Senior Software Development Engineer Jobs in Cambridge, MA
Senior Software Development Engineer jobs in Cambridge are concentrated in Kendall Square, East Cambridge, and the Alewife corridor, with demand driven by biotech, life sciences software, enterprise SaaS, and AI research firms. Employers actively hiring include Akamai Technologies, Google, and Nanobiosym. Find a role that fits below and apply directly.
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Showing 5 of 132+ Senior Software Development Engineer jobs
Your Impact at LILA
You will steward Verification & Validation and software quality for our autonomous labs, where software meets real robotics hardware. On the Independent Verification & Validation team, you'll build the V&V, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and UI testing that lets us ship fast without breaking the lab, partnering with platform, simulation, and human-factors engineers to catch failures in test rather than on the bench.
What You'll Be Building
- Automate the test suites: fast, reliable Python automation — from pytest unit and API coverage to Playwright UI flows — wired into CI/CD (GitHub Actions).
- Validate against hardware: Hardware-in-the-Loop tests that exercise platform software against real and simulated robotics hardware, integrated with our simulation and digital-twin systems.
- Own V&V and test planning: verification & validation processes and test plans that map requirements to coverage across the software-to-hardware boundary.
- Test the interfaces scientists use: UI testing for the internal dashboards and orchestration UIs that drive the factory.
- Tame nondeterminism: regression and reliability testing that isolates flakiness and keeps signal high as the platform grows.
- Manage test data: fixtures that make results reproducible and failures diagnosable.
What You'll Need to Succeed
- Test/QA automation depth: 4–8 years in software test or QA automation for complex, integrated systems.
- Automation in Python: hands-on with pytest and a modern UI framework (Playwright); front-end unit testing (Vitest/Jest) a plus.
- V&V and test strategy: defining test plans and V&V processes, and reasoning about what to test at which layer.
- CI/CD integration: embedding tests into pipelines (GitHub Actions or similar) and keeping them fast and stable.
- Integration & HIL mindset: testing across service, UI, and hardware boundaries, including nondeterministic behavior.
- Cross-functional communication: working alongside platform and simulation engineers and communicating risk clearly.
Bonus Points For
- Hardware-in-the-Loop experience: prior HIL, robotics, or lab automation testing against physical or simulated devices.
- Simulation / digital twin: testing software against simulators or digital-twin environments.
- Test infrastructure: building test data management, fixtures, or reporting for large suites.
- Systems engineering & regulated industries: V&V experience in aerospace, manufacturing, or healthcare/life sciences, and a systems-thinking approach to the software-hardware boundary. Exposure to GAMP 5 / FDA CSA, 21 CFR Part 11, or DO-178C a plus.
About LILA
Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.
LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.
Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.
We're All In
Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.
Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
A Note to Agencies
Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science's internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.
Your Impact at LILA
You will steward Verification & Validation and software quality for our autonomous labs, where software meets real robotics hardware. On the Independent Verification & Validation team, you'll build the V&V, Hardware-in-the-Loop, and UI testing that lets us ship fast without breaking the lab, partnering with platform, simulation, and human-factors engineers to catch failures in test rather than on the bench.
What You'll Be Building
- Automate the test suites: fast, reliable Python automation — from pytest unit and API coverage to Playwright UI flows — wired into CI/CD (GitHub Actions).
- Validate against hardware: Hardware-in-the-Loop tests that exercise platform software against real and simulated robotics hardware, integrated with our simulation and digital-twin systems.
- Own V&V and test planning: verification & validation processes and test plans that map requirements to coverage across the software-to-hardware boundary.
- Test the interfaces scientists use: UI testing for the internal dashboards and orchestration UIs that drive the factory.
- Tame nondeterminism: regression and reliability testing that isolates flakiness and keeps signal high as the platform grows.
- Manage test data: fixtures that make results reproducible and failures diagnosable.
What You'll Need to Succeed
- Test/QA automation depth: 4–8 years in software test or QA automation for complex, integrated systems.
- Automation in Python: hands-on with pytest and a modern UI framework (Playwright); front-end unit testing (Vitest/Jest) a plus.
- V&V and test strategy: defining test plans and V&V processes, and reasoning about what to test at which layer.
- CI/CD integration: embedding tests into pipelines (GitHub Actions or similar) and keeping them fast and stable.
