Principal Software Engineer (Hybrid) - Molecular Assemblies

About Us

Molecular Assemblies, Inc. is a private life sciences company developing an enzymatic DNA synthesis technology designed to power the next generation of DNA-based products. The company's patented Fully Enzymatic Synthesis™ (or FES™), based on making DNA the way nature makes DNA, produces long, high quality, sequence-specific DNA reliably, affordably, and sustainably. FES technology will enable the reading and writing of DNA for many industries, including industrial synthetic biology and precision medicine, as well as emerging applications of DNA for data information storage, nanomachines, and bio-based electronics. Molecular Assemblies is headquartered in San Diego.

Job Summary

We're hiring a Principal Software Engineer to lead the definition, development, and integration of Molecular Assemblies' software systems, focusing on Manufacturing Execution Software (MES). As the owner of the internal MES system and other business software, you'll play a crucial role in our company-wide commercial and operations scale-up strategy. 

In this collaborative role, you'll serve as the primary architect, working closely with diverse teams to capture requirements, plan projects, and provide technical leadership. As a hands-on leader, you'll grow and mentor a team of software engineers, defining collaboration norms and guiding the team's vision, goals, and roadmap within our early engineering organization. 

Responsibilities

• Manage all aspects of MES, spanning green-field development to Production environment support, and third-party business systems. 
• Maintain roadmaps and lifecycle plans, develop proposals, and lead Build/Run Squads for seamless product transfers and assessments. 
• Co-create MES strategy and roadmap in collaboration with business and IT partners, along with external vendors. 
• Lead technical discussions, vendor negotiations, and collaborate with Scientists, Automation Engineers, and SMEs for lab data capture and automation. 
• Lead the development of custom oligo synthesis instrument software, covering GUI integration and ancillary hardware implementation. 
• Plan for code and data organization with a strong emphasis on data provenance. 
• Cultivate an environment valuing Software Engineering craft, emphasizing maintainability, reliability, testability, scalability, and security. 
• Lead teams through the software development process, from brainstorming to validation testing, ensuring deployability and observability. 
• Lead yearly and quarterly planning, setting impactful goals and aligning with collaborating teams and stakeholders. 
• Build a welcoming and passionate team by leading hiring, onboarding, career development, and feedback, while facilitating effective technical conversations in a team setting. 
• Ad hoc duties as needed.

MINIMUM EDUCATIONAL LEVEL, EDUCATIONAL DISCIPLINES:

• BS, MS, or Ph.D. in computer science, computational biology, or computational chemistry, with >6 years of experience (>3 years in management). 
• Strong full-stack development skills in general-purpose languages (e.g., Python, Java, C#, Rust). 
• Proven ability to write high-quality, secure, production-ready code with well-designed APIs. 
• Experience in green field development, plus familiarity with regulated environments. 
• Effective communication and collaboration with diverse backgrounds and job functions. 
• Familiarity with Agile development, Sprints, JIRA, and Confluence. 
• Strong familiarity with cloud computing services is required, AWS certifications are a plus. 
• Proficiency in Linux, scripting, GitOps, and software development lifecycle best practices. 
• Familiarity with relational databases, security best practices, and web services/application frameworks. 
• Experience with lab and scientist stakeholders, skills in low-level firmware control software and laboratory automation hardware are a plus. 
• Salary Range: $170,000 - $200,000. The base salary range represents the low and high end of the anticipated salary range for this position. The actual base salary offered for this position will be based on many factors including but not limited to individual performance, location of job, experience and skills required for this role. 

Don't meet every requirement?

At MAI we are dedicated to building a diverse and inclusive workplace so if you don't check all the boxes in the job description, we still encourage you to apply. You may be the person we are looking for!