Roche Posted October 5, 2026

Principal / Senior Principal Software Engineer

Welwyn, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom FULL_TIME
Notify me about similar jobs

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

The Computational Sciences Center of Excellence (CS CoE) is a strategic, unified group whose mission is to harness the power of data and Artificial Intelligence (AI) to assist scientists in delivering innovative, life-changing medicines to patients worldwide. Within the CS CoE, the Data and Digital Catalyst (DDC) organization leads the modernization of our computational ecosystems.

The Role & Opportunity

As a Software Engineer (Principal / Senior Principal) within our Solutions team, you will design and develop the modernized, interconnected computational and data ecosystems foundational to our research. You will build robust, scalable systems that unlock the potential of diverse scientific data, directly accelerating drug discovery and development.

Key Responsibilities

Interactive Tooling & Platforms: Design and build interactive tools for small and large molecule drug discovery, seamlessly integrating molecular design workflows, data, computational algorithms, and AI models.

Scalable Data Ecosystems: Build and enhance a modern, scalable ecosystem of applications and pipelines to acquire, capture, move, store, transform, link, share, and prepare scientific data for analysis.

Architectural Leadership: Leverage modern architecture patterns, such as microservices, event-driven architectures, and cloud-native frameworks (AWS), to improve data workflows across key scientific domains.

AI & Agentic Engineering: Integrate diverse data sets to power Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), and Natural Language Search capabilities. Apply and champion modern AI-assisted and agentic coding practices within the engineering team.

Stakeholder & Scientific Collaboration: Partner directly with computational and research scientists to translate complex scientific challenges into high-performing, user-friendly technology solutions.

Technical Excellence & Mentorship: Provide technical leadership on ongoing strategic initiatives, define reusable architecture patterns, and mentor junior developers to uphold high engineering standards.

Who You Are

You are a passionate, collaborative full-stack engineering leader who thrives on solving complex scientific problems and driving software engineering best practices.

Key Qualifications & Experience

Domain Expertise: Ph.D. or equivalent experience in the life science domain building full-stack software solutions, with a strong preference for drug discovery or pharmaceutical environments.

Full-Stack Engineering: Deep technical expertise across all stack layers, including backend (e.g., Python, Java) and modern frontend technologies (e.g., React, Vue).

Data Engineering & Cloud Architecture: Extensive experience in modern data engineering (ETL/ELT, SQL/NoSQL, REST & GraphQL APIs) and cloud-native deployments (preferably AWS).

SDLC & Engineering Excellence: Proven track record in establishing robust SDLC patterns, including versioning, automated testing, CI/CD, observability, and maintainable code bases.

Agentic & AI-Assisted Development: Demonstrated proficiency in adopting AI-assisted and agentic coding workflows individually and across teams.

Communication & Collaboration: Exceptional communication skills with the ability to articulate complex architectural concepts to technical and non-technical stakeholders alike.

Apply if you are ready to shape the future of computational medicine!

#ComputationCoE

#tech4lifeComputationalSciences

 

 

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.

The statements herein are intended to describe the general nature and level of work being performed by employees, and are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties, and skills required of personnel so classified. Furthermore, they do not establish a contract for employment and are subject to change at the discretion of Roche Products Ltd. At Roche Products we believe diversity drives innovation and we are committed to building a diverse and flexible working environment. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion or belief, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, disability or age. We recognise the importance of flexible working and will review all applicants’ requests with care. At Roche difference is valued and we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer where you are encouraged to bring your whole self to work.

Job details

Seniority
Principal
Function
Information Technology
Therapeutic area
Not listed
Location
Welwyn, Hertfordshire, United Kingdom
Employment type
FULL_TIME

How this role compares

Computed from every other active Information Technology role in our database, not just this employer's listings.

We currently track 575 comparable Principal Information Technology roles across 55 biopharma companies.

575Comparable roles tracked
547Currently active
55Companies hiring similar roles
32Countries represented

Salary context

107 of 575 peers report a salary range (USD, annualized)

Peers share this role's job function and a matching or adjacent seniority level -- not necessarily the same therapeutic area or country.

This roleSubject Not listed on this posting
Highest disclosed · Director, Product Management · $260,000/yr – $305,200/yr
Peer group range $98,050 – $282,600 (median $190,050)

Where these roles are based

Top locations among the 575 comparable roles

United States218
India212
Spain27
Poland20
United Kingdom14
Philippines11

+ 26 more countries

Seniority mix

575 of 575 peers have a known seniority level

Senior406
Principal102
Director67

Therapeutic area mix

5 of 575 peers have a known therapeutic area; the rest are genuinely unlabeled, not hidden

Oncology4
Vaccines & Infectious Disease1

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.

50%similar
Gilead Sciences Europe Ltd. Uxbridge, United Kingdom Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim London, United Kingdom Senior
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Boehringer Ingelheim London, United Kingdom Senior
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
Roche Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, United Kingdom Senior
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country
50%similar
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom Director
Same function Adjacent seniority Same country

Notify me about similar jobs

Get an email when we spot other openings like this one – same job function, comparable seniority, roles you'd actually want to see.

Or follow a whole field: get every new Information Technology job in the United Kingdom, and choose locations and companies.

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.

50%
Director, SAP BDC, BTP, Reporting & Analytics
Gilead Sciences Europe Ltd. · Uxbridge, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Senior Cloud Engineer (London, UK, United Kingdom, Aberdeen City)
Boehringer Ingelheim · London, United Kingdom · Senior
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Director, ServiceNow Business Services, Risk & Security Product Manager
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited · UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent seniority Country
50%
Director Reward Digital & Tech
GlaxoSmithKline Services Unlimited · UK – London – New Oxford Street, United Kingdom · Director
Function Therapeutic area Adjacent 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.