Software Engineer, Data Platform (CDC & Search) (Seniority)

Company: Benchling
Location: San Francisco
Posted on: May 24, 2025

Job Description:

ROLE OVERVIEWAt Benchling, we're tackling some of the most complex problems in life sciences R&D-and that takes engineers who thrive on solving high-impact, systems-level challenges.As a Data Platform engineer, you'll build the next generation of infrastructure that powers real-time scientific discovery. You'll architect multi-tenant pipelines, develop change data capture (CDC) systems, and design scalable, privacy-aware solutions that enable our customers-scientists and researchers-to move faster and smarter.This is a rare opportunity to do deep engineering work with a clear line of sight to real-world health outcomes."There's a lot of software where you don't know if it helps the world. Here, the mission and the moment are aligned-you know your work matters."Whether you're building tools that help accelerate vaccine development or scaling infrastructure for biotech R&D, your work here matters.RESPONSIBILITIES

• Own core systems end-to-end-from design and prototyping to deployment and scale.
• Build real-time data infrastructure (CDC pipelines, search indexing and more) that powers customer analytics and platform extensibility.
• Design CI/CD workflows and internal tooling that make our platform easy to operate, secure, and maintain.
• Collaborate with product managers, platform architects, and internal developers to define a shared vision for data at Benchling.
• Set standards for data integrity, privacy, and reliability across internal and customer-facing systems.
• Champion platform engineering best practices and influence how Benchling teams interact with data at scale.QUALIFICATIONS
  • You bring 6+ years of engineering experience, including 3+ years with distributed data processing frameworks (e.g., Kafka, Debezium, Spark, Flink).
  • You're hands-on with infrastructure tooling like Kubernetes, Terraform, or ECS, and scripting in Python or similar.
  • You value clean abstractions and solving root problems-not just shipping workarounds.
  • You're a clear communicator, both in code and in writing, and bring a collaborative spirit to technical planning.
  • You may not have a background in biology-and that's okay. Many of our best engineers come from FinTech, infrastructure, or consumer tech. What matters most is curiosity and a willingness to learn.
  • You want to build for deeply technical users-scientists with PhDs doing life-changing work.
    You value autonomy, iterate instead of over-planning, and seek impact over optics."I wasn't building the vaccine-but I was building the tools that helped the people who did." - Naomi, Software Engineer"Benchling has a data variety problem, not just a data scale problem-which makes the technical work both chaotic and incredibly fun." - Abhi, Software EngineerWhy BenchlingEngineers join us for the technical challenges-and stay for the mission and culture.
    • A collaborative environment, where team members are generous with their time and ideas
    • Real ownership and respect for the IC track-your impact isn't defined by whether you manage people
    • A platform that combines deep scientific domain complexity with best-in-class engineering practices
    • Flexible architecture and iterative development, not rigid year-long roadmaps
    • And most importantly:"This is the most mission-aligned, technically interesting place I've worked-and the people are genuinely here to help each other succeed."HOW WE WORKFlexible Hybrid Work: We offer a flexible hybrid work arrangement that prioritizes in-office collaboration. Employees are expected to be on-site 3 days per week.SALARY RANGEBenchling takes a market-based approach to pay. The candidate's starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications, interview performance, and work location. For this role the base salary range is $165,1134 - $252,488.To help you determine which zone applies to your location, please see this. If you have questions regarding a specific location's zone designation, please contact a recruiter for additional information.Total Compensation includes the following:
      • Competitive total rewards package
      • Broad range of medical, dental, and vision plans for employees and their dependents
      • Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
      • Four months of fully paid parental leave
      • 401(k) + Employer Match
      • Commuter benefits for in-office employees and a generous home office set up stipend for remote employees
      • Mental health benefits, including therapy and coaching, for employees and their dependents
      • Monthly Wellness stipend
      • Learning and development stipend
      • Generous and flexible vacation
      • Company-wide Winter holiday shutdown
      • Sabbaticals for 5-year and 10-year anniversaries#LI-Hybrid#BI-Hybrid#LI-MD1
        #J-18808-Ljbffr

Keywords: Benchling, Arden-Arcade , Software Engineer, Data Platform (CDC & Search) (Seniority), IT / Software / Systems , San Francisco, California