Principal Scientist, Respiratory Discovery

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 in order 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.

pRED Cardiovascular, Metabolism, Immunology (CMI), located in Basel, Switzerland, focuses on the discovery and early development of innovative treatments for specific diseases that affect the lives of millions. In the Immunology Department, we are developing cutting-edge therapies to treat chronic inflammatory diseases, including novel treatment options for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). 

The Opportunity

To complement the Immunology team in pRED CMI, we are seeking a visionary, highly motivated, experienced Scientist with a strong academic background in pulmonary research, a track record in drug target identification and validation and proven ability to effectively lead projects in a drug discovery setting.

As a Principal Scientist in pRED CMI, you will be a part of an international and multidisciplinary group of scientists and clinicians committed to delivering innovative solutions for COPD patients by combining cutting-edge approaches in biology, pharmacology and translational research. 

Key Responsibilities:

• Utilising patient data and translational models, you will lead innovative initiatives to gain a better understanding of COPD pathobiology in order to identify novel drug targets and generate therapeutic hypotheses that are experimentally testable, druggable and clinically developable.

• In collaboration with a dedicated team of lab-based associates and post-doctoral scientists, you will direct, oversee and interpret complex preclinical experimental studies for the validation and characterisation of targets or therapeutic agents in COPD.

• You will bring targets into the early drug discovery pipeline and lead multidisciplinary teams up to clinical candidate generation.

• Working in multidisciplinary teams, you will diligently evaluate external opportunities and clearly communicate the findings to senior management 

• People management, including coaching and mentoring junior scientists and postdocs 

Who You Are

• You hold a PhD degree in Life Sciences (respiratory biology, cellular/ molecular biology, pharmacology, immunology - or a closely related field) and bring 5 to 10 years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry. 
• You bring deep expertise in COPD disease biology, including chronic tissue remodelling, inflammation and/ or epithelial biology 
• You have significant scientific accomplishments and successful collaborations documented by publications in high-impact journals
• You have a strong strategic thinking capacity, with the ability to balance multiple priorities in a fast-paced, matrixed organisation. 
• You have a good understanding of general pharmacological properties of therapeutic modalities such as small molecules and antibodies. 
• You can effectively communicate scientific data and concepts to colleagues, teams and senior management. 

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.