Software Engineer, Applications (App Foundations) (High Seniority)

Benchling•San Francisco, CA

2d•$225,378 - $304,924•Hybrid

About The Position

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D, enabling scientists to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists trust Benchling to power their work, from academic labs to major biopharma companies. The company is committed to AI fluency as a core aspect of its work and integrates it into its hiring process. The App Foundations group, including the Lab Notebook and Enterprise Lifecycle teams, builds the core systems of the Benchling experience. This includes how scientists capture their daily work (Notebook and structured data-input tables) and the enterprise lifecycle capabilities that ensure data trustworthiness at scale (audit trails, review and approval, exports, and backups). These features are critical for regulated environments and FDA submissions, allowing large customers to operate with confidence. As a Software Engineer at the High Seniority level, you will be the senior engineering authority for the Lab Notebook and Enterprise Lifecycle teams. You will own horizontally impactful systems and enable product features for enterprise customers. This role is at the intersection of platform and product work, requiring deep technical expertise and strong product sense. You will also serve as an Individual Contributor (IC) leader across the broader Applications division, influencing engineering direction beyond your immediate teams. This role reports to the Head of Engineering for Applications and acts as the senior IC anchor for the Lab Notebook and Enterprise Lifecycle teams.

Requirements

8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a demonstrated progression of increasing scope and impact.
Experience as a technical lead on significant projects involving multiple engineers across multiple quarters.
Strong experience building backend systems and APIs for cloud-based web applications, plus the ability to build full-stack when needed.
Proven ability to design scalable, robust architectures that align with business requirements and long-term maintainability, especially for horizontal systems that many teams build on.
Track record of independently scoping and driving initiative-level work whose impact spans multiple teams and shapes an entire product area or division.
Excellent written and verbal communication skills — able to produce clear technical designs and use influence rooted in technical expertise to align other engineers on an implementation strategy.
Demonstrated ability to mentor and develop other engineers, raising the team's bar in areas such as testing, performance, and maintainability.
Interest in learning about life sciences. Prior biotech knowledge is appreciated but not required; enthusiasm to learn is essential.

Nice To Haves

Direct experience with React frontend and Python backend on a predominantly relational data model in Postgres.
Experience with audit, compliance, or GxP-regulated software.

Responsibilities

Serve as the senior technical authority for the Lab Notebook and Enterprise Lifecycle teams, driving the design and development of the Notebook, structured data-input, and enterprise lifecycle systems that anchor the Benchling product.
Independently architect and implement solutions to complex, open-ended problems — from system architecture to backend models and APIs to rich frontend UI — in areas such as comprehensive audit coverage, review and approval flows, scalable export systems, backups, and document lifecycle management.
Lead large, multi-quarter initiatives: break down ambiguous requirements into concrete technical plans and iterative delivery milestones, designing for scale and reliability across a growing enterprise customer base.
Use technical decision-making as a tool of engineering strategy — knowing when to leverage existing platform capabilities, when to take on technical debt deliberately, and when to preserve optionality for the long term.
Act as a force multiplier across the Applications division: help set engineering direction, raise standards for quality and architecture, and influence technical choices beyond your immediate teams.
Provide technical leadership through code review, architectural guidance, and mentorship of engineers across all experience levels.
Partner closely with product management, design, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate customer needs — including regulatory and compliance needs — into technical solutions.
Explore and evaluate opportunities to leverage AI and LLMs to improve data capture, audit reporting, and compliance workflows for our customers.
Collaborate with other teams to ensure our horizontal systems integrate seamlessly and enable product development across the organization.
Own end-to-end delivery of critical features — from planning and development through deployment, maintenance, and monitoring — and help scale our tooling, engineering processes, interviewing, hiring, and onboarding.