Principal Software Engineer, Research Systems

Gilead Sciences • Foster City, CA

2d

About The Position

At Gilead, we’re creating a healthier world for all people. For more than 35 years, we’ve tackled diseases such as HIV, viral hepatitis, COVID-19 and cancer – working relentlessly to develop therapies that help improve lives and to ensure access to these therapies across the globe. We continue to fight against the world’s biggest health challenges, and our mission requires collaboration, determination and a relentless drive to make a difference. Every member of Gilead’s team plays a critical role in the discovery and development of life-changing scientific innovations. Our employees are our greatest asset as we work to achieve our bold ambitions, and we’re looking for the next wave of passionate and ambitious people ready to make a direct impact. We believe every employee deserves a great leader. People Leaders are the cornerstone to the employee experience at Gilead and Kite. As a people leader now or in the future, you are the key driver in evolving our culture and creating an environment where every employee feels included, developed and empowered to fulfil their aspirations. Join Gilead and help create possible, together. Job Description Gilead's mission is to discover, develop, and deliver therapies that will improve the lives of patients with life-threatening illnesses worldwide. The Principal Software Engineer – Research Systems is a senior individual contributor and domain expert responsible for end-to-end support, configuration, and evolution of Dotmatics project pages and associated research workflows. This role is less focused on enterprise architecture ownership and more on deep partnership with scientists, operational excellence, and service-oriented delivery of high-quality research system experiences. The individual operates with a high degree of autonomy, serving as a trusted point of contact for scientific users, owning the creation and maintenance of Dotmatics project pages, ensuring data is fit-for-purpose, and providing clear communication on system status, changes, and support requests.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree and 8+ years of relevant experience; OR Masters' degree and 6+ years of relevant experience; OR PhD and 2+ years of relevant experience
• 8+ years of experience supporting, configuring, or developing research, scientific, or enterprise software systems.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with scientists or research users to gather requirements and support real-world scientific workflows.
• Strong hands-on experience with Dotmatics or similar scientific data / ELN / informatics platforms.
• Proven ability to deliver excellent customer service and operational support in a technical environment.
• Experience using Jira for request tracking and Confluence for documentation and knowledge management.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical concepts clearly to non-technical users.

Nice To Haves

• Experience supporting bespoke logistics or laboratory systems in a research or regulated environment.
• Familiarity with GLP, data integrity, audit readiness, or validation concepts.
• Experience supporting system implementations, upgrades, and platform transitions.
• Ability to balance multiple concurrent requests while maintaining high service quality.
• Demonstrated track record of building trusted partnerships with scientific and operational stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Recognized as a subject matter expert for Dotmatics project pages and associated research workflows.
• Operates independently with minimal direction, owning outcomes for user satisfaction and system effectiveness.
• Impact is measured by quality of scientific enablement, user adoption, system reliability, and service responsiveness.
• Serves as a bridge between scientists, IT, and platform teams, ensuring research systems evolve in a controlled, user-centered manner.
• Own the design, creation, configuration, and ongoing maintenance of Dotmatics project pages in close collaboration with scientists and research stakeholders.
• Work directly with scientific users to identify appropriate data, metadata, and structures required to support project goals, ensuring usability, consistency, and scientific relevance.
• Translate scientific workflows and requirements into well-structured Dotmatics project pages that support data capture, analysis, and decision-making.
• Continuously improve existing project pages based on user feedback, evolving scientific needs, and platform capabilities.
• Act as a primary point of contact for scientific users, providing responsive, high-quality customer service in support of Dotmatics and related research systems.
• Respond to email enquiries from users, including troubleshooting issues, answering questions, and providing guidance on best practices.
• Proactively communicate system status, planned changes, incidents, and resolutions to users in a clear, professional, and timely manner.
• Build strong working relationships with scientists, informatics partners, and operational teams based on trust, reliability, and domain expertise.
• Develop and deliver training for bespoke logistics and research systems, including Dotmatics-related workflows and integrations.
• Create and maintain training materials such as user guides, walkthroughs, and onboarding documentation.
• Provide hands-on support during onboarding of new users, projects, or capabilities, ensuring successful adoption of systems.
• Liaise closely with IT and platform teams on Dotmatics implementation, configuration, upgrades, and validation activities.
• Support implementation and upgrade projects, including user acceptance testing, regression testing, and coordination of user communications.
• Help identify risks, dependencies, and user impacts associated with system changes and upgrades.
• Use Jira to log, track, prioritize, and manage user requests, enhancements, defects, and operational tasks.
• Ensure timely updates to Jira tickets, maintaining transparency on progress and resolution.
• Use Confluence to build, maintain, and curate high-quality documentation, including: System and project page documentation User guides and FAQs Training materials Operational and support procedures
• Promote consistent documentation standards to ensure information is easy to find, accurate, and up to date.

Benefits

• This position may also be eligible for a discretionary annual bonus, discretionary stock-based long-term incentives (eligibility may vary based on role), paid time off, and a benefits package.
• Benefits include company-sponsored medical, dental, vision, and life insurance plans.
• For additional benefits information, visit: https://www.gilead.com/careers/compensation-benefits-and-wellbeing
• Eligible employees may participate in benefit plans, subject to the terms and conditions of the applicable plans.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level
• Number of Employees: 5,001-10,000 employees