About Pairwise
Pairwise is agriculture’s gene editing powerhouse, building a healthier world through partnership and plant innovation. Co-founded by CRISPR pioneers, the company’s Fulcrum® Platform accelerates the development of climate-resilient, nutritious, and sustainable crops that are easier to grow and better to eat.
Founded in 2017 and based in Durham, North Carolina, Pairwise partners with global leaders and nonprofit institutions to help breeders move faster and transform food and agriculture for farmers, consumers, and the planet. The company collaborates with partners and licenses its Fulcrum® CRISPR tools to diversify breeding programs and bring innovations to market faster—from developing the world’s first pitless cherry to improving staple crops such as corn, soy, cacao, yam, and rice.
Backed by leading investors including Deerfield, Aliment Capital, Leaps by Bayer, Temasek, and Corteva Catalyst, Pairwise has raised $155 million in total funding. In 2025, the company was recognized as one of MIT Technology Review's 10 Climate Tech Companies to Watch and named to Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies in Agriculture, while also earning "Best Ag-Bio Company" honors in the Triangle Business Journal's Life Sciences Awards. For more information, visit www.pairwise.com.
About This Role
Pairwise is moving from pipeline to product, and the commercial engine behind that shift runs on software and systems that have to keep pace. This role owns that layer — sitting between our commercial and operations teams and the technology that supports them and turning how those teams work into applications and systems that make the work faster, cleaner, and more reliable.
You’ll partner directly with those stakeholders, understand their processes, and own the call on how to meet each need: a custom application (backend through frontend) or a configured, integrated SaaS and ERP system, starting with NetSuite. You’ll consolidate competing asks into one coherent design, lean on AI to build it quickly, and be able to defend why you built it that way.
You’ll join a small, LEAN-minded Data & Systems Engineering team where collaboration is how the work gets done. We’re looking for someone curious enough to chase a problem that isn’t formally theirs and grounded enough to know the software isn’t the point: at Pairwise, the science and the products are the story, and great engineering is what accelerates them. If that’s the impact that motivates you, we’d love to talk.
Essential Functions
- Partner directly with commercial and operations stakeholders to understand their processes and translate them into clear technical requirements.
- Design and build full-stack software solutions — from backend and database design through frontend interfaces — where custom development is the right approach.
- Configure, extend, and integrate SaaS and ERP systems (NetSuite and connected applications), designing cross-system integrations as needed.
- Own the build-versus-configure decision for each need, consolidating stakeholder requests into a single, coherent solution design.
- Broker trade-offs across competing asks — landing a workable compromise and bringing business stakeholders along so they support and adopt the solution.
- Justify and communicate design and engineering decisions clearly to both technical and business audiences.
- Build and deliver efficiently, using AI tools where it makes sense across design and implementation
- Prioritize work by business value and drive it to a delivered outcome — measuring success by what stakeholders can actually use, not by work in flight.
- Work within — and help improve — the team’s established LEAN processes.
- Technically engage with and mentor other engineers on the team.
- Proactively identify and help solve problems across the commercial technology landscape, including those beyond your direct assignments.
Required Education & Experience
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field — or equivalent practical experience.
- Approximately 4–6 years of professional experience in software and/or systems engineering.
- Proven full-stack experience spanning design and delivery — translating requirements into architecture, data models, and integration approaches (weighing build-versus-configure), then building them end to end through to a usable frontend.
- Hands-on experience configuring, extending, or integrating a SaaS/ERP platform (NetSuite or comparable), including building integrations across systems (APIs, data pipelines).
- A track record of working directly with non-technical business stakeholders to translate processes into working solutions.
- Demonstrated value- and outcome-focused approach: scoping to what matters most to the business and seeing it through to a result in use.
- Evidence of negotiating trade-offs and building consensus — willing to compromise on approach and able to bring business partners along rather than deliver over their objections.
- Strong software engineering craft: writing tested, well-organized, maintainable code, under version control, that other engineers can build on.
- Ability to justify technical decisions clearly to both technical and non-technical audiences.
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience supporting commercial and operations functions.
- Familiarity with modern web stacks (e.g., Python/FastAPI, React/Next.js) and cloud infrastructure (AWS).
- Experience applying AI or LLM-based tooling to accelerate software delivery.
- Exposure to LEAN or continuous-improvement ways of working.
- Experience mentoring or providing technical leadership to other engineers.
What We Offer
- Comprehensive Benefits Plan, including Medical, Dental, Vision, HSA/FSA, 401k, Life Insurance, Short-Term & Long-Term Disability, and more!
- Flexible PTO (use what you need, when you need it), in addition to company holidays.
- Casual work environment.
- Mission-driven organization focused on creating healthier fruits and veggies.
- A cutting-edge, driven community looking to lead the industry in innovation and nutrition.
Physical Demands
The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit and use hands to finger, handle or feel, and techniques that require fine motor skills and repetitive motions. The employee is occasionally required to stand and walk. The employee must frequently lift and/or move up to 10 pounds. The employee is regularly required to talk or hear. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.
Equal Opportunity
We’re an equal opportunity employer. All applicants will be considered for employment without attention to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran or disability status.
Don’t meet every single requirement? Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. At Pairwise we are dedicated to building a diverse, inclusive and authentic workplace, so if you’re excited about this role but your past experience doesn’t align perfectly with every qualification in the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. You may be just the right candidate for this or other roles.
No Recruiters please.
