Software Engineer, Full Stack (Chemistry)

We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.

When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.

Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.

ROLE OVERVIEW

 Bencling has always been the go-to platform for Biotech, but this year we are expanding into additional modalities including Chemistry. Chemistry is one of the key features requested by our customers, and this team is organized to rapidly iterate on brand new capabilities for Chemistry users.

The Chemistry team will build from our existing support for molecules toward a full chemistry solution, integrated with our notebook and our core registry product. Benchling’s customers interact with our products daily, and they trust them with their most important assets. Chemistry is a full-stack team on a mission to accelerate science by creating powerful, intuitive tools that support a broad range of scientific workflows. We obsess over quality and data integrity.

RESPONSIBILITIES

• Drive complex, end-to-end projects: Lead the design, implementation, and delivery of high-impact features and systems across the stack (React + Python). Translate product requirements into scalable architecture and thoughtful user experiences, while proactively identifying risks and tradeoffs.

• Shape technical direction and architecture: Make foundational engineering decisions that improve system performance, reliability, and scalability. Collaborate with other senior engineers to evolve our platform and influence long-term technical strategy.
  Collaborate cross-functionally: Work closely with product managers, designers, customer success, and other engineering teams to create clarity and ensure alignment on goals, seamless handoffs, and shared understanding of scientific user needs.

• Identify and address technical debt: Own proactive improvements to the codebase and infrastructure. Refactor critical systems for maintainability and performance, and champion investments that improve long-term developer velocity.

• Design for performance and scale: Build systems that can handle the complexity and scale of life sciences R&D. Optimize backend performance, frontend responsiveness, and system reliability.

• Mentor and support other engineers: Act as a technical mentor and sounding board for other engineers. Help grow the team’s technical skills through guidance, pairing, and knowledge sharing. Be a force multiplier for the team.

  • Elevate code quality and engineering practices: Set high standards for code quality, testing, documentation, and operational excellence. Lead by example, perform thorough code reviews, and help raise the bar across the team.

• Embrace ambiguity and domain complexity: Operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with evolving scientific requirements. Rapidly learn new technologies and help the team do the same.

Act with ownership and accountability: Take responsibility not just for your code, but for the outcomes it enables. Push for clarity, follow through on commitments, and support others in doing the same.

QUALIFICATIONS

• 8+ years of professional software engineering experience

• Strong coding skills and engineering fundamentals – able to turn product requirements into well-architected, maintainable, and tested code

• Experience building scalable, reliable systems with attention to performance and user impact

• Leadership in engineering practices – drives and upholds high standards in testing, code quality, reviews, version control, and team development workflows

• Proven ability to work across teams – partnering with product, design, and platform groups to ship cohesive solutions

• Strategic problem solving – tackles complex, ambiguous technical challenges with a focus on long-term impact, scalability, and user value

• Comfortable pushing back thoughtfully – advocate for technical solutions that improve quality, scalability, and maintainability

• Experience mentoring others and contributing to team growth – through onboarding, pairing, and process improvement

• Clear and effective communicator, especially in cross-functional settings

• Curiosity and adaptability – excited to learn about life sciences and work in a fast-changing domain (no prior domain knowledge required – though it’s a huge bonus )

HOW WE WORK

We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week (Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday).

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Benchling welcomes everyone.

We believe diversity enriches our team so we hire people with a wide range of identities, backgrounds, and experiences.

We are an equal opportunity employer. That means we don’t discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. We also consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records, consistent with applicable federal, state and local law, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.