Head of Scientific Development Solutions Engineering

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.
Benchling’s mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The world’s most innovative biotech companies use Benchling’s 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.

The Scientific Development Solutions (SDS) Group is a family of engineering teams that deliver products and solutions to biologists centered on the conduct of complex lab operations; development, qualification, and execution of rigorous SOPs; analysis of complex time-series data; and biological and IT-driven workflows for sample management, analytical chemistry, and more. LES solutions are frequently (but not exclusively) sought out by Benchling’s customers with GLP / GMP regulatory concerns.

As the group lead for SDS engineering, you will be responsible for all software engineering work throughout our SDLC – specification, development, testing, deployment, and operational maintenance (SRE) work – for the Procedures, Studies, and Workflows products, split across two teams. Benchling runs an agile process and each of these various aspects of the SDLC are all typically in flight in a continuous fashion.

You will work closely with senior engineering leadership, a group-level product management counterpart, as well as engineering leaders, PMs, and designers supporting teams within your group and across the organization. Group leads typically directly manage one engineering scrum themselves (i.e., 5–10 engineers), while additional teams within the group report to other managers who will report to you. The SDS group sits within the Applications pillar of Benchling’s Software Engineering dept, and you will report to the Head of Engineering for Applications along with two other senior group leaders.

In addition to the day-to-day management of the team and its execution, engineering group leads attend to more horizontal demands of the broader engineering organization and Benchling as a whole, such as setting and maintaining standards for engineering quality; running and improving our interviewing, hiring, and onboarding processes; and continuously improving our overall SDLC.

• Manage a group of 2–3 engineering scrum teams; up to one team may be directly reporting to you, with other teams reporting to other line managers in your organization

• Translate strategy into execution by developing and executing quarterly plans with clear metrics and targets.

• Define and execute on a software engineering roadmap across your teams that encompasses new product and new feature development, quality improvements for both internal and external stakeholders, and bugfixes and software maintenance activities. Work closely with Product Mgmt and Design counterparts to articulate an achievable roadmap that meets our customer needs.

• Recruit, hire, and onboard exceptional full-stack engineers and engineering managers to staff your organization; mentor team members and act as a bar-raiser for talent. 

• Build a strong partnership with stakeholders across the engineering organization and other functions across the company.

• Contribute to engineering-wide organizational improvements as part of the management team.

• 10–15 years overall experience in software engineering and engineering management roles.

• 5+ years overall experience in SaaS or the broader high-tech commercial software sector.

• 5+ years of engineering management experience, including 3+ years of indirectly managing other teams through subordinate engineering managers.

• Experience driving complex multi-quarter roadmaps to completion, with multiple technical projects and products.

• Experience building and deploying cloud-based web applications, ideally on both the front- and back-end.

• Track record of growing high-trajectory, early-to-mid-career engineers into leaders with company-wide impact.

• Familiarity with software engineering management productivity tools (e.g., Jira or other bug database), as well as observability tools for logging, metrics, and alerting.

• Interest in / curiosity about biotech! Prior experience with biotech, pharmaceutical, or other life sciences business sectors or education is not required, but is absolutely a plus.

• Willing to work on-site in our San Francisco or Boston offices three days a week.

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

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 $232,344 - $386,000

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 salary and equity

• 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 don’t 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.