Job Description – Principal Software Architect

Job Title: Principal Software Architect

Reports to: Chief Technology officer

FLSA Status: Full time, Regular, Salary, Exempt

About Us

At Dimer Instruments we’re creating the next generation of laboratory and process analytical tools for the pharmaceutical market. Our products use multiple light-based spectroscopic methods to interrogate solutions containing molecules and particles, providing researchers not just with data but with organized information allowing them to make informed decisions, and providing automated Process systems with the feedback required for Quality by Design. At Dimer you’ll be working with a high-quality, high-performing, highly collaborative, and enjoyable team of Engineers and Scientists to create products that make a difference in the world. We have fun while we’re creating great products.

Summary

The Principal Software Architect at Dimer Instruments will have the almost unique opportunity to build from scratch exactly the software team and environment they have always wished for. They be the technical lead in choosing the coding language and development environment that best meets the requirements of the product and business, and they will define the overall architecture of all SW systems within the product and manufacturing environment. They have the opportunity to achieve the balance they have always yearned for between having sufficient procedures and structures in place to keep things organized and running smoothly, but also keeping processes light-weight enough to not stifle creativity and efficiency. Finally, they will be core to establishing the kind of software organization that has always been slightly out of reach before.

The products Dimer is developing include 1) laboratory instrumentation with an onboard computer that coordinates many different instrument hardware functions including motion control, temperature control, data acquisition from multiple measurement modalities, system health and self-check, and a user interface that presents recent data and system status, 2) a user facing desktop application that communicates with and controls the instrument, pulls data from the instrument, and provides scientific evaluation and interpretation of the data including graphical representations of data, and 3) local and cloud database storage of data that maintains data chain of custody as required for the reporting of data to Federal agencies for eventual FDA approval of therapeutics. The successful candidate is not expected to be expert at all of the above disciplines, they are expected to be expert at several of them, and to be very clever and able to work with others to bring in additional expertise.

In addition to mentoring a small team of 3-4 in-house coders, they will suggest when to have external houses provide or write code or tools, and they will manage outsourced coding projects as needed to achieve company goals and schedules. They will work closely with Marketing and Applications to help turn Market Requirements into Product Requirements and will work with the team to break Product Requirements down into manageable bite-sized pieces for development (e.g. epics, etc.). During planning (and supported by upper management) they will ruthlessly limit scope as needed in order to achieve schedules with a very high-quality product. They will also oversee the implementation of SQA, balancing perfection with efficiency, hiring or outsourcing as needed to fill that role, and they will be responsible for custom code required for the manufacturing process. They will own it all, wearing many hats, and making sure that Dimer Instruments creates products that impress and empower scientists.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead a team of software developers to generate best in class on-instrument and on-desktop software.
• Generate and keep live a SW roadmap and schedule, participate in establishing overarching company goals and schedules, and manage programs to achieve all development schedules and corporate goals within budget.
• Impliment software infrastructure systems from the ground up, including build tool chain and environment, versioning and branching tools and procedures, code review process, product lifecycle, etc., with best practice procedures documented and implemented.
• Oversee the choice of software language, architecture, test plan, release procedures for all Dimer SW products, including customer facing applications and in-house production tools.
• Establish and keep live linked goals for all direct reports, with their goals derived from your goals, and your goals derived from company goals.
• Work with Marketing and directly with Customers to understand user needs and help to convert those user needs into documented Product Requirements.
• Ensure that high quality documentation exists for all Dimer SW products, including overseeing contributions to user manuals when needed.
• Ensure that all projects/programs have clear requirements and a clear definition of done, and hold the SW team to a high-quality definition of done.
• Contribute to patent applications as needed
• Other tasks as assigned by your supervisor

Qualifications

• BS or higher in Software Engineering or a related field
• >10 yrs experience bringing software products to market, and >3 yrs experience leading software teams
• Knowledge of modern programming technologies, agile development, and DevOps practices
• Comfortable within a science environment and able to learn the basics behind the measurement methods and the uses to which the products are being used.

Additional Skills

Must have the social “soft skills” required to be collaborative across the organization. Socially adept, able to navigate different groups and functions with competing needs, and able to work with stakeholders to create solutions requiring compromise. Must be able to understand and communicate well in English, both spoken and written, and be able to write reports, work instructions, business correspondence, procedures, and manuals. Must be able to present work in an organized way both for project/progress reviews and design reviews. Must have knowledge of and facility with document control systems and product lifecycle systems and tools.

Physical Requirements

When working in machine shop, chemistry, or optics lab, appropriate protective gear must be worn including eyewear, eye protection from laser or UV light, lab coats, and closed toed shoes.

Work Environment

Office space, optics lab, chemistry lab, warehouse, and electronics and optical manufacturing space. The employee may occasionally be exposed to moderate noise levels, e.g. from loud fans in electronics equipment. Travel may occasionally be required, e.g. to test labs, customer sites, for conferences and trade shows, or for training.