Principal Software Engineer
Eurofins Scientific is an international life sciences company, providing a unique range of analytical testing services to clients across multiple industries, to make life and our environment safer, healthier and more sustainable. From the food you eat, to the water you drink, to the medicines you rely on, Eurofins laboratories work with the biggest companies in the world to ensure the products they supply are safe, their ingredients are authentic and labelling is accurate.
The Eurofins network of companies believes that it is a global leader in food, environment, pharmaceutical and cosmetic product testing and in discovery pharmacology, forensics, advanced material sciences and AgroScience contract research services. It is also one of the market leaders in certain testing and laboratory services for genomics, and in the support of clinical studies, as well as in biopharma contract development and manufacturing. It also has a rapidly developing presence in highly specialised and molecular clinical diagnostic testing and in-vitro diagnostic products.
In over 37 years, Eurofins has grown from one laboratory in Nantes, France to over 65,000 staff across a decentralised and entrepreneurial network of more than 950 laboratories in over 1,000 companies across 59 countries. Eurofins companies offer a portfolio of over 200,000 analytical methods to evaluate the safety, identity, composition, authenticity, origin, traceability and purity of biological substances and products.
In 2024, Eurofins generated total revenues of EUR 6.95 billion; and has been among the best performing stocks in Europe over the past 20 years.
Principal Software Engineer - Java
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will play a key role within the eLIMS-Forensics programme, supporting delivery of enterprise systems across Forensic Case Management, LIMS and Expert Reporting platforms.
This role operates within a complex, regulated forensic environment and combines software architecture, hands-on development, and delivery leadership. You will work with the core Qualitype team (based in Dresden, DE), operational SMEs, solution architects and distributed development teams across the UK, Europe, nearshore and offshore locations.
The position focuses on full lifecycle delivery including technical design, implementation, system evolution and automation, ensuring solutions are robust, scalable and aligned with forensic operational processes and compliance requirements.
Primary Responsibilities
- Contribute to architecture and development of enterprise Java applications
- Provide technical guidance on design and implementation across distributed teams
- Support modernisation and evolution of legacy forensic systems
- Ensure scalable, maintainable and high-performance solutions
- Share knowledge and support capability development across nearshore and offshore teams
- Collaborate with product, QA, DevOps and architecture stakeholders
Specific Assignments
- Software Engineering & Full-Stack Development
- Develop enterprise applications across client and server components
- Work with:
- Java 11 / Java 17
- Java EE / Jakarta EE
- Eclipse RCP, SWT & JFace (rich client applications)
- WildFly Application Server
- Support modularisation of legacy systems and development of new platforms
- Implement integration and high-performance processing logic
Architecture & Design
- Define software architecture for enterprise applications
- Apply object-oriented design and design patterns (SOLID, Clean Code)
- Support modular system design and decomposition
- Contribute to technical concept design and implementation
Database & Backend Engineering
Design and optimise backend services and data models
- PostgreSQL
- JPA / Hibernate
- JPQL / CriteriaBuilder
- Ensure scalability, integrity and performance of data-intensive systems
DevOps, CI/CD & Automation
- Work within Git-based development processes
- Develop and maintain CI/CD pipelines in Azure DevOps
- Manage containerised environments (Docker)
- Use Maven / Eclipse Tycho for build management
- Implement automated build, deployment and release processes
Quality, Performance & Reliability
- Ensure high code quality through testing and best practices
- Perform performance profiling and optimisation (JVM tuning)
- Support production stability and continuous improvement
- Work closely with QA for test coverage and release quality
Collaboration & Delivery
- Work within Agile / Scrum delivery teams
- Collaborate across UK, Europe, nearshore and offshore delivery centres
- Support team mobilisation, onboarding, training and knowledge transfer
- Act as a technical interface between business and IT teams
Skills Required
Core Technical Skills
- Java (11 / 17)
- Java EE / Jakarta EE
- Eclipse RCP, SWT, JFace
- PostgreSQL
- WildFly Application Server
Architecture & Development
- Enterprise software architecture
- Object-oriented development
- Clean Code and Design Patterns
- Modularisation of applications
- Legacy system evolution
Backend & Data
- JPA / Hibernate
- JPQL / CriteriaBuilder
DevOps & Tooling
- Git / Git-based workflows
- Azure DevOps
- CI/CD pipelines
- Docker
- Maven / Eclipse Tycho
- Automated build and release processes
Preferred Qualifications
- Degree in Computer Science, Engineering or related field
- Extensive experience (8 +) in enterprise Java development and DevOps practices
- Proven experience in architecture and hands-on development
- Experience working in regulated or complex operational environments (Forensics, LIMS, etc.)
- Strong collaboration skills across distributed delivery teams