Job details

Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

Get a free resume review

Your work will change lives. Including your own.

Recursion is a leading, clinical-stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Central to its mission is the Recursion Operating System (OS), a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological, chemical and patient-centric datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale—up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly—and massive computational scale—owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world—Recursion is uniting technology, biology, chemistry and patient-centric data to advance the future of medicine. Today, Recursion has more than 10 clinical and preclinical programs, 10 advanced discovery programs, and more than 10 partnered programs.

The Impact You’ll Make

Build production-grade tools and APIs to query petabytes of biological data and AI models. You will play a role in building the tooling that gets our proprietary data and technologies from the lab to our partner-facing apps automatically and efficiently in the context of a production-grade cloud product.
Create novel infrastructure to support and deliver on industrial-scale clinical trials. Our infrastructure needs to help clinical operations and development teams make accurate traceable decisions to enable advancement of a drug through clinical trials. You will partner with these teams to understand their workflows and regulatory needs. You will be an advisor of buy solutions and focus engineering efforts on unique build solutions that offer world-class data-focused user experiences to help them operate in the most efficient manner possible.
Lead the way in designing, architecting and implementing the next generation of LLM-enabled software for drug discovery. We believe LLMs are powerful reasoning engines that will drastically change the way companies build and deliver software. You will embrace this paradigm shift and be at the forefront of the large language models revolution. On top of solving the traditional technical challenges of building a product on the cloud, you will be faced with modern technical problems in embedding AI-first and LLM-first features in our platform
Every Recursion engineer acts as a mentor, coach, and sponsor. You will share your technical knowledge and experiences, increasing learning, growth, and impact within and beyond your team

The Team You’ll Join

This team will build business process workflows and data management systems for clinical-supporting groups at Recursion. These systems will support conversion of documents to interoperable data assets enabling the virtuous feedback loop from discovery to development, while maintaining regulatory and quality compliance. This is an ideal team for someone who isn’t fazed by ambiguity and is eager to tackle challenging issues. It’s a perfect environment for those who adapt easily to change and strive in dynamic situations. If working with peers across different disciplines appeals to you, you’ll fit right in.

The Experience You’ll Need:

Proven experience with cloud-based environments, particularly Google Cloud Platform (GCP) or Amazon Cloud Services
Proficiency in infrastructure management tools such as Terraform
Experience with orchestration tools like Camunda and Prefect
Strong knowledge of ETL and Data Transformation processes
Extensive experience with database technologies such as BigQuery, SQL Server, Postgres
Proficient in Python, with a good foundation in coding best practices. Some experience with R will be beneficial
Experience in managing and working with regulatory data is required
Excellent troubleshooting and problem-solving skills
A background in biology is not necessary, but intellectual curiosity is a must!

Working Location & Compensation:

This position is based at one of our offices located in Salt Lake City / Toronto / New York City. Please note that we are a hybrid environment and ask that employees spend 50% of their time in the office.

At Recursion, we believe that every employee should be compensated fairly. Based on the skill and level of experience required for this role, the estimated current annual base range for this role is:

$149,000 to $170,000 USD
$189,000 to 215,000 CAD

You will also be eligible for an annual bonus and equity compensation, as well as a comprehensive benefits package.

#LI-CP1

The Values We Hope You Share:

We act boldly with integrity. We are unconstrained in our thinking, take calculated risks, and push boundaries, but never at the expense of ethics, science, or trust.
We care deeply and engage directly. Caring means holding a deep sense of responsibility and respect - showing up, speaking honestly, and taking action.
We learn actively and adapt rapidly. Progress comes from doing. We experiment, test, and refine, embracing iteration over perfection.
We move with urgency because patients are waiting. Speed isn’t about rushing but about moving the needle every day.
We take ownership and accountability. Through ownership and accountability, we enable trust and autonomy—leaders take accountability for decisive action, and teams own outcomes together.
We are One Recursion. True cross-functional collaboration is about trust, clarity, humility, and impact. Through sharing, we can be greater than the sum of our individual capabilities.

Our values underpin the employee experience at Recursion. They are the character and personality of the company demonstrated through how we communicate, support one another, spend our time, make decisions, and celebrate collectively.

More About Recursion

Recursion is a clinical stage TechBio company leading the space by decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery. Enabling its mission is the Recursion OS, a platform built across diverse technologies that continuously expands one of the world’s largest proprietary biological and chemical datasets. Recursion leverages sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to distill from its dataset a collection of trillions of searchable relationships across biology and chemistry unconstrained by human bias. By commanding massive experimental scale — up to millions of wet lab experiments weekly — and massive computational scale — owning and operating one of the most powerful supercomputers in the world, Recursion is uniting technology, biology and chemistry to advance the future of medicine.

Recursion is headquartered in Salt Lake City, where it is a founding member of BioHive, the Utah life sciences industry collective. Recursion also has offices in London, Toronto, Montreal and the San Francisco Bay Area. Learn more at www.Recursion.com, or connect on X (formerly Twitter) and LinkedIn.

Recursion is an Equal Opportunity Employer that values diversity and inclusion. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state, local, or provincial human rights legislation.

Recursion welcomes and encourages applications from people with disabilities. Accommodations are available on request for candidates taking part in all aspects of the selection process.

Recruitment & Staffing Agencies: Recursion Pharmaceuticals and its affiliate companies do not accept resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Recursion or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Recursion’s internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Recursion, and Recursion will not owe any referral or other fees. Our team will communicate directly with candidates who are not represented by an agent or intermediary unless otherwise agreed to prior to interviewing for the job.

Recursion Glassdoor Company Review

2.8

Recursion DE&I Review

5.0

CEO of Recursion

Chris Gibson

Approve of CEO

Average salary estimate

$159500 / YEARLY (est.)

min

max

$149000K

$170000K

If an employer mentions a salary or salary range on their job, we display it as an "Employer Estimate". If a job has no salary data, Rise displays an estimate if available.

What You Should Know About Senior Software Engineer (Backend) , Recursion

As a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) at Recursion, located in the vibrant city of Toronto, Ontario, you will be pivotal in reshaping the future of medicine through our groundbreaking technology. Your journey with us will be both thrilling and impactful, as you'll craft production-grade tools and APIs to query massive petabytes of biological data. You'll work hand-in-hand with clinical operations teams to develop infrastructure that supports industrial-scale clinical trials, tackling workflows that can enhance drug discovery. In this role, you’ll leverage sophisticated machine-learning algorithms and design innovative LLM-enabled software, being at the forefront of technology that drives change. We’re looking for someone with a solid background in cloud environments like Google Cloud Platform or AWS, adept in infrastructure management tools like Terraform, and skilled in database technologies including BigQuery and Postgres. Your expertise will not only help in building world-class data-focused user experiences but also mentor the next generation of engineers. If you're ready to dive into a dynamic, cross-functional team that thrives on tackling challenges, then you're just the person we need. Join Recursion and together, let’s make a difference!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for Senior Software Engineer (Backend) Role at Recursion

What are the responsibilities of a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) at Recursion?

As a Senior Software Engineer (Backend) at Recursion, you will be responsible for developing production-grade tools and APIs for querying extensive biological data. You will also create innovative infrastructure to support clinical trials and work closely with clinical operations teams to ensure efficient workflows. Additionally, your role will involve leading the design and implementation of next-generation software utilizing large language models, all while mentoring fellow engineers and contributing to a collaborative team environment.