Job Description
Principal Engineer, VaiDA User Experience
Location: Hybrid / On-site
Vertex Pharmaceuticals is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious diseases. At Vertex, we combine cutting-edge science, technology, and human-centered thinking to solve complex challenges and improve lives. Our digital and AI initiatives help empower employees across the organization with scalable, intuitive tools that accelerate innovation and decision-making.
Role SummaryVertex Pharmaceuticals is seeking a Principal User Experience Engineer to shape the future of VaiDA, our enterprise AI platform for employees across Vertex. This role will design and build polished, seamless interfaces for sophisticated AI and multi-agent workflows used by employees across Vertex. The ideal candidate blends strong frontend engineering expertise with exceptional UX and product instincts, translating complex backend capabilities into user experiences that are clear, intuitive, and scalable for 10,000+ employees.
This is a foundational role focused on ensuring VaiDA is not only powerful, but also approachable, efficient, and trusted to use.
Key Responsibilities• Design and build high-quality frontend experiences for VaiDA and related AI-driven enterprise workflows
• Lead UX engineering strategy and frontend architecture for VaiDA
• Own interaction design and prototyping for a wide spectrum of user journeys and multi-agent experiences
• Translate sophisticated technical capabilities into clear, intuitive, and scalable interfaces
• Create workflow visualizations that improve usability, clarity, and user confidence
• Partner closely with product, engineering, AI, and business stakeholders to define user-centered solutions
• Develop and refine reusable UI patterns, components, and design standards for enterprise-scale applications
• Prototype and validate concepts quickly to inform product direction and implementation
• Advocate for usability best practices and help raise the bar for design quality across digital products
• Contribute to the overall product vision for VaiDA as a trusted and engaging enterprise AI experience
• Mentor engineers and influence UX engineering best practices across teams
Required Qualifications
• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Human-Computer Interaction, Design, Engineering, or a related field; or equivalent practical experience
• Proven experience in frontend engineering, product design engineering, or UX engineering roles
• Strong track record of designing and building polished, user-centered interfaces for complex applications
• Experience translating technical or data-rich workflows into clear and intuitive user experiences
• Demonstrated ability to own interaction design and prototyping from concept through implementation
• Strong understanding of usability, accessibility, and responsive design principles
• Experience collaborating cross-functionally with product managers, engineers, and stakeholders
• Ability to balance user needs, technical constraints, and business goals in a fast-paced environment
• Excellent communication, problem-solving, and presentation skills
Technical Skills Required• Modern frontend development frameworks such as React, Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, and CSS
• Interaction design and frontend prototyping
• Enterprise UI development and scalable design systems
• Experience with design tools such as Figma or similar prototyping platforms
• Workflow visualization and complex interface design
• Usability and human-centered design practices
• Frontend performance optimization
• Component-based architecture and reusable UI patterns
• Collaboration with backend and AI/agent-based systems
• Accessibility standards and inclusive design implementation
Preferred Skills• Experience designing for AI-powered products, conversational interfaces, or multi-agent systems
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted tools to accelerate frontend prototyping, design exploration, or development workflows
• Familiarity with enterprise software and internal platform experiences
• Understanding of product strategy and user research methods
• Experience building interfaces for data-heavy, workflow-oriented, or highly technical applications
• Familiarity with design systems governance and frontend architecture at scale
BenefitsVertex offers a competitive and comprehensive rewards package designed to support employees professionally and personally, which may include:
• Competitive salary and performance-based incentives
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage
• Retirement and savings programs
• Paid time off and company holidays
• Professional development and career growth opportunities
• Inclusive and collaborative work environment
• Employee wellness and support programs
• The opportunity to help shape innovative AI experiences that make a meaningful impact across Vertex
#LI-HYBRID
Pay Range:
$166,640 - $250,000Disclosure Statement:
The range provided is based on what we believe is a reasonable estimate for the base salary pay range for this job at the time of posting. This role is eligible for an annual bonus and annual equity awards. Some roles may also be eligible for overtime pay, in accordance with federal and state requirements. Actual base salary pay will be based on a number of factors, including skills, competencies, experience, and other job-related factors permitted by law.
