Principal Scientist si-RNA Design

Position Overview

At Roche, the siRNA Design Principal Scientist will design and optimize therapeutic siRNA candidates across a range of disease targets, integrating computational and empirical approaches from target assessment through to lead optimization for clinical development.

• Lead the drug design strategy for oligonucleotides with a focus on siRNAs, delivering proof of concept and full‑scale lead optimization.
• Guide projects holistically, ensuring early design decisions align with late‑stage clinical and manufacturing requirements.
• Invent new advanced chemical modification patterns and sequence selection strategies to optimize therapeutic properties of siRNAs.
• Collaborate with AI experts to develop, validate, and apply AI design solutions, providing ground‑truth biological data and domain expertise.
• Act as the RNAi subject‑matter expert in cross‑functional teams and disease‑area collaborations.

• Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Biochemistry, or a related field with 5+ years of industry experience in siRNA/RNAi therapeutic design.
• Deep understanding of RNAi mechanism and siRNA therapeutic profiling.
• Proven track record applying chemical modification patterns of siRNA to enhance therapeutic profiles.
• Familiarity with biology‑data science interface; comfortable discussing parameters and data features with AI engineers; hands‑on experience with command‑line utilities and scripting languages for sequence analysis and data management.
• Team‑player mindset, able to communicate complex nucleic acid chemistry to non‑experts and integrate stakeholder feedback.
• Strategic thinking, balancing aggressive development timelines with meticulous attention to detail.
• Excellent communication skills, capable of translating complex scientific concepts into clear, actionable insights for diverse audiences.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.