Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

About this role

Senior Software Engineer (Backend)

Work type: Full time · Department: EPD · Workplace: Hybrid · USD 180,000-220,000 / year

New York, United States

About Alaffia & Our Mission

Every year, U.S. health plans lose billions to improper payments and administrative waste. That wasted spending ultimately trickles down across the healthcare ecosystem, driving up costs for plans, providers, and patients alike. We're here to change that paradigm.

Alaffia is a new kind of claims operations partner for health plans. Using expert clinicians and transparent AI, we deliver deeper insights, smarter automation, and consistently better outcomes across the entire lifecycle of claims. With Alaffia, health plans can cut wasted spending more effectively than ever, and provide their members the most affordable care.

We're a high-growth, venture-backed Series B healthtech startup based in NYC and are actively scaling our company. Join us in helping to build a healthcare system that works better for everyone.

(This position requires current authorization to work in the United States. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to sponsor work visas at this time.)

About the Role

We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to solve meaningful technical challenges, contribute to architectural decisions, and help raise the bar across our engineering org. You'll take ownership of complex backend systems, collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, and bring strong AI-augmented development practices into your day-to-day work, all while tackling challenging problems in backend architecture, system design, and cloud infrastructure.

Note on language: this role will work primarily in either Python or TypeScript, depending on team need. You don't need extensive experience (or any experience) in either language specifically, what matters most is strong, transferable backend engineering fundamentals with the ability to pick up new languages and tooling as needed. We'll find the right fit for your background on our team.

What You'll Do

• Design, build, and own delivery of backend systems supporting our claim review platform, including data-intensive, production-level applications
• Contribute to technical direction and coding/design standards for the team
• Adopt and champion AI coding tools (Claude Code) in your daily workflow
• Collaborate with and mentor other engineers, sharing knowledge and best practices
• Partner cross-functionally with product, data, DevOps, and business teams to scope and deliver technical solutions
• Contribute to testing strategy, system health, observability, and infrastructure decisions for your area of ownership

What We're Looking For

• 5-7+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of owning and delivering complex backend projects, including large-scale API development and backend data processing
• Hands-on experience with relational databases and data model design
• Solid system design fundamentals and cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred), including CI/CD and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)
• Comfort using AI coding assistants to improve your own and your team's productivity via automation
• Strong communication skills and willingness to collaborate and share knowledge with the team

Preferred

• Healthcare SaaS experience; familiarity with medical billing, claims, or clinical workflows
• Experience shipping user-facing AI products or AI/ML model deployment
• GraphQL and PostgreSQL experience
• Experience with observability tooling such as Datadog
• Open source contributions or technical publications

Our Culture

Alaffia was born out of our founders' personal connection to the inefficiency of the U.S. healthcare system. We are deeply mission-driven, with an abiding belief that technology can help create a better future for everyone, and we're looking for others who share our passion for change to join the team.

• Competitive compensation package (cash + equity)
• Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits
• Flexible, paid vacation policy
• Work in a flat organizational structure, direct access to Leadership

Education

Experience

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(Completion is voluntary and will not subject you to adverse treatment)

Alaffia Health is a Government contractor subject to the Section 4212 of the Vietnam Era Veterans's Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974, as amended by the Jobs for Veterans Act of 2002, which requires Government contractors to take affirmative action to employ and advance in employment: (1) Disabled veterans - A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military and is entitled to disability compensation (or who but for the receipt of military retired pay would be entitled to disability compensation) under laws administered by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, or was discharged or released from active duty because of a service-connected disability; (2) Recently separated veteran - A veteran separated during the three-year period beginning on the date of the veteran's discharge or release from active duty in the U.S military, ground, naval, or air service; (3) Active duty wartime or campaign badge veteran - A veteran who served on active duty in the U.S. military during a war, or in a campaign or expedition for which a campaign badge was authorized under the laws administered by the Department of Defense; (4) Armed forces service medal veteran - A veteran who, while serving on active duty in the U.S. military ground, naval, or air service, participated in a United States military operation for which an Armed Forces service medal was awarded pursuant to Executive Order 12985 (61 Fed. Reg. 1209). If you believe that you belong to any of the categories of protected veterans, please indicate by making the appropriate selection.