Skip to content
CV Rocket
Get started
How it worksThe enginePricingBlogContactSign in

Open nowPosted today

Senior Software Engineer - Lab Automation

roche1,470 open roles

Pay
$142,500 – $264,700 a year
Where
South San Francisco
Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

Your applicationOpen nowSenior Software Engineer - Lab Automationroche · South San Francisco

  1. YouYes, apply to this one.

  2. CV RocketCV written for this posting.

  3. 25 readersRecruiter, hiring manager, skeptic. Round after round.

  4. CV RocketApplied on roche's own form.

The reply lands in your private mailbox

3×more interviews than doing it yourself with ChatGPT.

The clock on this job

Early applications get read.

13.4% of postings close within 7 days. Measured by our own scanner across the market. roche postings stay open a median of 12 days.

Share of postings closed within
  1. 2.2%1 day
  2. 4.6%3 days
  3. 13.4%7 days
  4. 21.6%14 days
  5. 36.2%30 days
  6. 59.0%60 days
This job: posted today

roche median: 12 days open

The posting

A healthier future. It’s what drives us to innovate. To continuously advance science and ensure everyone has access to the healthcare they need today and for generations to come. Creating a

world where we all have more time with the people we love. That’s what makes us Roche.

Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. Roche’s Research and Early Development organizations at Genentech (gRED) and Pharma (pRED) have demonstrated how these technologies accelerate R&D, leveraging data and novel computational models to drive impact. Seamless data sharing and access to models across gRED and pRED are essential to maximizing these opportunities. The new Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) is a strategic, unified group whose goal is to harness this transformative power of data and Artificial Intelligence to assist our scientists to deliver more innovative and transformative medicines for patients worldwide.

The Opportunity

At Genentech (gRED) and Roche (pRED), we’re applying software, robotics, and advanced AI to solve one of humanity’s hardest challenges: building fully autonomous, self-healing laboratories for lights-out drug discovery. Advances in AI, data, and computational sciences are transforming drug discovery and development. The Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CoE) and the Data and Digital Catalyst (DDC) team are building the foundational platform for autonomous labs—turning frontier AI models, rich physical telemetry, and multi-vendor robotics into resilient, intelligent systems that run complex science unattended around the clock to deliver life-saving medicines to patients faster than ever before.

As a Senior Software Engineer – Lab Automation, you will be the essential bridge connecting software architecture, frontier AI models, and real-world physical instrumentation. You will architect the hardware abstraction layers, instrument integration frameworks, and orchestration engines that allow diverse lab automation platforms to operate with seamless reliability and closed-loop error recovery. If you are inspired by the challenge of building a robust software backbone powering autonomous science, this is your opportunity to pioneer the next generation of automated laboratories at global scale.

In this role, you will:

  • Design, program, and troubleshoot high-throughput lab workflows ensuring robust assay execution on physical hardware.
  • Build orchestration systems, hardware abstraction layers, and instrument drivers that manage retries, handle shared resource contention, and enable 24/7 unattended operation.
  • Implement telemetry, logging, metrics, and alerting across hardware and software to diagnose failures and resolve root causes using software hooks or vision models rather than relying on manual workarounds.
  • Build systems to maintain an accurate real-time digital representation of the lab, including sample tracking, instrument state, and reagent availability, with bidirectional integration into LIMS and ELNs.
  • Manage hardware requirements, site constraints, communication protocols, and workcell integration from initial mechanical layout and prototyping through production deployment.
  • Work directly with software engineers, automation scientists, and hardware engineers to translate complex scientific protocols into production-grade technical architectures.

Who you are

  • 5+ years of software engineering and physical hardware integration experience, or an equivalent advanced degree with a proven industrial automation track record.
  • Proficient in Python or C# for building modular software architectures, integration frameworks, and distributed services.
  • Strong software engineering fundamentals, including system design, automated testing, version control, CI/CD, debugging, and production operations.
  • AI-native software engineer with effective practices for providing context, decomposing problems, directing agents, reviewing their work, and validating results. Deep understanding of the limitations of AI-generated code.
  • Hands-on experience programming commercial liquid-handling platforms and integrating robotic arms or manipulators into unified automated workcells.
  • Experienced in designing workflow orchestration and scheduling systems that manage shared resources, dynamic dependencies, and execution priorities.
  • Skilled at leveraging APIs and SDKs (such as REST, gRPC, and vendor interfaces) to interact with complex laboratory software ecosystems.
  • Practical rapid-prototyping design experience, including CAD, 3D printing, CNC milling, or laser cutting for custom fixtures and hardware adaptations.
  • Familiar with molecular biology, biochemistry, or wet-lab workflows, enabling effective translation between scientific requirements and engineering deliverables.
  • Clear communicator adept at collaborating across multidisciplinary teams spanning research scientists, software developers, and automation engineers.

