Senior Software Engineer

Join our Mission to Protect Humankind!

Vaxcyte is a clinical-stage vaccine innovation company engineering high-fidelity vaccines to protect humankind from the consequences of bacterial diseases, which have serious and costly health consequences when left unchecked. Working to eradicate or treat bacterial infections such as invasive pneumococcal disease, Group A Strep, and Shigella is just the beginning. Our path to success is clear and well-defined, and Vaxcyte is set up to go the distance. 

WHAT we do is every bit as important as  HOW we do it! Our work together is guided by four enduring core values:

*RETHINK CONVENTION: We bring creative and intellectual diversity to every facet of the work we do in order to innovate and re-innovate the way vaccines are delivered.

*AIM HIGH: We embody our collectively audacious goal to courageously make the most complex biologics ever attempted to protect humankind.

*LEAD WITH HEART: Everyone leads at Vaxcyte with a kindness-first, inclusive approach to collaboration and vigorous debate that advances our business objectives.

*MODEL EXCELLENCE: The magnitude of our challenge requires our shared commitment to demonstrating integrity, accountability, equality and clarity across communications and decision making.

Summary:

We are seeking a highly experienced Senior Software Engineer with deep full-stack expertise and a strong DevOps orientation. This individual will play a key role in designing, building, testing, and operating scalable web applications that support critical business functions.

The ideal candidate combines strong frontend and backend development capabilities with a disciplined approach to automation, testing, CI/CD, and production reliability. This role requires technical leadership, architectural judgment, and the ability to drive engineering excellence across the software lifecycle.

Essential Functions:

Full-Stack Application Development

• Architect, design, and implement scalable applications using Next.js and React


• Develop and maintain backend services and GraphQL APIs, including schema design and performance optimization


• Ensure high standards for code quality, security, performance, and maintainability


• Participate in architectural design reviews and technical decision-making

Testing & Quality Engineering

• Lead implementation of comprehensive automated testing strategies, including:




• End-to-end UI testing (e.g., Playwright, Cypress)


• API and integration testing


• Unit and regression testing


• Establish and enforce best practices for test coverage and quality gates


• Improve system stability through proactive quality engineering practices

DevOps & Continuous Delivery

• Design, implement, and optimize CI/CD pipelines using GitHub Actions


• Automate build, test, and deployment workflows across environments


• Improve release reliability, deployment frequency, and rollback strategies


• Contribute to monitoring, logging, and observability improvements


• Support production systems and participate in incident resolution when needed

Technical Leadership

• Mentor engineers and provide guidance on architecture and best practices


• Contribute to engineering standards and documentation


• Drive continuous improvement in development processes and tooling


• Collaborate cross-functionally with Product, Design, and Infrastructure teams

Requirements: 

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)


• Minimum 5 years of professional software engineering experience and a minimum of 4 years of experience in modern frontend frameworks, including Next.js and React. Other combinations of education and/or experience may be considered.


• Strong experience designing and implementing GraphQL APIs


• Proven experience in full-stack system architecture and development


• Demonstrated experience implementing automated testing for UI and APIs


• Hands-on experience building and maintaining GitHub Actions CI/CD workflows


• Strong understanding of DevOps principles, continuous delivery, and production system reliability


• Experience working with scalable, production-grade applications


• Excellent communication skills and ability to lead technical initiatives

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience deploying and managing applications in Microsoft Azure


• Experience with Terraform or other Infrastructure-as-Code solutions


• Familiarity with containerization (Docker) and modern deployment patterns


• Experience with monitoring and observability platforms


• Familiarity with AI-assisted development tools such as ChatGPT, Claude, or similar platforms


• Experience integrating AI APIs or intelligent automation into applications


• Strong architectural and systems design capability


• Ownership mindset with accountability for outcomes


• Commitment to automation and operational excellence


• Ability to balance technical rigor with delivery timelines


• Continuous learner who leverages modern tools, including AI-assisted development


• Other combinations of education and/or experience may be considered.

Reports to:  Associate Director, Data Systems, CMC IT

Location:  San Carlos, CA

Compensation:

The compensation package will be competitive and includes comprehensive benefits and an equity component.

Salary Range: $163,000 - $191,000 (SF Bay Area). Salary ranges for non-California locations may vary.

We are an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status.