Principal Software Engineering Lead (eCOA) - Evinova

WHY JOIN US? Evinova is a health-tech business, accelerating the delivery of better health outcomes by propelling the life sciences sector forward in digital health, from the inside. Through our application of science-based expertise, evidence-led rigour, and human insight, our digital solutions are deliberately designed so that everyone can reach better health outcomes together. Evinova is a health-tech business within the AstraZeneca Group. Digital health, the point at which healthcare, technology, data and analytics converge, is the subject of phenomenal promise, with the World Health Organisation believing it has the potential to improve health for everyone. At AstraZeneca, we’ve been working hard to make this a reality, with the years of experience we have accumulated enabling us to now embed digital health at scale across R&D. To achieve our goal of improving patient experience and outcomes AstraZeneca has Digital Health as one of the top 4 strategic priorities for the company, details on digital health strategy can be found here. Oncology is the largest therapeutic area within AstraZeneca and second highest cause of death globally, with AstraZeneca’s ambition to eliminate cancer as a cause of death. Recognizing the importance of individualized flexibility, our ways of working allow employees to balance personal and work commitments while ensuring we continue to create a strong culture of collaboration and teamwork by engaging face-to-face in our offices 3 days a week. Our head office is purposely designed with collaboration in mind, providing space where teams can come together to strategize, brainstorm and connect on key projects. About Our Engineering Organization Our Product Engineering organization consists of cross-functional squads with the people and skills needed to deliver innovative digital products to patients and healthcare providers in clinical trials worldwide. We ship on quarterly program increments using agile methodology. We are proud to have one of the strongest software development teams in the health tech space, with deep technical and domain skills. This is a place where you build real things, solve hard problems, and grow alongside engineers who care deeply about their craft and its purpose. About the Role This is not a traditional management role. We are looking for a hands-on engineering leader who writes and reviews code, makes architecture decisions in pull requests, and leads by building alongside their team. You will own the technical direction and delivery of our eCOA product area while leading a multi-squad engineering organization. You will spend a significant portion of your time in the codebase: reviewing pull requests, pairing with engineers on complex problems, evaluating AI-assisted development workflows, and ensuring our architecture scales. The remainder of your time is spent on team development, cross-functional collaboration, and technical strategy. We expect you to be the strongest technical voice in the room on your product area, someone who can credibly challenge an architectural decision, spot issues in a code review, and prototype solutions to unblock the team. Key Responsibilities Hands-On Technical Leadership (50%+ of your time) Regularly review pull requests, provide substantive code-level feedback, and enforce quality standards across squads. Make and own architectural decisions for the eCOA platform, including API design, data models, service boundaries, and infrastructure choices. Write production code, particularly for complex or foundational components where your expertise accelerates the team. Pair with engineers on difficult problems and use these sessions as coaching opportunities. Drive adoption of AI-assisted development tools and workflows, establishing team conventions for AI code generation, prompt engineering, and automated testing. Define and enforce technical standards: testing strategy, CI/CD pipeline health, observability, and deployment practices. AI-Native Engineering Culture Embed AI tools (coding assistants, agentic workflows, automated code review) into the team’s daily development process as a force multiplier, not an experiment. Evaluate and integrate AI capabilities into the eCOA product itself, including intelligent data capture, adaptive questionnaire logic, and patient experience personalization. Champion a culture where engineers own AI-generated output with the same rigor as hand-written code: thorough review, testing, and accountability. Stay current with rapid advances in AI-assisted development and translate those into practical team-level improvements. Team Leadership & Development Lead, mentor, and grow a multi-squad engineering organization. Develop squad leads into strong technical leaders in their own right. Set a high technical bar in hiring: personally conduct technical interviews and assess candidates’ ability to build, not just describe. Foster a culture of continuous improvement, psychological safety, and intellectual honesty about technical debt and tradeoffs. Manage performance with clear, measurable expectations rooted in engineering output and quality, not just process compliance. Product & Delivery Partner with Product Owners to translate clinical requirements into sound technical plans, ensuring feasibility, scalability, and regulatory compliance. Drive execution against quarterly program increments with predictable, high-quality delivery. Collaborate across the Unified Trial Solution engineering organization to ensure architectural coherence and shared platform leverage. Minimum Qualifications Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or equivalent demonstrated through professional experience 8+ years of professional software engineering experience, with a strong track record of building and shipping production systems. 3+ years leading engineering teams (squads, chapters, or similar) whi