Director of Software Engineering - Data Platforms - #4919

About GRAIL

GRAIL is a healthcare company pioneering new technologies to advance early cancer detection. We have built a multi-disciplinary organization of scientists, engineers, and physicians using next-generation sequencing (NGS), population-scale clinical studies, and state-of-the-art computer science and data science to overcome one of medicine's greatest challenges. Headquartered in the Bay Area of California, with locations in Washington, D.C., North Carolina, and the United Kingdom.

About the Role

We are seeking a visionary and execution-focused Director of Software Engineering to lead our Data Platform engineering organization. In this role, you will drive the technical strategy, architecture, and delivery of our next-generation, cloud-native data platform. This role is based in Sunnyvale, California with a flexible work arrangement requiring a minimum of 60% (24 hours) of your total work week on-site. Tuesdays and Thursdays are key days for on-site presence, though candidates must remain flexible based on business needs.

Responsibilities

• Engineering & Organizational Leadership: Lead, mentor, and scale a multi-disciplinary global engineering organization, fostering a culture of high performance, continuous learning, and technical excellence.
• Strategic Roadmap Delivery: Own the technical roadmap and resource allocation, ensuring 95%+ on-time execution of strategic product milestones.
• Agile Transformation: Champion and mature Agile/Scrum methodologies to optimize feature velocity, minimize product turnaround time, and maintain high software quality.
• Cloud-Native Evolution: Architect, govern, and optimize the transition to modern serverless and microservices architectures on AWS, driving structural cost optimization and system elasticity.
• Big Data Ecosystems: Define the strategy for next-generation big data platforms utilizing Snowflake, Databricks, Apache Iceberg, AWS Glue, and related technologies to process, partition, and index petabyte-scale datasets.
• Performance Engineering: Oversee analytical and search data model optimizations to continually improve query performance and data pipeline throughput.
• AI-Driven Initiatives: Direct the integration of AI-assisted SDLC tools and architect LLM-enabled product features, including RAG-based semantic search and conversational search workflows.
• API & System Interoperability: Oversee the development of high-throughput ETL pipelines and secure, scalable RESTful APIs built on Java/Spring Boot to ensure global data interoperability.
• DevOps & SRE Practices: Mature CI/CD automation pipelines using infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins) to automate provisioning and security patching.
• Security & Compliance: Ensure all platforms strictly adhere to modern cybersecurity standards and regulatory compliance frameworks (e.g., GDPR, HIPAA).

Required Qualifications

• 15+ years of progressive experience in software engineering, with 5+ years in a dedicated engineering leadership role managing cross-functional, global teams.
• Proven ability to interface with executive stakeholders (Product, UX, Architecture) to align engineering outputs with business growth.
• Strong experience managing large operational budgets and implementing strategic cloud cost-optimization practices.
• Backend & Architecture: Expert-level knowledge of Java, Spring Boot, Spring MVC, distributed systems design, database sharding, and high-performance microservices.
• Data & Analytics: Deep proficiency with Snowflake, Apache Iceberg, AWS Glue, Spark, and Elasticsearch.
• AI & Search: Hands-on architecture experience with Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), Large Language Model (LLM) frameworks, and semantic/conversational search.
• Cloud & DevOps: Strong expertise in AWS Cloud infrastructure, containerization, and IaC tools (Terraform, Ansible, Jenkins).
• Experience in high-volume, regulated data fields (e.g., genomics, healthcare, bioinformatics, or fintech) and data standards (e.g., GA4GH) is highly desirable.
• Master's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a highly related technical field preferred. Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or Engineering or equivalent practical experience.

Pay

The expected, full-time, annual base pay scale for this position is $224k-321k in Sunnyvale, CA. This role may be eligible for other forms of compensation, including an annual bonus and/or incentives, subject to the terms of the applicable plans and Company discretion.

Benefits

Employees in this role are eligible for GRAIL's comprehensive and competitive benefits package, including flexible time-off or vacation; a 401(k) retirement plan with employer match; medical, dental, and vision coverage; and carefully selected mindfulness programs.