Staff Software Development Engineer (Lab Technology) #4907

Grail•Durham, NC

17h•Hybrid

About The Position

GRAIL is a healthcare company pioneering new technologies to advance early cancer detection. The Lab Software team builds and operates the core software systems that make these laboratories possible. They develop the software platform that orchestrates sample processing, provides real-time laboratory visibility, maintains complete sample traceability, and enables laboratory operators to confidently run complex workflows at scale. These systems sit at the intersection of software engineering, laboratory automation, and clinical operations, requiring high reliability, fault tolerance, and GxP compliance while supporting continuous innovation and increasing laboratory throughput. This role is for a Senior or Staff Software Engineer to help shape the next generation of GRAIL's laboratory platform, with leveling determined by experience and demonstrated impact. The role is based in Durham, NC, or Menlo Park, California (moving to Sunnyvale, CA in Fall 2026), with potential consideration for candidates in the UK. GRAIL offers a flexible work arrangement, requiring a minimum of 60% (24 hours) on-site per week, with Tuesdays and Thursdays as key on-site days.

Requirements

Strong software engineering fundamentals with experience designing and operating distributed systems.
Experience building production software using one or more modern programming languages such as Python or Go.
Experience with modern frontend development using React and TypeScript.
Experience developing cloud-native applications on AWS.
Experience building APIs and distributed services using technologies such as REST and/or gRPC.
Experience with Kubernetes and cloud-native deployment practices.
Strong understanding of software quality, testing, observability, and operational ownership.
Excellent communication skills and the ability to collaborate across engineering, science, and laboratory operations.
Experience with observability tooling (Prometheus/Grafana, structured logging) and on-call ownership.
Curiosity about biology, laboratory operations, and solving complex real-world problems.

Nice To Haves

Experience with GxP requirements.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate the software systems that power GRAIL's automated laboratories, working across services including laboratory workflow orchestration, LIMS, quality decision systems, and laboratory visibility tools.
Collaborate with laboratory operators, scientists, automation engineers, and software engineers to understand complex laboratory workflows and build reliable systems under real-world operating conditions.
Balance reliability, scalability, regulatory compliance, and operational simplicity in system design.
Design software that recovers gracefully from failures, supports 24-hour laboratory operations, improves operator efficiency, and enables the laboratory to evolve with new assays and technologies.
Build resilient distributed systems that interact with physical laboratory equipment, support software-only disaster recovery, and continuously improve the intelligence and efficiency of the laboratory platform.
Make improvements that help GRAIL process patient samples more reliably, efficiently, and at greater scale.
Simplify complex technical and operational problems into elegant, maintainable solutions.
Work across the full stack (backend and frontend) to solve problems end-to-end.
Proactively identify technical and operational risks and design systems to prevent failures.
Partner across disciplines (scientists, laboratory operators, automation engineers, software engineers) to understand customer needs and translate them into technical solutions.
Handle production incidents calmly, make sound engineering decisions under pressure, and build trusted systems for operators.
Routinely use AI-assisted development tools to improve productivity, testing, code quality, and documentation, while exercising sound engineering judgment.
Contribute to GRAIL's mission of detecting cancer early through software development.
Lead the design and delivery of significant technical initiatives, mentor teammates, and own critical production systems (for Senior level).
Provide technical leadership across multiple systems and teams, shape architectural direction, lead large multi-quarter initiatives, raise engineering standards, and influence the evolution of GRAIL's laboratory platform (for Staff level).