Roche Posted October 9, 2026

Experienced Discovery Scientist in Immunology

Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland Full time
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Roche is the source of truth for this posting and owns the application process. We surface normalized context and market comparison you won't find on the original listing.

About this opportunity

At 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

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organization (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients in order to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility, and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life-changing innovation at speed.

In the Immunology Department of pRED’s Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Immunology, Infectious Diseases (CMI2), we focus on the discovery and early development of innovative treatments for inflammatory diseases that affect the lives of millions.

The Opportunity

To complement the Immunology team in pRED CMI2, we are seeking a visionary, strategic, experienced Discovery Scientist with a strong academic background in inflammation research, a track record in drug discovery from target discovery to Ph1 and proven ability to effectively lead teams and projects.

As an experienced DiscoveryScientist in pRED CMI2, you will be a core scientific leader of an international and multidisciplinary group of scientists and clinicians committed to delivering innovative solutions for patients living with IBD, COPD and other inflammatory diseases by combining cutting-edge approaches in biology, pharmacology and translational research.

Key Responsibilities:

Scientific leadership and strategy: define and execute the scientific strategy for novel target identification and validation in inflammatory diseases

Project leadership: lead cross-functional teams to drive pipeline programs from early discovery to IND-enabling stages.

Subject matter leadership:  with our dedicated team of lab-based associates and post-doctoral scientists, you will direct, oversee and interpret complex preclinical experimental studies for the validation and characterisation of targets or therapeutic approaches.

External representation and partnerships: As an internal expert in evaluating external licensing opportunities and academic collaborations, you will be a member of diligence teams and present the findings to leadership

Mentorship and development: Managing, mentoring and developing scientists and postdocs to foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, and scientific rigor.

Who You Are

You hold a PhD degree in Life Sciences (cellular/ molecular biology, pharmacology, immunology - or closely related field) and bring >10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry.

You bring deep expertise in disease biology of inflammatory diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease and/or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

You have led drug discovery projects in the pharmaceutical / biotech industry and collaborated on in- or out-licensing activities. You have a good understanding of pharmacological properties of therapeutic modalities such as small molecules and antibodies.

You have significant scientific accomplishments and successful collaborations documented by publications in high-impact journals

You value collaboration within and across teams and have a strong visionary and strategic thinking capacity. You integrate clinical and commercial aspects into early drug discovery strategies and you have the ability to balance multiple priorities in a fast-paced, matrixed organisation.

You are a proficient communicator of scientific data and strategic concepts to colleagues, teams and senior management.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life-changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

 

 

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

Job details

Seniority
Not listed
Function
Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research
Therapeutic area
Immunology
Location
Basel, Basel-City, Switzerland
Employment type
Full time

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 913 comparable Drug Discovery & Preclinical Research roles across 88 biopharma companies.

913Comparable roles tracked
851Currently active
88Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

355 of 913 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function. This posting doesn't list a seniority level, so peers aren't narrowed by seniority either -- the range below may span more levels than usual.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Vice President, Therapeutics Immunology · ModernaTX, Inc. $272,200/yr – $490,100/yr
Peer group range $0 – $381,150 (median $155,000)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 913 comparable roles

United States627
China46
Germany37
Switzerland29
United Kingdom28
France27

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

655 of 913 peers have a known seniority level

Senior216
Principal149
Intern/Fellow/Postdoc70
Associate61
Director61
Associate Director32
Manager27
Senior Director24
Executive/VP15

Therapeutic area mix

123 of 913 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Immunology49
Oncology43
Neuroscience15
Cardiovascular / CVRM9
Respiratory3
Vaccines & Infectious Disease2
Rare Disease2

Similar opportunities

The closest matches from our peer group, ranked by how similar they are, not how well you'd qualify for them -- treat this as market context, not a guaranteed shortlist; a weak match is labeled as one below.

80%similar
CSL Behring AG (CH) Glattbrugg, Switzerland Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
80%similar
Biogen Baar, Switzerland
Same function Same therapeutic area Same country
65%similar
AstraZeneca Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States of America Executive/VP
Same function Same therapeutic area
65%similar
Regeneron Genetics Center (USA) Tarrytown, United States
Same function Same therapeutic area
65%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim Ridgefield, Connecticut, United States Principal
Same function Same therapeutic area
65%similar
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) Boston, United States Senior Director
Same function Same therapeutic area

Notify me about similar jobs

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How we calculate "similar"

No black box, no LLM guesswork: a deterministic score built from four normalized attributes. Here's this role's own peer group at different match levels, so you can see the mechanism, not just the result.

Every comparison starts from the same 100-point budget: 25 for working in the same function, 40 for the same therapeutic area, 20 for the same or adjacent seniority, 15 for the same country. A dimension we can't confirm on both sides contributes nothing, never a guess, never a free pass.

80%
Senior Director, Search & Evaluation Late TA Lead, Immunology
CSL Behring AG (CH) · Glattbrugg, Switzerland · Senior Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Physician Scientist, Therapeutic Area Genetics (Immunology)
Regeneron Genetics Center (USA) · Tarrytown, United States · Seniority not listed
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Associated Director International Learning Immunology Gastro Portfolio
AbbVie · Mettawa, IL · Director
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
65%
Discovery Immunology Principal Research Scientist
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc (US) · Seattle, United States · Principal
Function Therapeutic area Seniority Country
Unmatched or unknown dimensions score exactly the same: 0 points, never a partial guess. A role we know almost nothing about beyond its function bottoms out at 25%; it never inflates to 100% just because there's little to compare against. Seniority uses a defined ladder (Associate → Manager → Associate Director → Senior → Principal → Director → Senior Director → Executive/VP) so "Director" and "Senior Director" count as adjacent, but "Director" and "Executive/VP" do not.