Solution Architect - RDT Pharma R&D

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

Solution Architect - RDT Pharma R&D

We are looking for a Solution Architect who pairs high-level systems thinking with hands-on technical execution. In this role, you will sit at the intersection of life sciences, enterprise cloud infrastructure, and modern AI - shaping and building future-ready platforms across Pharma R&D and Medical Affairs.

In this role, strategic architectural vision and practical engineering go hand in hand. You will guide our technology roadmap, define architectural fitness functions, and actively contribute to the codebase to set the benchmark for quality and performance. Serving as a key technical authority, you will empower engineering squads, evaluate breakthrough technologies, and balance rapid innovation with long-term platform resilience.

What You’ll Do:

Solution Architecture & Hands-On Engineering

• Design, build, and deploy robust end-to-end solutions that balance product requirements, business priorities, and enterprise architecture standards within Medical Affairs and R&D.
• Directly contribute to production code and high-level technical design, balancing architectural vision with hands-on development.
• Define and manage Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs) and fitness functions across modern cloud ecosystems.
• Own and evolve product architecture throughout the development lifecycle, documenting decisions via Architecture Decision Records (ADRs) and aligning with enterprise governance.

Drive Data & AI Strategy

• Research, pilot, and scale modern cloud services and emerging AI technologies to streamline medical workflows and deliver measurable business value.
• Build conceptual and logical data models, taxonomies, and ontologies to support seamless AI applications and cloud integrations.
• Identify opportunities to modernize systems, enhance performance, and systematically reduce technical debt.

Mentor & Elevate Engineering Standards

• Provide technical leadership and day-to-day guidance to engineering teams through architecture reviews, hands-on code reviews, and developer mentoring.
• Define and champion engineering best practices, coding standards, and reusable architectural reference patterns across the solution context.

Collaborate & Influence Stakeholders

• Translate complex technical trade-offs, architecture vision, and risks into clear, actionable insights for both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Partner cross-functionally with product, business, and architecture peers to build consensus, manage dependencies, and keep roadmap initiatives aligned with strategic goals.

Who You Are: 

Experience & Domain Knowledge

• 5+ years of experience in a hybrid Solution Architect / Technical Lead role, successfully combining hands-on software development with scalable system design.
• Direct domain experience in Medical Affairs, R&D, life sciences, or a similarly regulated environment.
• Demonstrated track record of designing, building, and deploying enterprise-scale solutions on major cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP).
• Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).

Technical Expertise

• Deep, hands-on engineering experience implementing modern AI technologies (e.g., LLMs, NLP, machine learning frameworks) into production business applications.
• Strong foundation in cloud architectures, microservices, REST/GraphQL API design, data modeling, and enterprise system integration.
• Practical expertise defining and governing reference architectures, reusable design patterns, Non-Functional Requirements (NFRs), and fitness functions.
• Adept at evaluating emerging technology trends, assessing technical feasibility, and conducting structured vendor and tool evaluations.

Leadership & Collaboration

• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management skills, with a proven ability to translate complex technical concepts and build consensus across cross-functional teams.
• Proactive, strategic thinker driven to modernize workflows, systematically reduce technical debt, and maximize business impact.
• Natural mentor who actively fosters engineering best practices, robust code quality, and a culture of continuous learning.
• English Fluency.

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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.