Group Leader Software Engineering
The ETH Zurich technology platform NEXUS Personalized Health facilitates discovery and translational research for personalized health. We offer a comprehensive range of expertise across Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Software Engineering, Systems Operations, and Screening & Lab Automation.
Situated within this multi-disciplinary environment, the Software Engineering group develops data-centric software products that enhance the usability of biomedical and clinical data. Our team currently consists of five dedicated members, supporting a diverse portfolio that spans internal tools, research platforms, and collaborative applications with clinical partners.
Your Role
As the Group Leader of Software Engineering, you will lead a team that designs and builds software products across various research and translational projects. You will take charge of delivery, engineering standards, and long-term maintainability while actively managing stakeholder relationships to ensure a healthy project pipeline.
Key Responsibilities
- Project Management: Structure and oversee projects from start to finish, ensuring clear scope definition, milestone planning, risk management, documentation standards, and processes aligned with translational and clinical quality requirements.
- Technical Leadership: Set and enforce standards across architecture, code quality, testing, documentation, and maintainability.
- Delivery Ownership: Lead multiple concurrent projects, translating actual needs into clear scopes, milestones, and outcomes, even as requirements evolve.
- Project Acquisition and Customer Management: Build relationships with researchers, clinicians, hospitals, and partners while converting initial discussions into scoped proposals with clear trade-offs.
- Full-Stack and Data-Centric Systems: Guide end-to-end solutions, from database modeling and API design to user-facing web applications and dashboards. We primarily utilize Postgres, Django REST Framework, and Vue.js (or similar technologies) alongside cloud-based ELT solutions such as Databricks in combination with Data Build Tool (DBT).
- Internal Product Portfolio: Transform project outputs into reusable building blocks and tools that enhance NEXUS’s internal portfolio.
- Security with Pragmatism: Develop solutions that are as open as possible while maintaining necessary restrictions, minimizing security friction while ensuring suitable protection.
- Handover Mindset: Ensure systems are built for smooth transitions into real-world research use and clinical applications, with clear ownership boundaries, documentation, and predictable handovers to Systems Operations once solutions mature.
- Cross-Team Collaboration: Collaborate closely with Clinical Bioinformatics, Biostatistics, Systems Operations, and Screening & Lab Automation to deliver integrated solutions end-to-end.
- People Leadership: Recruit, mentor, and develop team members, nurturing ownership and a culture of continuous improvement.
- Resource Management: Plan capacity, prioritize work, and contribute to budgeting and reporting for the group.
Your Profile
You will excel in this role if:
- You are passionate about building software used in real clinical and research contexts, where quality and impact are paramount.
- You take ownership of delivery outcomes and enjoy leading projects and people—not merely implementing features.
- You thrive on managing a diverse portfolio of projects and stakeholders rather than focusing on a single stable product.
- You find fulfillment in consultative work, building relationships, scoping initiatives, prioritizing effectively, and managing expectations.
- You proactively address security and compliance when handling sensitive data.
- You can navigate stakeholder needs and keep projects progressing without compromising quality.
- You enjoy creating reusable components and improving engineering standards pragmatically.
- You are comfortable with ambiguity, transforming incomplete requirements into staged, testable deliverables.
Qualifications
Non-Negotiables:
- Proven leadership experience in software engineering.
- Demonstrated experience leading delivery across multiple stakeholders and projects.
- Strong stakeholder management skills: trust-building, scoping, expectation management.
- Experience designing and implementing data-centric software solutions end-to-end (database, APIs, web applications).
- Solid Linux/Unix experience, along with scripting skills (bash, Python) and a practical approach to automation.
- Containerization experience (Docker or similar).
- Excellent communication skills in English.
Strongly Expected:
- A track record of establishing team-wide practices: code reviews, testing strategies, CI/CD, release processes, and documentation standards.
- Experience building software for security-sensitive environments, demonstrating pragmatic judgment.
Advantageous:
- Experience in data engineering (ETL/ELT design, validation, interoperability patterns).
- Familiarity with hospital IT contexts or clinical workflows.
- Knowledge of German.
What We Offer
At NEXUS, we value knowledge exchange and teamwork, where every individual brings their unique expertise. We maintain flat hierarchies and foster a can-do attitude, offering flexible working hours, family-friendly working models, training opportunities, and a broad, exciting array of work at the forefront of translational research.
Apply online using the form below. Only applications matching the job profile will be considered.
For further information about NEXUS Personalized Health, please visit our website. For inquiries regarding the position, please contact Daniel Stekhoven at stekhoven@nexus.ethz.ch or David Meyer at meyer@nexus.ethz.ch (no applications).