Sr. Technical Leader, Technology & Platform, Research & Early Development

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

At Roche, we are working to make next-generation sequencing simple and accessible enough for routine use. By accelerating clinical research, streamlining workflows, and expanding assay menus, we are broadening access to genomic data and lowering barriers to adoption. From robust sample isolation and preparation tools to novel sequencing technology and advanced bioinformatics, we are developing differentiated, highly integrated end-to-end solutions for next-generation sequencing, resulting in a sample in, result out workflow.

Our Systems Technology Group, a part of Roche Sequencing Solutions, is seeking an accomplished technical leader and visionary to drive next-generation instrument research and early development projects. This is a rare opportunity for a hands-on, multi-disciplinary expert to help architect these next-generation systems and lead the technical teams responsible for designing, building and testing them. As a technical project lead, you will be responsible for synthesizing user needs and advanced chemistry into a cohesive system and for orchestrating the complex interplay between hardware, software, consumables, and biology to deliver functional, high-performance prototypes. This is a role for an expert who thrives on bridging the gap between strategy and implementation, serving as both a key strategic partner and the hands-on technical leader driving execution during the critical research and early development phases.

The Opportunity

Technical Project Leadership & Execution

• You will serve as the technical project lead for next-generation instruments, driving projects from concept through functional prototypes, by leading design, building, testing, and troubleshooting activities.

• You will translate user needs into technical blueprints, decompose system-level requirements into subsystem specifications, and guide data-driven decisions through trade-off studies and technology down-selection.

• You will direct the end-to-end experimental lifecycle for system characterization and verification, including experimental design, planning, execution, troubleshooting, data analysis, and review for all materials, components, breadboards, and prototypes.

• You will drive innovation and influence the R&D technology roadmap by rolling up your sleeves to create and test novel concepts, generate intellectual property, and champion new technologies that define the future of our platforms.
   

Team & Resource Management:

• You will be a key leader in recruiting, mentoring, and developing a world-class, multi-disciplinary R&D team, fostering a culture of strong work ethics, systems-level thinking, engineering and data-driven rigor, and rapid learning cycles.

• You will act as a hands-on technical leader, capable of executing the work as an individual contributor while mentoring and cultivating the next generation of technical leaders within the organization.

• You will coordinate the activities of a multi-disciplinary team while managing technical scope, risk, and resources to drive progress against ambitious project milestones.

• You will identify resource needs and effectively pitch those needs to senior leadership to ensure project success.

• You will identify, evaluate, and manage relationships with critical technology partners, vendors, and suppliers for key subsystems and components.

Hands-on Problem Solving & System Characterization:

• You will personally lead and contribute to the most critical troubleshooting efforts, directing root cause analysis at the complex interface of hardware, software, consumables, and sequencing chemistry.

• You will partner with hardware, software, reagent and assay research and development leads to guide the technical strategy for early-stage system verification and integration, defining robust test plans and using data-driven analysis to ensure prototypes meet or exceed all target specifications.

• You will oversee the research and early development of critical system-level processes and workflows, such a