At Vertex, our Total Rewards offerings also include inclusive market-leading benefits to meet our employees wherever they are in their career, financial, family and wellbeing journey while providing flexibility and resources to support their growth and aspirations. From medical, dental and vision benefits to generous paid time off (including a week-long company shutdown in the Summer and the Winter), educational assistance programs including student loan repayment, a generous commuting subsidy, matching charitable donations, 401(k) and so much more.
Flex Designation:
Hybrid-Eligible Or On-Site EligibleFlex Eligibility Status:
In this Hybrid-Eligible role, you can choose to be designated as:
1. Hybrid: work remotely up to two days per week; or select
2. On-Site: work five days per week on-site with ad hoc flexibility.
Note: The Flex status for this position is subject to Vertex’s Policy on Flex @ Vertex Program and may be changed at any time.
#LI-Hybrid
Company Information
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation.
Vertex is committed to equal employment opportunity and non-discrimination for all employees and qualified applicants without regard to a person's race, color, sex, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, ancestry, ethnicity, disability, veteran status, genetic information, sexual orientation, marital status, or any characteristic protected under applicable law. Vertex is an E-Verify Employer in the United States. Vertex will make reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with known disabilities, in accordance with applicable law.
Any applicant requiring an accommodation in connection with the hiring process and/or to perform the essential functions of the position for which the applicant has applied should make a request to the recruiter or hiring manager, or contact Talent Acquisition at [email protected]
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, HCI, Design, Engineering, or equivalent experience
- Proven experience in frontend engineering, product design engineering, or UX engineering roles
- Track record designing and building polished, user-centered interfaces for complex applications
- Experience translating technical or data-rich workflows into clear, intuitive user experiences
- Ability to own interaction design and prototyping from concept through implementation
- Strong understanding of usability, accessibility, and responsive design principles
- Experience with modern frontend frameworks: React, Angular, TypeScript, JavaScript, HTML, CSS
- Experience with enterprise UI development, component-based architecture, and scalable design systems
- Experience with design/prototyping tools such as Figma or similar platforms
- Frontend performance optimization experience
- Experience collaborating cross-functionally with product, engineering, AI, and business stakeholders
- Excellent communication, problem-solving, presentation skills, and ability to balance user needs, technical constraints, and business goals
- Mentoring engineers and influencing UX engineering best practices across teams
- Experience designing for AI-powered products, conversational interfaces, or multi-agent systems
- Experience leveraging AI-assisted tools to accelerate frontend prototyping and development workflows
- Familiarity with enterprise software, product strategy, user research methods, and design systems governance at scale
- Experience building interfaces for data-heavy, workflow-oriented, or highly technical applications
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Vertex Pharmaceuticals and has not been reviewed or approved by Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
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Parental & Family Support — Policies provide 12 weeks of 100% paid bonding leave for all U.S. parents with additional fully paid time for birth parents. Family-forming supports include adoption and surrogacy assistance, fertility options like IVF and egg cryopreservation, breast‑milk shipping, subsidized childcare, backup care, and a DCFSA match.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time off includes roughly four weeks of vacation, 13 holidays, sick time, and two companywide shutdowns (summer and year‑end). Some roles also include flexible or unlimited time off and paid volunteer time.
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Retirement Support — Programs include a 401(k) plan with employer contributions and an employee stock purchase plan. Filings describe employer contributions occurring in company stock, supporting long‑term ownership.
Vertex Pharmaceuticals Insights
What We Do
Vertex is a global biotechnology company that invests in scientific innovation to create transformative medicines for people with serious and life-threatening diseases. We discovered and developed the first medicines to treat the underlying cause of cystic fibrosis (CF), a rare, life-threatening genetic disease. In addition to clinical development programs in CF, Vertex has more than a dozen ongoing research programs focused on the underlying mechanisms of other serious diseases. Founded in 1989 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, our corporate headquarters is now located in Boston’s Innovation District, and our international headquarters is in London, United Kingdom. We currently employ approximately 3,500 people in the United States, Europe, Canada, Australia and Latin America with nearly two-thirds of our staff dedicated to research and development. Vertex is consistently recognized as one of the industry’s top places to work by Science Magazine, The Boston Globe, Boston Business Journal and the San Diego Business Journal. Our research and medicines have also received esteemed recognitions, including the Robert J. Beall Therapeutics Development Award, the French Prix Galien and the British Pharmacological Society awards.
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