Preferred, but not required

  • Experience creating and evaluating AI agents used within applications, including designing robust evals to measure agent performance and reliability.
  • Experience integrating computer vision models (such as OpenCV, YOLO, or SAM) for automated error recovery, deck inspection, and anomaly detection.
  • Hands-on background in training, evaluating, or adopting AI/ML models, including reinforcement learning or imitation learning for robotics.
  • Knowledgeable about sensors, microcontrollers, embedded communication protocols, and task-and-motion planning.
  • Familiar with cloud infrastructure, containerized deployment, and digital twin simulation workflows.

Relocation benefits are not available for this opportunity

The expected salary range for this position based on the primary location of San Francisco is $142,500 - 264,700 of hiring range. Actual pay will be determined based on experience, qualifications, geographic location, and other job-related factors permitted by law. A discretionary annual bonus may be available based on individual and Company performance. This position also qualifies for the benefits detailed at the link provided below.

Benefits

#ComputationCoE

#tech4lifeComputationalScience

Genentech is an equal opportunity employer. It is our policy and practice to employ, promote, and otherwise treat any and all employees and applicants on the basis of merit, qualifications, and competence. The company's policy prohibits unlawful discrimination, including but not limited to, discrimination on the basis of Protected Veteran status, individuals with disabilities status, and consistent with all federal, state, or local laws.

If you have a disability and need an accommodation in relation to the online application process, please contact us by completing this form Accommodations for Applicants.

From $25, paid onceGet the CV for this job

What happens when you press

One press. We do the rest.

  1. A CV for this posting

    Written against roche's own wording, from every piece of relevant proof in your profile.

  2. 25 readers review it

    Recruiter, hiring manager, skeptic and more read every draft, round after round. You get the best round.

    The review screen in CV Rocket: how each CV was read, round by round.

  3. We apply on roche's form

    Our application engine gets through the hardest forms there are. Where a question needs you, AI suggests the best answer. Don't want us applying from our IP addresses? Use our Chrome extension: we apply straight from your own browser.

    An application in CV Rocket: every answer filled in on the employer's form.

  4. Every reply, sorted

    roche's answer lands in your private mailbox, and we classify it on arrival: interview, question, rejection.

    The CV Rocket inbox: each employer reply classified as an interview, an action or a rejection.

  5. Reply with AI

    AI helps you write the email, checks it and sends it. We show you whether the recruiter read it.

  6. The interview in your calendar

    Full integration with your calendar. The invitation goes straight in.

    An interview invitation in the CV Rocket inbox, added to the candidate's calendar.
Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

Why it works

3×

more interviews than doing it yourself with ChatGPT.

ChatGPT writes a CV and never learns what happened to it. We see every reply. For each CV we know:

  • How it was written, and how the review scored it
  • When we applied, and how long after the posting went up
  • Which posting, which company, which city
  • Who got the interview, and who heard nothing

That is how we know which CVs get called.

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

The numbers game

More applications. More interviews.

Every application goes out with its own CV, written for that posting and paid once. Send enough of them and the law of large numbers finds you the job.

Get the CV for this job
By hand5–10
With CV Rocket100
applications a day

Nearby

Live postings like this one

Same employer first, then the same role elsewhere.

Before you press

Straight answers

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.

What if my background isn't good enough?

We make the most of the background you have. The CV uses every piece of relevant proof your profile holds, and one of the 25 readers reads your whole profile and flags what the CV left out.

Do you really apply for me?

Yes, on the employer's own form, the hardest ones included. Where a question needs you, you answer it right there and AI suggests the best answer. Don't want us applying from our IP addresses? Use our Chrome extension: we apply straight from your own browser.

Is it a subscription?

No. You pay once per CV, from $25. Every application goes out with its own CV, written for that posting.

One job. One CV.
Paid once.

Pick the posting you want. We write for it, apply for you and catch the reply.

Get the CV for this job

From $25 per CV, paid once. No subscription.