What if the work you did every day could impact the lives of people you know? Or all of humanity? At Illumina, we are expanding access to genomic technology to realize health equity for billions of people around the world. Our efforts enable life-changing discoveries that are transforming human health through the early detection and diagnosis of diseases and new treatment options for patients. Working at Illumina means being part of something bigger than yourself. Every person, in every role, has the opportunity to make a difference. Surrounded by extraordinary people, inspiring leaders, and world changing projects, you will do more and become more than you ever thought possible. We are looking for an experienced software engineer to join our Instrument Software team. This team develops software that is an integral part of Illumina’s growing fleet of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) and related products. This role requires a professional with experience developing and delivering complex software projects. This crucial role focuses on developing mission-critical platform services responsible for the reliable movement, storage, and management of sequencing data generated by Illumina instruments. These services must operate reliably in the presence of network interruptions, system restarts, power loss events, and other real-world failures while ensuring data integrity and recoverability. Key
Responsibilities
Development: Develop, integrate, and debug platform software components responsible for the secure and reliable transfer, storage, and management of sequencing data, ensuring correctness and recoverability under real-world failure conditions. Testing: Contribute to our existing CI/CD build pipelines, test environments, and automation infrastructure. Component Design: Evaluate the detailed design of components, identify risks and improvement opportunities, and collaborate with technical leaders to drive continuous improvement. Stakeholder Collaboration: Collaborate with multiple software teams to understand development needs, identify and address gaps in the platform, and drive change within areas of expertise. Innovation: Drive innovation at a software component and sub-system level and contribute ideas to software road mapping. Maintain awareness of industry trends and contribute to the evaluation of new software technologies. Problem Solving: Leverage expertise in investigation and resolution of technical problems within the department. Assist in troubleshooting complex customer issues potentially involving multiple components of the software system.
Qualifications
Education
Bachelor's degree in a relevant engineering field (e.g., Computer Science, Biomedical Engineering, Software Engineering).
Experience
Minimum of 5 years of experience in software development.
Experience
within the Medical or Life Sciences industry is a plus. Collaboration: Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated success in collaborating in a fast-paced team environment and delivering high-quality software products using established agile development methodologies (such as Scrum, Kanban, etc.) against formal schedules. Troubleshooting and Problem Solving: Demonstrated experience designing and implementing fault-tolerant distributed or multi-process systems.
Experience
with retry strategies, durable state management, idempotent operations, concurrency, asynchronous processing, and system recovery techniques is highly desirable. Communication: Exceptional communication and interpersonal skills. Ability to adapt to a diverse environment and work effectively in a global team. Technical Skills: Strong professional experience developing software in C# and .NET/.NET Core is required. Understanding of object-oriented analysis and design.
Experience
with testing frameworks like MSTest, xUnit, NUnit, or similar.
Experience
with Go (golang) and developing software for complex hardware systems are both a plus. Domain Knowledge: Proven ability to analyze and contribute to software component design. Knowledge of hardware development, medical software, healthcare regulations, cybersecurity best practices, network protocols, or file transfer protocols are all highly desirable.
Experience
with NGS and Bioinformatics is a plus. Additional Skills: Proven track record of designing and implementing robust software solutions that meet demanding resiliency, availability, and performance objectives. Required experience with tools such as Jira, Confluence, GitHub, GitHub Actions, TeamCity, Jenkins or their equivalents. Required experience designing and implementing software quality patterns and practices (continuous integration, static analysis, unit testing, integration testing) and developing software on Linux. Required understanding of Service Oriented Architectures (e.g., microservices), REST APIs, and other architectural patterns.
Experience
leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude) to improve software engineering productivity. Optional development experience with containers and container platforms (e.g., Docker, Kubernetes), and event-driven design. Optional experience with web testing frameworks like Mocha, Jest, Selenium / WebDriverIO, or similar. Why Join Us: Opportunity to work on innovative products that make a real difference in healthcare and research. Collaborative and supportive work environment. Competitive salary and benefits package. Professional growth and development opportunities. The estimated base salary range for the Sr Software Engineer role based in the United States of America is: $129,400 - $194,000. Should the level or location of the role change during the hiring process, the applicable base pay range may be updated accordingly. The range reflects long‑term growth in the role; therefore, most candidates are hired between the minimum and middle of the range. Placement depends on experience, skills, location, and internal equity. Additionally, all employees are eligible for one of our variable cash programs (bonus or commission) and eligible roles may receive equity as part of the compensation package. We offer a wide range of benefits as innovative as our work, including access to genomics sequencing, family planning, health/dental/vision, retirement benefits, and paid time off. We are a company deeply rooted in belonging, promoting an inclusive environment where employees feel valued and empowered to contribute to our mission. Built on a strong foundation, Illumina has always prioritized openness, collaboration, and seeking alternative perspectives to propel innovation in genomics. We are proud to confirm a zero-net gap in pay, regardless of gender, ethnicity, or race. We also have several Employee Resource Groups (ERG) that deliver career development experiences, increase cultural awareness, and offer opportunities to engage in social responsibility. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer committed to providing employment opportunity regardless of sex, race, creed, color, gender, religion, marital status, domestic partner status, age, national origin or ancestry, physical or mental disability, medical condition, sexual orientation, pregnancy, military or veteran status, citizenship status, and genetic information. Illumina conducts background checks on applicants for whom a conditional offer of employment has been made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with applicable local, state, and federal laws. Background check results may potentially result in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment. The background check process and any decisions made as a result shall be made in accordance with all applicable local, state, and federal laws. Illumina prohibits the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the application and interview process. If you require accommodation to complete the application or interview process, please contact accommodations@illumina.com. To learn more, visit: https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/posters/pdf/eeopost.pdf. The position will be posted until a final candidate is selected or the requisition has a sufficient number of qualified applicants. This role is not eligible for visa sponsorship. The potential of genomics to change the world is unparalleled. At Illumina, we are leading the way. Our technology empowers researchers and clinicians globally to improve cancer treatments, change the course of diseases, protect the environment, and fight food insecurity. We are made up of dedicated professionals, all-in on creating a better world – and we need every skill set on our path to making genomics useful for all. Learn more about life at Illumina. Illumina has been made aware of fraudulent schemes in which individuals falsely claim to represent Illumina, our Talent Acquisition team, or our Human Resources organization. Please note: • All legitimate Illumina career opportunities are posted on the Illumina Careers website. • Illumina will never ask candidates to pay fees, transfer money, purchase equipment, or provide banking information during the recruitment process. • Illumina does not extend employment offers without a formal interview process. • Official recruiting communications will come from authorized Illumina email addresses (xxxxxx@illumina.com). If you are unsure whether a communication is legitimate, please contact us at [Talent Acquisition Contact Email] before sharing any personal information. Thank you for helping us protect the integrity of the hiring process and your experience.