Job Description

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

In Roche’s Pharmaceutical Research and Early Development organisation (pRED), we make transformative medicines for patients to tackle some of the world’s toughest unmet healthcare needs. At pRED, we are united by our mission to transform science into medicines. Together, we create a culture defined by curiosity, responsibility, and humility, where our talented people are empowered and inspired to bring forward extraordinary, life-changing innovation at speed.

At the intersection of science and innovation, pRED’s Pharmaceutical Sciences (PS) organisation enables the discovery and development of safe and effective therapeutics at optimal doses in relevant populations with a vision to power translation, continuously improve the accuracy of our predictions and accelerate the development of tomorrow's medicines. By seamlessly integrating our three core pillars—Translational Safety, Translational Pharmacology, and Biomarkers—we drive end-to-end asset development across the entire value chain, from target assessment to on-market support. Our mission is to continuously improve predictive accuracy, optimise dosing strategies for the right patient populations, and accelerate the development of tomorrow's safe and effective therapeutics.

This position is located in Pathology and Applied Safety Science, a department within the Pharmaceutical Sciences function. We drive the non-clinical safety assessment of drug candidates from small molecules to complex biological products during the discovery and development phases at Roche.

The Opportunity

As an engaged Pathology and Applied Safety Science Hematology & Safety Biomarker Expert, you will play a pivotal role in the development, validation, and implementation of assays for translational safety assessment. Your primary responsibility will be to propose, conduct and report relevant assays to understand mechanisms of toxicity, leveraging modern tools to maximise scientific insights, drive innovation, and advance our therapeutic pipeline in a highly collaborative environment.

• Strategic Biomarker Integration & Translational Safety: Collaborate with experts to develop and execute integrated in vitro and in vivo hematology and safety biomarker strategies, provide subject matter expertise for clinical candidate selection, and deliver comprehensive safety risk assessments for regulatory documentation (e.g., IND/CTA).

• Multi-Disciplinary Laboratory Expertise: Allocate approximately 50% of working time to wet-lab work, focusing on the development and implementation of tailored in vitro and ex vivo hematology and fluid-based safety biomarker assays, as well as generating and compiling clinical pathology data (hematology, coagulation, clinical chemistry, urinalysis) for the responsible pathologist.

• Digitisation, Image Analysis, and Automation: Partner with Digital Pathology and modelling experts to develop screening assays, utilise digital and data curation platforms (e.g., LIMS, SLIMS, Arvados) to ensure streamlined data transfer and harmonised datasets, and optimise workflow integration to maximise operational efficiency.

• Vendor Management, Quality, & Compliance Outsourcing & CRO Coordination: Manage external partnerships and drive the outsourcing of relevant assays to contract research laboratories (CROs), ensuring strict adherence to timelines and data quality standards.

• Safety Standards: Maintain strict compliance with Safety, Health, and Environmental (SHE) regulations, actively fostering a culture of safe and responsible laboratory practices.

• Interpersonal skills & Stakeholders & Mentorship: Demonstrate highly collaborative skills across agile, cross-functional project teams within Pharmaceutical Sciences and related institutes, while supervising and training technical staff, apprentices, postdocs, or students.

• Process Optimisation & External Visibility: Continuously optimise laboratory processes to improve quality, efficiency, and sample-handover timelines, while establishing robust networks with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) and participating in cross-industry working groups (e.g., FNIH Biomarkers Consortium, PSTC) to track scientific and regulatory trends.

Who you are

• You hold a DVM (with a PhD or relevant specialisation), a PhD in Hematology, Biology, Immunology, Toxicology, or a Master’s degree combined with significant practical experience in in vivo toxicology.

• You bring demonstrated hands-on experience in wet-lab environments, specifically with in vitro and ex vivo safety biomarker assays or clinical pathology data generation (such as hematology, coagulation, clinical chemistry, or urinalysis).

• You possess familiarity with digital data platforms, data curation tools, or automated workflow integrations.

• You have strong communication and relationship-building skills, with an outstanding ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary, global teams.

• You demonstrate a continuous improvement mindset dedicated to optimising laboratory processes and mentoring emerging scientific talent.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life-changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

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.