(Sr) Principal Applied Scientist

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

Job Summary:

As an Applied Scientist with at least 5 years of experience, you will join a dynamic, multi-disciplinary agile team, using your skills to transform healthcare by delving deep into a variety of data sources. Your role will involve identifying needs, designing analytical solutions, offering consulting support to key stakeholders, and demonstrating impact through proof-of-value initiatives.  

The Opportunity:

• Developing and implementing Data Science products, focusing on Natural Language Processing using LLMs and Generative AI tools.  
• Collaborating with stakeholders to proactively identify relevant LLM/NLP use cases.  
• Applying your NLP/LLM expertise to create and refine models that meet Roche's business requirements. 
• Work closely with clients to understand their business needs, gather requirements, and provide consultative insights to inform strategic decisions.
• Supporting prioritisation efforts, understanding feasibility and business impact, and making informed decisions in a rapidly changing environment.  
• Strong consulting and project management skills, with the ability to lead projects and work with clients across various industries.
• Working within global agile teams to develop products that deliver value to Roche Pharma and Diagnostics business stakeholders.  
• Providing guidance and hands-on support for analytical LLM/NLP use cases, evaluating different NLP approaches and Generative AI platforms.  
• Communicating findings and promoting the value of use cases to key stakeholders.  
• Contributing to the positioning of data science as a key competency within the company.  

Who you are:

• M.Sc. or PhD in a related field and experience with machine learning/data mining/artificial intelligence.  
• Experience with Python programming and common NLP libraries (e.g., transformers, gensim, spaCy).  
• Familiarity with key frameworks (e.g. PyTorch, GenAI/Agentic AI, Vector DBs) and infrastructure components (Docker, GPU) for NLP tasks. 
• Experience using open source (e.g. HuggingFace) and commercial LLM models with different deep learning architectures.  
• Knowledge of training and optimising language models for seamless integration.  
• Familiarity with code generation best practices, code documentation, data security, and compliance in cloud-based data science workflows.  
• Experience providing advanced analytical solutions.  
• Ability to communicate data and results to a non-technical audience through data storytelling and visualisation tools.  
• International, goal-oriented mindset with a positive attitude.  
• Experience in the pharmaceutical/biotech industry preferred.  
• Fluency in English and Chinese.
• A minimum of 5 years' hands-on experience in AI, data science and machine learning.

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.