Lead Software Engineer

To obtain a French translation of the following job posting, please email careers@ontariohealth.ca. Requests will be addressed within three business days, and the application window will be extended by three business days.

At Ontario Health, we are committed to developing a strong organizational culture that connects and inspires all team members across the province. Our vision is that together, we will be a leader in health and wellness for all. Our mission is to connect the health system to drive improved and equitable health outcomes, experiences and value. How we work together is reflected through our five values: integrity, inspiration, tenacity, humility and care.

What Ontario Health offers:

• Fully paid medical, dental and vision coverage from your first day.
• A health care spending or wellness spending account.
• A premium defined benefit pension plan.
• Three personal days and two float days annually.
• Three weeks’ vacation to start (for individual contributors), increasing to four weeks after two years.
• Career development opportunities.
• A collaborative values-based team culture.
• A wellness program.
• A hybrid working model.
• Participation in Communities of Inclusion.

Want to make a difference in your career? Consider this opportunity.

The Lead Software Engineer will be responsible for the design, development (new and upgrades), and support of a range of applications at Ontario Health. They are considered a Lead within a specific business area of expertise or technical area of expertise where other developers on the team will reach out to for technical leadership, direction and mentoring. The Lead Software Engineer reviews and provides feedback on requirements, plays an active role in designing and selecting appropriate solutions and develops high quality code in collaboration with other software developers on the team. The Lead Software Engineer will technically lead the design and development of a project.

The Lead Software Engineer works within a cross-functional environment including team members such as Product Managers, Business Analysts, Quality Assurance Analysts, DevOps Engineers, and other Developers to help organize, prioritize, and execute various development activities, identify dependencies and risks and contribute to both long-term project and product development as well as shorter-term maintenance and support needs. They also maintain and foster excellent working relationships with leaders across Ontario Health.

Here is what you will be doing:

• Recommend and implement best practices for cloud-native development.
• Optimize code for maintainability, efficiency, and performance.
• Ensure effective implementation of EHR Platform and FHIR frameworks to support interoperability and data exchange.
• Identify areas for improvement in FHIR APIs and related workflows.
• Contribute to the planning and execution of future platform enhancements or migrations.
• Ensure minimal downtime and maintain data integrity during transitions.
• Provide strategies for improving platform performance, including database tuning, caching, and load balancing.
• Document findings, recommendations, and technical guidance.
• Participate in developing project scope, work breakdown structures, task sequence and priorities, and identifying required skill sets and resources.
• Act as a technical mentor and advisor, leads, and guides the team through the system development life cycle.
• Deliver the best user experiences possible and is jointly accountable for the quality of the products and services delivered for their customers.
• Engage clients, both internal and external, to gain a deeper understanding of their product domain and to assist them in the identification of the root cause of issues.
• Act as lead resource on project teams responsible for most aspects of the system development life cycle deliverables.
• Perform size, break down, and estimate development activities, in user points or hours.
• Track development tasks in the application lifecycle management tool (Azure DevOps) and provide relevant reporting when needed.
• Perform code reviews and walkthroughs of system design and developed code.
• Provide input to the product roadmaps by developing an in-depth understanding of the immediate and future client business needs.
• Develop technical solutions that meet client business requirements.
• Consult with business units and projects in identifying, documenting, and evaluating options for the delivery of solutions to client business requirements.
• Research and evaluate the feasibility of proposed solution architecture and technologies related to a business change.
• Apply a risk-based approach to design and development, communicating to team, considering options for their mitigation within the constraints of the timeline.
• Ensure application performance metrics are well-defined and delivered.
• Develop and deliver presentations to clients, steering committees etc. on proposed approaches to addressing client deliverables.
• Identify opportunities for improvement of business and development processes.
• Champion change across the team's engineering practices.
• Anticipate architectural inefficiencies and technological blockers in short term and long-term product roadmaps.
• Independently engage and actively participate in team discussions with product management teams.
• Collaborate with internal and external stakeholders to ensure effectiveness of solutions.
• Lead internal peer collaboration to ensure alignment of practices, patterns, and solutions.
• Support development of software engineering roadmaps and long-term strategies aligned to direction from Product Management.
• Stay abreast of evolving technologies and make recommendations on emerging directions for peer education.
• Make decisions where results have a critical impact across the organization.

