Discovery Scientist – Neural Retina & Ocular Disease

At Roche you can show up as yourself, embraced for the unique qualities you bring. Our culture encourages personal expression, open dialogue, and genuine connections,  where you are valued, accepted and respected for who you are, allowing you to thrive both personally and professionally. This is how we aim to prevent, stop and cure diseases and ensure everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Join Roche, where every voice matters.

The Position

Our Ophthalmology team in Basel focuses on discovering novel therapeutic approaches for major eye diseases, encompassing dry AMD/geographic atrophy and neovascular forms, as well as diabetic retinopathy, and other retinal vascular diseases. We are seeking a highly motivated Discovery Scientist with specialized expertise in the neural retina and retinal pathology, including processes such as inflammation, vascular dysfunction, ischemia, fibrosis, and neurodegeneration, to drive our early-stage drug discovery efforts.

The opportunity:

In this role, your key responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Target Identification & Validation: Utilize and establish advanced in vitro and in vivo models of ocular disease, and leverage available patient sample datasets to identify, validate, and characterize novel therapeutic drug targets.

• Therapeutic Approach Development: Identify and evaluate optimal therapeutic modalities for selected targets.

• Project Leadership: Independently lead and manage drug discovery projects from target initiation through early clinical development stages (up to Phase II readiness).

• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner with interdisciplinary teams across pRED (including bioinformatics, safety, and translational medicine) to advance pipeline programs. 

• External Collaboration: Initiating and leading external collaboration projects to bolster internal efforts. Manage CRO activities, including project design, timelines, and quality of deliverables.

• Scientific Communication: Present research findings at internal decision-making meetings, author high-impact publications in top-tier peer-reviewed journals, and represent Roche at international scientific conferences.

• Discovery Lab Management: Support and coordinate safety, health, and environmental processes in the lab.

You who are:

• You hold a PhD in Biology, Neuroscience, Biochemistry, or a related life sciences discipline.

• You have completed a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Vision Research, Neural Retina, Ophthalmology, or a closely related field.

• You bring comprehensive knowledge of neural retina biology and the mechanisms underlying retinal disease pathogenesis, together with a proven track record of conducting experiments using models of ocular angiogenesis, fibrosis, inflammation, or neurodegeneration.

• You have direct hands-on experience in animal handling and/or ocular procedures, OR demonstrated expertise in developing novel 2D/3D model systems, such as organoids or organ-on-a-chip. You also bring experience in cell/tissue culture, -omics technologies, and/or basic bioinformatic tools.

• You demonstrate excellent organizational skills, rigorous record-keeping, exceptional oral and written English communication, and a strong collaborative mindset in a fast-paced environment.

• You bring 2–3 years of additional professional experience in academic or industry drug discovery settings, together with a proven track record of leading research projects and cross-functional project teams and a strong publication record in top-tier vision or scientific journals.

• You have an established professional network within the global ophthalmology research community.

At Roche, we aim high to deliver life-changing healthcare solutions. If you’re ready to make a meaningful impact on patients and healthcare systems worldwide, this is the place for you.

Who we are

A healthier future drives us to innovate. Together, more than 100’000 employees across the globe are dedicated to advance science, ensuring everyone has access to healthcare today and for generations to come. Our efforts result in more than 26 million people treated with our medicines and over 30 billion tests conducted using our Diagnostics products. We empower each other to explore new possibilities, foster creativity, and keep our ambitions high, so we can deliver life-changing healthcare solutions that make a global impact.

Let’s build a healthier future, together.

Roche is an Equal Opportunity Employer.