- Integration & HIL mindset: testing across service, UI, and hardware boundaries, including nondeterministic behavior.
- Cross-functional communication: working alongside platform and simulation engineers and communicating risk clearly.
Bonus Points For
- Hardware-in-the-Loop experience: prior HIL, robotics, or lab automation testing against physical or simulated devices.
- Simulation / digital twin: testing software against simulators or digital-twin environments.
- Test infrastructure: building test data management, fixtures, or reporting for large suites.
- Systems engineering & regulated industries: V&V experience in aerospace, manufacturing, or healthcare/life sciences, and a systems-thinking approach to the software-hardware boundary. Exposure to GAMP 5 / FDA CSA, 21 CFR Part 11, or DO-178C a plus.
About LILA
Lila Sciences is building Scientific Superintelligence™ to solve humankind's greatest challenges. We believe science is the most inspiring frontier for AI. Rather than hard-coding expert knowledge into tools, LILA builds systems that can learn for themselves.
LILA combines advanced AI models with proprietary AI Science Factory™ instruments into an operating system for science that executes the entire scientific method autonomously, accelerating discovery at unprecedented speed, scale, and impact across medicine, materials, and energy. Learn more at www.lila.ai.
Guided by our core values of truth, trust, curiosity, grit, and velocity, we move with startup speed while tackling problems of historic importance. If this sounds like an environment you'd love to work in, even if you don't meet every qualification listed above, we encourage you to apply.
We're All In
Lila Sciences is committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status.
Information you provide during your application process will be handled in accordance with our Candidate Privacy Policy.
A Note to Agencies
Lila Sciences does not accept unsolicited resumes from any source other than candidates. The submission of unsolicited resumes by recruitment or staffing agencies to Lila Sciences or its employees is strictly prohibited unless contacted directly by Lila Science's internal Talent Acquisition team. Any resume submitted by an agency in the absence of a signed agreement will automatically become the property of Lila Sciences, and Lila Sciences will not owe any referral or other fees with respect thereto.
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Find JobsSenior Software Development Engineer Job Market in Cambridge
Who's Hiring
- Akamai Technologies33
- Google22
- Nanobiosym22
- Lila Sciences22
- Raytheon11
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software33
- Education11
- Consulting & Professional Services11
Senior Software Development Engineer Jobs in Cambridge: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a senior software development engineer job in Cambridge?
Cambridge's hiring concentrates in Kendall Square's biotech and deep-tech firms, East Cambridge's enterprise software companies, and the Alewife corridor's growing startup cluster. Candidates with experience in distributed systems, cloud-native architecture, or scientific computing have an edge here. Targeting employers in life sciences software and AI research, where Cambridge's ecosystem is densest, gives you the most direct path to senior openings.
Which companies hire senior software development engineers in Cambridge?
Companies currently hiring senior software development engineers in Cambridge include Akamai Technologies, Google, and Nanobiosym, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Cambridge's employer mix skews toward biotech software platforms, university-affiliated research spinouts, and enterprise SaaS companies, reflecting the city's concentration of research institutions and venture-backed technology firms.
Are there remote senior software development engineer jobs in Cambridge?
Yes, senior software development engineer roles are among the most remote-compatible in technology, given that core work like code review, architecture design, and CI/CD pipeline management requires no physical presence. About 50% of senior software development engineer openings tied to Cambridge are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, with the highest remote flexibility found in backend and platform engineering roles at Cambridge's SaaS and AI companies.
How can I get a senior software development engineer job in Cambridge with little or no experience?
The most realistic entry path in Cambridge is through associate or mid-level software engineer roles at the city's biotech software firms or university-affiliated startups, which often have structured growth tracks. Aiming for engineering roles at Kendall Square companies that value research backgrounds, or contributing to open-source projects connected to MIT or Harvard labs, builds the local credibility that Cambridge hiring managers look for when promoting from within.
Which industries hire the most senior software development engineers in Cambridge?
Most senior software development engineer openings in Cambridge sit in Technology & Software, Education, and Consulting & Professional Services, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Cambridge's density of biotech companies, AI research labs, and enterprise software firms makes it one of the most active markets for senior engineers who can work at the intersection of scientific computing and scalable software infrastructure.
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