Principal Software Engineer (Java)

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.

Roche Information Solutions provides integrated digital solutions to deliver on the promise of affordable, high-quality, and accessible healthcare. RIS is accountable for the development and delivery of digital solutions, common Diagnostics architecture, and data management. Digitalization in healthcare is of increasing importance to deliver customer and patient value, and shape healthcare.

The Platform team is building the foundation on which a myriad of healthcare and research software applications can be delivered to patients, from the cloud to the lab. The Platform Engineering team is responsible for platform services including the development, testing, deployment, and operation of software. In addition, the function manages platform onboarding and developer experience.

Roche’s single vision is to improve the lives of patients, and the RIS Platform team is dedicated to using the latest cloud software technologies as a means to deliver this vision. If you would rather improve health outcomes for millions instead of helping sell ads on the Internet, this is the job for you.

This position is a key technical leadership role within a team operating across one to two Scrum teams, and is responsible for driving the design, technical direction, and successful implementation of complex, enterprise-scale software systems.

This role is suited for a highly experienced engineer who operates above the Senior Engineer level and combines strong technical depth with leadership in architecture, design execution, and cross-team collaboration. This role is expected to own and drive designs from concept to implementation, ensuring alignment across architects, peers, and engineering teams.

The role includes creating solution designs, leading technical discussions, resolving design and implementation blockers, and guiding teams through execution. This role will work closely with architects, partner teams, and peers to resolve conflicts, gain alignment and approvals, and ensure smooth delivery.

In addition, this role is expected to identify opportunities for introducing new tools, capabilities, and engineering improvements, and to proactively raise concerns and propose changes where processes, practices, or technical approaches can be improved. This role also plays an important part in mentoring engineers, influencing engineering excellence, and ensuring scalable, reliable, and maintainable solutions.

• Lead the technical design of complex features, services, and platform capabilities from ideation through implementation.

• Create, drive, and evolve solution designs, ensuring they are scalable, maintainable, and aligned with architectural standards.

• Lead design discussions and provide technical direction to engineering teams during implementation.

• Work closely with architects, peers, and other stakeholders to resolve design conflicts, close gaps, and secure necessary approvals.

• Ensure designs are translated effectively into implementation, supporting teams until successful delivery.

• Act as the primary technical point of contact for the team during implementation.

• Identify and resolve technical blockers faced by implementation teams, providing hands-on guidance where needed.

• Bridge design and execution by ensuring engineering teams understand requirements, trade-offs, and technical decisions.

• Proactively identify risks, dependencies, and design gaps, and drive timely resolution.

• Contribute hands-on to the development of high-quality, scalable, and maintainable software using Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, and microservices architecture.

• Guide engineering best practices across coding, testing, code reviews, observability, and reliability.

• Support robust system design and implementation for enterprise-scale cloud applications.

• Bring strong exposure and experience with AWS cloud services to build robust, scalable, and high-performing cloud-native solutions.

• Ensure platform services and applications are resilient, scalable, secure, and cost-effective.

• Contribute to platform engineering capabilities, shared services, and developer experience improvements.

• Identify, evaluate, and introduce new tools, frameworks, and technical capabilities that can improve team productivity and platform quality.

• Drive Proof of Concepts (POCs) and exploratory initiatives to assess new technologies or approaches.

• Proactively raise concerns where engineering processes, tools, or delivery practices can be improved, and help drive those improvements within the team.

• Champion continuous improvement in design practices, development workflows, and team effectiveness.

• Mentor and guide engineers on technical design, implementation quality, and problem-solving approaches.

• Collaborate across teams to align on architecture, dependencies, and delivery plans.

• Foster strong engineering practices and help build technical capability within the team.

• Act as a technical leader who influences without formal authority and drives alignment across multiple stakeholders.

• BE/BTech/Master’s degree in Computer Science or a related discipline

• 11+ years of hands-on experience in software engineering, with strong technical leadership experience

• Strong hands-on expertise in Java, Spring Boot, REST APIs, and microservices architecture

• Strong experience in system design, design patterns, engineering principles, and scalable architecture

• Proven experience driving technical design and guiding implementation teams through delivery

• Demonstrated ability to resolve technical conflicts and align multiple stakeholders across teams

• Strong exposure and experience with AWS cloud services to build robust, scalable, and high-performing solutions

• Experience building, deploying, and supporting enterprise-scale cloud applications

• Strong understanding of Agile development environments and engineering delivery practices

• Proven ability to identify design and implementation gaps proactively and drive them to resolution

• Strong problem-solving skills and ability to work effectively in complex technical ecosystems

• Experience mentoring engineers and influencing engineering best practices

• Healthcare domain experience or familiarity is preferred (understanding of healthcare workflows, data, or regulatory considerations is a plus)

• Frontend experience with modern frameworks (React, Angular, etc.)

• Experience contributing to platform engineering or shared services teams

• Exposure to developer experience, internal developer platforms, or engineering productivity initiatives

• Experience working closely with enterprise or solution architects in large-scale organizations

• Experience driving process improvements, tooling adoption, or cross-team engineering standardization

• Designs are clearly defined, aligned, and successfully implemented across teams

• Implementation teams receive timely technical guidance and blocker resolution

• Design conflicts and technical dependencies are proactively managed and resolved

• Engineering practices, tools, and processes continuously improve over time

• The team delivers scalable, high-quality solutions with strong technical leadership and alignment

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.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.