Senior/Principal Data Engineer
Designs and leads production data pipelines integrating EHR clinical data from Epic Cerner Athenahealth via FHIR HL7 CCDA enforcing healthcare standards for low-latency insights. Builds AWS cloud infrastructure ETL workflows with Python Docker Kubernetes for ML enablement and HIPAA compliance requiring 5+ years healthcare data engineering experience.
About the job
Key Responsibilities
EHR & Partner Integrations
- Architect production-grade data pipelines that integrate clinical data through multiple channels—direct EHR connections (e.g., Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth), health information exchanges (HIEs), health alliance networks, and third-party integration vendors—via FHIR R4 APIs, HL7v2 feeds, CCDA documents, and bulk data exports, while enforcing healthcare standards and clinical terminologies (ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm), targeting sub-hour latency from clinical event to actionable insight and ≥99.9% pipeline reliability
- Lead end-to-end integration efforts with health plan partners, HIEs, health alliance networks, provider organizations, and data integration vendors—owning partner technical evaluation, connectivity, data mapping, validation, and production rollout
Data Platform & Tooling
- Build and optimize cloud-native data infrastructure (AWS) and ETL/ELT workflows using modern orchestration tools (e.g., Step Functions, dbt) with robust data quality monitoring and lineage tracking
- Develop reusable backend frameworks, libraries, and internal tooling that accelerate onboarding of new data sources—whether direct EHR feeds, HIE connections, or vendor integrations—with the goal of reducing new-partner integration time by 50% or more while improving developer productivity and reducing operational toil across engineering
ML/AI Enablement & Product Collaboration
- Partner with data science and data analytics teams to build and operationalize the data foundations for predictive risk scores, care gap identification, clinical alerting, and patient outreach prioritization
- Collaborate with product and clinical teams to translate care delivery requirements into scalable, production-grade technical solutions and influence
Security & Compliance
- Ensure all data systems comply with HIPAA, HITECH, and applicable privacy regulations, implementing access controls, audit logging, encryption, and de-identification processes for PHI
Leadership & Mentorship
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers across Waymark, raising the bar on healthcare data best practices
Qualifications
Must-have
- Significant software engineering experience with substantial focus on healthcare data engineering or EHR integration (Senior: 5+ years; Principal: 8+ years)
- Expert-level proficiency in Python (required) and experience in at least one compiled or concurrent language (such as Elixir)
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, cloud computing, and backend system design: API architecture (REST), microservices, event-driven systems, message queues (RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and distributed systems patterns
- Strong background in data modeling, schema design, performance optimization, and both relational (PostgreSQL) and columnar/analytical databases (Redshift)
- Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker (required), Kubernetes)
- Design data integration systems resilient to inconsistent, incomplete, and delayed clinical data across heterogeneous EHRs and payer systems either directly or through HIEs, health alliance networks, or integration vendors, using FHIR APIs, HL7v2 interfaces, or CCDA parsing
- Strong experience in mapping/normalizing healthcare standards such as ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
Additional Expectations for Principal (L4)
- Demonstrated track record of setting technical direction for complex platforms and influencing engineering strategy across multiple teams
- Comfort operating as a principal IC with broad influence and without direct reports—shaping roadmaps, standards, and architectural decisions
- History of leading the most ambiguous or highest-risk integration efforts end-to-end, including partner-facing technical leadership
Nice-to-have
- Advanced degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field
- Experience working in value-based care, population health, or Medicaid/Medicare data environments
- Experience with ML/AI frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and MLOps practices for healthcare applications
Salary Range
US Employees in San Francisco/Bay Area, New York City - $160,000 - $206,000
US Employees in Boston, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington DC - $147,200 - $189,700
US Employees in Arlington, Denver, San Diego, Sacramento - $140,800 - $181,500
US Employees in Albany, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Central/Southern, Charlotte, Chicago, Dallas/Fort Worth, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Portland, Research Triangle, Salt Lake City, Twin Cities - $128,000 - $165,000
US Employees in Baton Rouge, Birmingham, Charleston, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Daytona Beach, Indianapolis, Nashville, New Orleans, Omaha, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Tampa - $124,160 - $160,000
In addition to salary, comprehensive benefits package including stock options, work-from-home stipend, medical/dental/vision, PTO, parental leave, 401(k), etc.
Skills
Python, Elixir, Postgres, Redshift, AWS, Docker, Kubernetes, FHIR, Hl7V2, Ccda, Icd-10, Snomed Ct, Loinc, Rxnorm
Similar jobs
Data Engineering jobs
ZoomInfo
United States
Architects and builds ZoomInfo’s distributed data-platform infrastructure, including federated GraphQL access, real-time pipelines, indexing, and observability. The role requires 10+ years of software engineering experience, cloud-native expertise, and strong distributed-systems design skills.
United States
Leads the strategy, architecture, and scaling of Pinterest’s big data and AI infrastructure across petabyte-scale workloads. Requires principal-level technical leadership, extensive Kubernetes or big data platform experience, and proficiency in modern data and cloud technologies.
Orum
Austin, TX
Own the architecture, reliability, and evolution of a modern data platform spanning data engineering and analytics/BI. The role requires 8+ years of experience plus deep expertise in SQL, dbt, ClickHouse, BigQuery, Looker, streaming systems, and distributed data platforms.
Octus
United States
Leads the strategy, architecture, and hands-on development of scalable AWS data ingestion and transformation platforms. Requires expert Python and SQL skills, Terraform and cloud-native pipeline experience, and 8+ years in data engineering or backend development, with technical leadership responsibilities.
DAT Freight & Analytics
Denver, CO
Leads architecture and technical governance for an enterprise-scale data platform, driving distributed systems, data modeling, cloud infrastructure, and operational best practices. Requires 7+ years of engineering experience and a bachelor’s degree.