Software Engineer Platform
Benchling
πΏπ¦ Hirezar Summary for South African Applicants
This fully remote full time position at Benchling is open to applicants from South Africa. The estimated monthly salary is R271,899 β R408,542 ZAR. As a remote position, you can work from anywhere in South Africa β whether you're based in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, or a smaller town.
Job Description
We are rebuilding biotech for the AI era.When a breakthrough is delayed, the world waits. Getting a molecule from discovery to patients, or a crop from lab to field, involves thousands of slow, manual, disconnected steps. AI has the potential to change this, compressing decades of R&D work into years. But that only happens when clean, structured scientific data and AI are built into how science gets done.Benchling is the AI platform for biotech R&D. Scientists use Benchling to design experiments, capture structured data, and run AI agents and models directly in their workflows. Over 200,000 scientists around the world trust Benchling to power their most important work, from academic labs to Sanofi, Moderna, and more than half of the world's top 50 biopharma.We're building an AI scientist for our customers. We can't do that if we haven't built the muscle ourselves. AI fluency is the foundation we build on; it's core to how we work, and we're committed to helping every new hire integrate it into their day-to-day. As part of our interview process, you'll complete a brief AI-focused exercise or discussion so we can understand how you think about and use AI to drive impact in your role. Feel free to reference any tools, platforms, or workflows you use today.
ROLE OVERVIEW
Benchling's mission is to unlock the power of biotechnology. The world's most innovative biotech companies use Benchling's R&D Cloud to power the development of breakthrough products, and to accelerate time to milestone and market. Benchling's customers generate a rich variety of science data. To keep up innovation, Benchling needs highly scalable and effective infrastructure and developer experience pipelines that serve our internal engineers.
Developer Experience is a crucial function that empowers our engineers to excel in their craft. As a technical leader in the Platform pillar, you'll work closely with the Developer Productivity and Release Engineering teams to create tools and frameworks that enhance developer experience, with a focus on the Path to Production. Your success will enable our engineering teams to efficiently deliver high quality products. By understanding the unique challenges developers face and crafting solutions to streamline their workflows, you'll play a key role in driving innovation and fulfilling Benchling's mission.
RESPONSIBILITIES
* Build and implement tooling for efficient, frictionless development, testing, and packaging for production release.
Build and implement tooling for efficient, frictionless development, testing, and packaging for production release.
* Lead the design and development of release tooling that enables code changes to reach production within 10 minutes.
Lead the design and development of release tooling that enables code changes to reach production within 10 minutes.
* Iterate on developer experience improvements using qualitative and quantitative feedback.
Iterate on developer experience improvements using qualitative and quantitative feedback.
* Implement feedback loops that integrate quality into software development workflows.
Implement feedback loops that integrate quality into software development workflows.
* Champion effective engineering and operational patterns across the Engineering org.
Champion effective engineering and operational patterns across the Engineering org.
* Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address challenges in engineering workflows that impact developer happiness and productivity.
Collaborate with cross-functional teams to address challenges in engineering workflows that impact developer happiness and productivity.
* Work closely with product managers, designers, and peers in engineering to make Benchling a delightful place to develop software.
Work closely with product managers, designers, and peers in engineering to make Benchling a delightful place to develop software.
* Help rapidly scale our product and team. As a member of the engineering team, you'll be an integral part of how we mature our tooling, best practices, engineering processes, and hiring.
Help rapidly scale our product and team. As a member of the engineering team, you'll be an integral part of how we mature our tooling, best practices, engineering processes, and hiring.
QUALIFICATIONS
* Have 7+ years of experience in software engineering.
Have 7+ years of experience in software engineering.
* Have 5+ years of experience with containerized applications (Docker, Kubernetes, etc) in production.
Have 5+ years of experience with containerized applications (Docker, Kubernetes, etc) in production.
* Build software with a product-first approach. You ship code quickly and care about the real world impact of your code.
Build software with a product-first approach. You ship code quickly and care about the real world impact of your code.
* Expertise with at least one web framework, preferably node or python.
Expertise with at least one web framework, preferably node or python.
* Have stron
Tips for South African Applicants
Timezone Advantage
South Africa (SAST, UTC+2) overlaps well with European business hours and has a few hours of overlap with US East Coast. Mention your timezone flexibility in your application.
Salary in Context
At R271,899/month, this role pays well above the average South African remote salary. The USD equivalent ($14,697/mo) benefits from the favourable exchange rate.
Application Tips
Tailor your CV to international standards β use a clean format, highlight remote work experience, and include your English proficiency. Many SA applicants succeed by emphasising their strong work ethic and cultural adaptability.
Load Shedding Preparedness
If you're applying for a remote role, having a backup power solution (UPS, inverter, or generator) and mobile data as a backup internet connection shows employers you're prepared for South Africa's infrastructure challenges.
About Benchling
Benchling is a company in the software industry that hires remote workers from South Africa.