Head of Software Engineering

Adaptyv Bio

Lead a small engineering team developing software for AI-enabled biology experiments in biotech. Translate company strategy into engineering priorities while actively shipping code.

Posted 6/6/2026full-timeLausanne • 🇨🇭 SwitzerlandLeadWebsite

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Owning the engineering roadmap — deciding what to build, what to defer, and what to kill
Setting technical direction and architecture across frontend, backend, data pipelines, and lab-hardware integration
Shipping code yourself on the highest-leverage problems, not just reviewing it
Hiring, growing, and setting the bar for a team that ships fast and holds quality high — our lab runs on this software, so when things break, real experiments fail and real customers are affected
Building the team's AI-assisted development practices into a genuine speed advantage

Requirements

What you’ll need

You've shipped production software for years and you're not looking to leave the code behind — you want a role where you build and lead at the same time.
You've hired, managed, and developed engineers, and built a team that ships fast and holds a high bar — at least once before, in a startup or high-growth environment.
You've owned or significantly shaped an engineering roadmap. You've made the call on what to build, defer, and kill — and you make pragmatic tradeoffs that keep things shipping and stop projects from growing out of scope.
You make good architectural decisions across frontend, backend, data, and infrastructure, and you know when to go deep versus when to delegate.
It's 2026 — you already build with AI agents and coding tools as a force multiplier, and you have a real point of view on how they change team structure, tooling, and workflow.
A genuine interest in biology. No background required, but our product is running biology experiments in the physical world and that should excite you.
High-autonomy, founder mindset. We share context and vision openly. You figure out what matters most and go work on it.

Benefits

Comp & perks

Application deadline is rolling basis

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills & Tools

software developmentfrontend developmentbackend developmentdata pipelinesAI-assisted developmentarchitecture designproduction software shippingcoding practicestechnical directionengineering roadmap management

Soft Skills

team leadershiphiringmentoringpragmatic decision-makinghigh-quality standardsautonomycollaborationproblem-solvingcommunicationfounder mindset