Software Engineer, Molecular Biology (High Seniority) (San Francisco)

Biotechnology is rewriting life as we know it, from the medicines we take, to the crops we grow, the materials we wear, and the household goods that we rely on every day. But moving at the new speed of science requires better technology.

Benchlings mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The worlds most innovative biotech companies use Benchlings R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products and accelerate time to milestone and market.

Come help us bring modern software to modern science.

ROLE OVERVIEW

Benchling builds modern software for research and development across life sciences and biotechnology. Our tools help scientists work more efficiently as they explore the mechanisms of biology and chemistry, driving innovation across health, agriculture, drug discovery, and more. The Molecular Biology team focuses on building powerful, intuitive features that support a wide range of scientific workflowsfrom designing DNA constructs to analyzing protein sequences, performing gene editing experiments, and streamlining complex experimental data management.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own end-to-end project development: Take ownership of projects from understanding product requirements and designs to planning, implementing, testing, and deploying solutions. You will handle the full lifecycle of features, from initial concept to final delivery.
• Collaborate with product managers and designers: Work closely with cross-functional teams to turn product requirements into actionable tech plans. Provide technical insights and feedback, balancing product goals with technical feasibility.
• Write clean, maintainable code: Contribute to both frontend (React) and backend (Python) development, ensuring high-quality, scalable code that adheres to best practices and solid engineering principles.
• Refactor and manage technical debt: Take responsibility for improving and cleaning up existing code while building new features. Identify areas for technical improvement, ensuring long-term code maintainability and product scalability.
• Design and implement robust testing and metrics: Write comprehensive tests for new and existing features, ensuring software reliability. Implement metrics to track and measure the performance and success of features post-launch.
• Collaboration with Other Engineers Its important to emphasize the ability to work effectively within a team of engineers, especially in cross-functional settings. This includes code reviews, collaboration on architecture decisions, and pairing with colleagues to solve problems.
• Ownership and Accountability While youve mentioned taking ownership of the projects, there could be more about being able to self-manage, prioritize tasks, and drive projects forward without heavy supervision.
• Scalability and Performance Optimization Although you mentioned technical debt, a more explicit mention of experience in building scalable systems and optimizing performance could be valuable.
• Adaptability and Openness to New Challenges Especially in a fast-paced, evolving field like life sciences, the ability to pivot, handle ambiguity, and quickly learn new technologies or domains could be important.
• Cross-functional Communication While collaboration with product and design is covered, it could be good to add how important clear communication across teams is.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience.
• Proven ability to take product requirements and transform them into actionable technical plans and high-quality code.
• Solid understanding of software engineering best practices , including writing clean, maintainable code, testing, version control, and working within Agile workflows.
• Experience in building scalable and performant systems that meet user demands while ensuring reliability.
• Strong problem-solving skills , with the ability to iteratively improve solutions based on feedback and real-world performance.
• Experience working with platform and cross-functional teams to build comprehensive solutions that address multiple business needs beyond individual features.
• Ability to push back when necessary: Respectfully challenge product and design assumptions, advocating for technical solutions that improve product quality, scalability, and maintainability.
• Ability to mentor and contribute to team growth: Help onboard new team members and foster a collaborative, learning-driven environment, while contributing to the evolution of engineering practices and processes.
• Excellent communication skills , with the ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams (Product, Design, Data Science, etc.).
• A passion for learning and growth , especially in the life sciences or biotechnology space (no prior knowledge required, just a willingness to learn and adapt).

Nice to Have:

• Familiarity with molecular biology or chemistry concepts or a strong interest in learning more about these fields.
• Strong expertise in frontend development with React and backend development with Python. Experience building scalable, user-friendly applications that support complex scientific workflows.
• Experience managing technical debt and making decisions that balance product speed with long-term maintainability.
• Experience with layered architecture concepts and designing solutions that are robust, maintainable, and scalable.

HOW WE WORK

Flexible Hybrid Work: We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week.

SALARY RANGE

Benchling takes a market-based approach to pay. The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location. For this role the base salary range is $186,622 - $252,488.

To help you determine which zone applies to your location, please see this resource . If you have questions regarding a specific location's zone designation, please contact a recruiter for additional information.

Total Compensation includes the following:

• Competitive total rewards package
• Broad range of medical, dental, and vision plans for employees and their dependents
• Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
• Four months of fully paid parental leave
• 401(k) + Employer Match
• Commuter benefits for in-office employees and a generous home office set up stipend for remote employees
• Mental health benefits, including therapy and coaching, for employees and their dependents
• Monthly Wellness stipend
• Learning and development stipend
• Generous and flexible vacation
• Company-wide Winter holiday shutdown
• Sabbaticals for 5-year and 10-year anniversaries

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Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we dont discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Please be aware that Benchling will never request personal information, payment, or sensitive details outside of Greenhouse or via email. All official communications will come from an @benchling.com email address or from an approved vendor alias. If you are contacted by someone claiming to represent Benchling and are unsure of their legitimacy, please reach out to us at [email protected] to verify the communication.

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