accommodation.