Here is what you will need to be successful:

Education and Experience:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Computer Engineering or related field or equivalent experience, is required.
• 7 – 10 years of extensive solution development experience.
• Prior experience in a leadership role is an asset.
• Strong experience with Java/.NET platforms, Spring and HAPI Framework, Kafka, MQ, Windows, Linux, Unix, Redis, Windows/Linux Shell scripting.
• Strong experience with containers/Cloud technology.
• Strong proficiency in Apache Camel, JavaScript.
• Provides subject matter expertise in HL7 V2 and FHIR.
• Advanced Cloud certifications in Cloud Practices are an asset.
• Advanced knowledge pertaining to design, implementation, operation and support of products and services operating in multiple cloud environments.
• Experience in continuous integration and continuous deployment or DevOps is an asset.
• Advanced knowledge of software development and all aspects of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC).
• Subject matter expert of relevant software development tools and frameworks.
• Advanced knowledge of software security principles.
• Knowledge of other IT systems and/or programs across OH.
• Experience with a wide range of technical writing methods.
• Knowledge of privacy legislation, regulations and Ontario Health policies.
• Knowledge of relational database development techniques.
• Deep understanding of Object-Oriented Analysis and Design.
• Experience working in the public sector, preferably in a health care setting.

Knowledge and Skills:

• Ability to make decisions where results have a critical impact across the organization.
• Strong written and oral communication skills.
• Excellent debugging, problem-solving, and analytical skills.
• Ability to translate software requirements into programming code.
• Ability to develop technical solutions that meet client business requirements.
• Ability to identify, document and evaluate options for the delivery of solutions.
• Ability to apply a risk-based approach to design and development.
• A team player with a deep commitment to contributing to team success.
• Ability to work well with end users from different disciplines.
• Ability to work with a high level of autonomy.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with multiple priorities.
• Ability to perform standard application unit testing.
• Ability to act as a subject matter expert and technical mentor.
• Capacity to handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically.

Deliverables:

Design & Architecture:

• Collaborate with Architects in preparation of optimized architecture for the EHR Platform.
• A set of recommendations and implementation plans for adopting cloud-native principles.

Code Quality Assurance:

• Detailed code review reports with actionable feedback for improvement.
• Documentation of best practices and coding standards for the development team.

HAPI FHIR Expertise:

• Comprehensive evaluation of the SmileCDR and HAPI FHIR implementations.
• Optimized FHIR APIs and workflows.

Cloud-Native Recommendations:

• Recommendations for adopting cloud-native technologies tailored to the platform's needs.
• Implementation guidelines for containerization, orchestration, and serverless computing.
• Security policy recommendations and a checklist for robust IAM and data protection.

Migration Strategy Input:

• A high-level migration plan outlining steps to ensure seamless transitions between platforms.
• Risk mitigation strategies to minimize downtime and preserve data integrity.

Performance Optimization:

• Performance tuning reports with measurable metrics for improvement.
• Suggestions for database optimization, caching strategies, and load balancing.

Collaboration & Documentation:

• Comprehensive documentation of technical findings, design validations, and recommendations.
• Regular status reports to stakeholders summarizing progress and actionable insights.

Location: Ontario (currently hybrid; subject to change)

Employment Type: Permanent Full time

Contract Length: N/A

Salary Band: Band 7

External Application Deadline Date: April 4, 2025

All applicants must be a resident of Ontario to be considered for roles at Ontario Health.

Ontario Health encourages applications from candidates who are First Nations, Métis, Inuit, and urban Indigenous; Francophone; members of Black and racialized groups; 2SLGBTQIA+ communities; trans and nonbinary individuals; and people living with disabilities.

Ontario Health is an accessible employer, and we offer accommodation in all aspects of employment, including the recruitment process. If you require a disability related accommodation in order to participate in the recruitment process, please email careers@ontariohealth.ca and a member of the team will connect with you within 48 hours.