Staff Software Development Engineer (MCED, Lab, Data Technology) #4907
GRAIL · Menlo Park, CA
$169,000–$224,000from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Menlo Park, CA
Jul 22, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A senior individual-contributor engineering role at a healthcare technology company focused on early cancer detection. The position centers on architecting and delivering large-scale, mission-critical software systems, setting technical standards across teams, and guiding engineers at multiple levels. It suits an experienced software engineer with a background in distributed systems, cloud platforms, and regulated environments such as medical devices or healthcare data.
Staff level · 8+ years · San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 240 people in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 180–310
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $217,796 (middle half $177,469–$231,052). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The role is currently based in Menlo Park, CA (San Francisco Bay Area CBSA: 41860), moving to Sunnyvale, CA (San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CBSA: 41940) in Fall 2026, with Durham, NC as a possible alternative. The compensation range is stated for the Bay Area; the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CBSA is used as the primary metro given the stated future location.
The JD lists multiple programming languages (Java, Python, C#, C++, JavaScript/TypeScript) as a group under 'Advanced proficiency in multiple programming languages.' These are presented as a set of examples rather than strict individual gates — proficiency in several is required, but not necessarily all. They are captured as required skills with each listed as an alternative to the others to reflect this interchangeable framing.
Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP) are listed together as a required skill; AWS is used as the primary with Azure and GCP as alternatives.
Cybersecurity frameworks (ISO 27001, NIST, SOC 2) and HIPAA are listed under required regulatory knowledge. ISO 27001 is the primary with NIST and SOC 2 as alternatives; HIPAA is listed separately as it is a distinct regulatory domain.
Medical device regulatory standards (IVDD, IVDR, FDA 21 CFR 800 series, FDA 21 CFR Part 11) are named in the required section but represent domain/regulatory knowledge rather than concrete named technologies or tools, so they are omitted per the skills extraction rules.
Master's or PhD is listed as 'preferred' in the required skills block; the minimum hard-required degree is a Bachelor's. The Master's/PhD preference is captured as a preferred skill to surface it for hiring managers.
The role is hybrid (minimum 60% on-site), not fully remote.
Read the full posting
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