Sr. Staff Scientist

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 Chemistry and  NanoTechnology subject matter expert and manager, will serve concept-to-market and sustaining efforts for the ePlex digital microfluidics platform within the Consumable and Assay Technology team. They will provide technical, strategic and hands-on expertise for on-market support and enhancement projects and for invention and development of new and enhanced nanomaterials, surfaces, polymers and reagents for sample to answer IVD products. They will identify and create analytical chemistry methods and drive their application through internal and external collaboration, to ensure critical quality attributes are understood and controlled. This individual will provide technical leadership to internal and external resources, vendors, suppliers and service organizations. They will drive troubleshooting and root cause analysis, creation and maintenance of input and output specifications, concept and feasibility activities, prototyping, testing, and transfer to manufacturing. Spearhead efforts in the optimization and design of material surfaces at the interface or biochemical, organic chemistry and electrochemical technology. This includes meticulous control over (bio)chemical modification, surface energy, minimization of non-specific adsorption phenomena, chemical stability, all crucial for the performance and reliability of sophisticated consumables. The successful candidate will play a central role in driving the successful enhancement, support and development, scale-up, improvement and market introduction of novel, high-performance consumables, directly contributing to Roche's continued leadership in the diagnostics space.

The Opportunity:

Your responsibilities in this role will include:

● Provide expert technical leadership and research and development strategies for the design, development, and implementation of surface preparation strategies, reagent development for chemicals, polymers and nanomaterials intended for complex life sciences and diagnostic consumable application.

● Design and conduct experiments to support product development and product improvement.
● Contribute to and drive innovation initiatives including patent applications and trade secrets
● Drive the synthetic manipulation of material surfaces at a molecular level to precisely engineer surface energy characteristics and effectively mitigate non-specific adsorption of critical biomolecules, ensuring optimal performance and minimizing background noise in downstream applications.
● Lead cross-functional teams in the development and execution of comprehensive technical studies that align with product requirements, manufacturing feasibility, and commercialization timelines for intricate consumables.
● Develop advanced surface analysis and characterization using a diverse range of analytical techniques (e.g.,NMR, GC-MS, LC-MS, XPS, DSC, ToF-SIMS, AFM, HPLC, mass spec, contact angle goniometry, ellipsometry) to thoroughly understand surface composition, morphology, and chemical properties, reagent stability and to establish critical structure- property relationships.
● Serve as a subject matter expert in surface chemistry, analytical sciences and nano technology and self assembled monolayers, providing deep technical insights and guidance to problem-solving and troubleshooting efforts within complex, interconnected, and multidisciplinary system environments, effectively identifying root causes and implementing sustainable solutions related to surface performance.
● Mentor and guide junior scientists and engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence and continuous learning.

Who you are:
● Minimum of PhD degree in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering, Material Sciences or related degree. with 6+years (8+ preferred) of R and D or trouble shooting and technical leadership experience in diagnostics, chemical or biotechnology companies.

● Motivated to contribute in designing, developing, and sustaining medical or in-vitro diagnostics consumables while working within an ISO 13485/GMP compliant environment.
● Ability to utilize root cause analysis techniques for (bio)chemical components and interface with mechanical parts and assemblies.
● Experience with a mature product development process under design control and change management
● Experience w