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.

The Position

A healthier future. It’s what drives us to innovate. To continuously advance science and ensure everyone has access to the healthcare they need today and for generations to come. Creating a world where we all have more time with the people we love.

That’s what makes us Roche.

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organization (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients in order to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life-changing innovation at speed. are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary life-changing innovation at speed.

This position is located in Lead Discovery, a department within Small Molecule Research (SMR) which is part of the Therapeutic Modalities function, where the discovery of chemical starting points for further optimization in medicinal chemistry is a primary focus. We closely collaborate with our therapeutic areas and functions to convert hypotheses into innovative therapeutics.

The opportunity

pRED is committed to maintaining industry-leading, in-house screening capabilities. Over the past two years, we have made significant investments in infrastructure and automation to establish robust, independent screening platforms that will support our leadership ambitions for the next decade and beyond.

We are seeking a highly experienced scientific leader to head our High Throughput Screening (HTS) team as we enter this next phase of our journey. The HTS group is responsible for all of pRED’s screening activities and will assume increasing accountabilities beyond our Basel-based operations.

You are an accomplished people leader and scientist who thrives in a matrixed environment and enjoys engaging with a diverse stakeholder community. This role requires exceptional scientific expertise, strong organizational skills, and the ability to drive the delivery of our screening objectives in alignment with Roche’s strategic vision.

• As a member of the Lead Discovery leadership team, you help shape and drive the strategic development of our small molecule portfolio and the overall Lead Discovery department strategy and ensure its effective implementation.
• You are recognized as a leader in high throughput screening and life science automation in small molecule research across the organization through your deep expertise in drug discovery
• You effectively manage in a matrixed environment and drive the prioritization of projects within your team, aligning the strategy with experts and senior leaders in Therapeutic Modalities (TMo) and the Discovery Therapeutic Area (DTA) to advance small molecule projects.
• You leverage your deep expertise in miniaturizing and automating cellular and biochemical assays for compound screening and profiling to lead a team of scientists dedicated to deliver innovative screening assays to enable hit finding campaigns and data driven decision making for small molecule projects. You oversee all pRED screening activities, ensuring the delivery of high-quality, timely, and impactful results
• You ensure that our cutting-edge screening technology platforms are continuously adapted and optimized to meet the evolving demands of the next generation of targets and modalities.
• You provide direct line management and mentorship to a team of scientists and associates, fostering a collaborative and high-performing research environment.

Your Profile

You hold a PhD in cell biology, biochemistry, pharmacology or a related discipline and bring 15+ years of industry experience in drug discovery.

You are inspired to lead teams of people to deliver new medicines for patients and view personal success as a consequence of team success. You demonstrate the ability to effectively lead people and manage the team's contribution to the portfolio with equal skill.

You are an expert in defining and implementing lead identification strategies for small molecule projects, and have strong expertise in a variety of assay technologies, high throughput screening and multi-dimensional data analysis.

In addition, you have a proven record of implementing end-to-end automation of laboratory processes. You exhibit a keen awareness of emerging opportunities in drug discovery and relevant technologies, coupled with objective risk assessment and return of investment analysis.

You have highly developed negotiation and influencing skills for effective interaction with disease area leaders and scientists, and external partners, with adaptable communication styles for various settings. You have strong communication, collaboration, and influencing abilities to effectively lead and manage in a matrix environment.

Who we are

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.