Head of Data Platform Engineering, Benchling
$232.3-348.5k
+ Equity
More information about location
3 days a week in office
Cloud-based platform for biotech R&D
Be an early applicant
Cloud-based platform for biotech R&D
501-1000 employees
Be an early applicant
$232.3-348.5k
+ Equity
More information about location
3 days a week in office
501-1000 employees
Company mission
To unlock the power of biotechnology and empower their global customers to get to milestones & market faster.
Role
Who you are
- 12+ years of experience in data architecture, pond computing, data engineering, or platform roles
- Proven track record of leading large-scale, enterprise-grade data platforms at SaaS or high-growth technology companies
- Hands-on experience designing and operating data lakes, warehouses, lakes, real-time pipelines, search indexing, and data APIs
- Proficiency in SQL, Python, and ETL/ELT frameworks; experience working with Databricks, Snowflake, or similar technologies
- Strong leadership in governance, security, compliance, and performance optimization of cloud data environments
- Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills - able to translate complex technical concepts into business value
- Bachelor’s degree in CS, Engineering, or equivalent experience; advanced degrees a plus
What the job involves
- Benchling’s Data Platform powers high‑scale scientific workflows at the world’s leading biotech firms
- In collaboration with peers from Amazon, Google, Facebook, and Stripe, our Platform & Infrastructure teams build the core architecture, AI infrastructure, and platform services that ensure our system is extensible, performant, reliable, and secure by default
- We are seeking a visionary, deeply technical senior leader to own the architecture, strategy, and delivery of our Data Platform
- Data modeling & schema systems
- Data storage layers (transactional and reporting data lakes / warehouses)
- Data Lineage and quality management systems
- Data Processing pipelines, including CDC and batch systems
- Search and indexing infrastructure
- APIs and extensibility to enable self-service
- You will report to our VP/SVP of Engineering and help shape a platform that scales with our ambitious growth
- Define and drive the long‑term platform roadmap aligned with business and digital transformation goals
- Architect cloud‑native, hybrid data systems (AWS-native, lakehouse, Snowflake/Databricks integrations) while owning build-vs-buy and financial strategies
- Own core technology decisions: data models, storage frameworks, pipeline frameworks, search infrastructure
- Manage risks and resolve issues that affect release scope, schedule and quality
- Champion a "platform as a product" mindset, focusing on developer experience, self-service capabilities, and robust documentation to empower engineering, analytics, and data science teams
- Hire, mentor and grow a multi-team organization of 25 engineers and managers
- Mentor senior engineers and facilitate cross‑functional collaboration across applications, AI/ML, infrastructure, and product teams
- Establish and evolve standards for data governance, lineage, metadata, and data quality
- Collaborate tightly with Data Governance, Security, and Product teams to ensure enterprise-level compliance and best practices
- Stay current with trends in AI/ML, real-time streaming, lakehouse architecture, and DevOps/DataOps best practices
- Drive continuous research and POCs to ensure our platform remains innovative and future-proof
Our take
As the pioneer of the R&D Cloud, Benchling offers a cloud-based informatics platform tailored for biotechnology. Its platform enables scientists across the globe to make breakthrough discoveries and bring next-gen biotechnology to market.
There’s a sincerity and consciousness to Benchling’s approach that stands out. This has led to the company being adopted by over 200,000 scientists from 1,000+ companies and 7,500 academic and research institutions globally (including 23andMe, Moderna, and the U.S. Department of Defense).
The rapidly advancing Biotechnology industry was at the forefront of the so-called “fourth industrial revolution”, with the industry driving $2 to $4 trillion per year of economic impact over the next 20 years.
Benchling has put itself in a position of immense value within the industry with its expanding offerings. Off the back of over $400 million in total funding, the company is seeing accelerated growth
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Insights
-3% employee growth in 12 months
Company
Funding (last 2 of 8 rounds)
Nov 2021
$100m
SERIES F
Apr 2021
$200m
SERIES E
Total funding: $411.9m
Company benefits
- 4 months paid parental leave
- 401k plan
- Pre-tax commuter benefits
- Flexible paid time off
- Work from home opportunities
- 100% premiums covered for health, dental, & vision
- Fertility healthcare and family-forming benefits
Company HQ
Yerba Buena, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Sajith Wickramasekara
(CEO)Sajith studied at MIT before spending 2 years as a Research Assistant at Duke University Medical Centre and Liquidia Technologies. They used this biotechnology understanding to found Benchling in June 2012, serving as CEO since.
Ashu Singhal
(President)They previously co-founded Hotspots.io which was later acquired by Twitter in 2012. After this, became Staff Software Engineer at Twitter for 2 years, leaving to co-found Benchling.
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