Backend API’s and Integrations Software Engineer III

RELX; Philadelphia (Philadelphia County); On-site; USD 79,000 - 131,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual incentive bonus

Benefits aligned to location

Job summary

RELX is seeking a Software Engineer III to design, build, and operate distributed integration services and APIs at scale. You will focus on Kong API Management, HL7 FHIR data facades, and enterprise integrations, primarily using Java and JavaScript.

As part of a mission-driven global organization, you will own the API lifecycle, contribute to security & compliance, and work with Docker/Kubernetes in cloud environments.

Qualifications

• 3+ years of backend software engineering experience.
• Proficiency in Java; working knowledge of JavaScript/Node.js.
• Experience designing RESTful APIs and using OpenAPI/Swagger.
• Hands-on with Kong APIM, routes, plugins, and YAML configs.
• Background in distributed systems and microservices patterns.
• Strong networking fundamentals and cloud/container skills.
• Familiarity with HL7 FHIR data modeling/transformations.

Responsibilities

• Design and build distributed services with observable microservices.
• Configure Kong gateway, security policies, rate limiting, and CI/CD.
• Develop FHIR data facades and backend integrations over REST/gRPC.
• Own API lifecycle: OpenAPI design, testing, versioning, and SLOs.
• Implement OAuth2/OIDC flows and secure service-to-service auth.

Skills

Java

JavaScript/Node.js

RESTful API design

OpenAPI spec

Security/OAuth2

Distributed systems

Networking fundamentals

HL7 FHIR familiarity

Tools

Kong APIM

Docker

Kubernetes

OpenAPI/Swagger

CI/CD YAML

Job description

Are you a Backend API developer looking to work for a mission driven global organization?

About the role: We’re seeking a Software Engineer III with strong backend engineering skills to design, build, and operate distributed integration services and APIs at scale. You will focus on Kong API Management, backend API lifecycle (setup, testing, maintenance), HL7 FHIR, and enterprise integrations, primarily using Java and JavaScript. The ideal candidate has solid network fundamentals, can work comfortably with YAML (for declarative configs and pipelines), and thrives in pragmatic, production-oriented engineering—no frontend development in this space.

About the team, this team is building a generative-AI-powered clinical decision support tool designed specifically to help healthcare professionals quickly find trusted, evidence-based answers at the point of care. It combines a massive curated medical knowledge base with conversational AI so clinicians can ask questions in natural language and get concise, clinically relevant responses backed by real scientific evidence.

Responsibilities

• Design & Build Distributed Services
  • Implementing resilient, observable microservices and integration components (Java preferred; Node.js/JavaScript where appropriate).
  • Applying patterns for scaling, fault tolerance, idempotency, and backpressure in distributed environments.
• API Platform & Kong APIM
  • Configuring and managing Kong Gateway (routes, services, plugins, rate limiting, auth, mTLS, logging) via declarative config (YAML) and CI/CD.
  • Implementing gateway policies for security, traffic control, blue/green/canary releases, and zero-downtime migrations.
• Integrations & Data Facades
  • Building and maintaining a FHIR data facade that maps internal domain data to FHIR resources (read/search/transform), ensuring correctness and performance.
  • Developing backend integrations with downstream systems (REST, gRPC, messaging/queues) and handle schema/contract evolution.
• API Engineering
  • Owning the API lifecycle: design (OpenAPI), implementation, automated testing (unit/integration/contract), versioning, and SLO-driven operations.
  • Creating and maintaining OpenAI specs, mocks, and validation pipelines.
• Security & Compliance
  • Implementing OAuth2/OIDC flows, token introspection, and service-to-service auth. Apply secure coding practices and least-privilege network policies; partner with InfoSec on reviews.

Required Qualifications

• 3+ years of Professional Experience in backend software engineering.
• Languages: Proficient in Java; working proficiency in JavaScript/Node.js.
• API & Integrations: RESTful API design, OpenAPI/Swagger, contract testing, backward compatibility/versioning.
• API Gateway / Kong APIM: Hands-on experience configuring routes, plugins, auth, rate limiting, and declarative YAML configs; CI/CD integration.
• Distributed Systems: Understanding of microservices fundamentals: statelessness, service discovery, retries/circuit breakers, caching.
• Networking Fundamentals: TCP/IP, DNS, TLS/mTLS, HTTP/2/HTTP/1.1, proxies, load balancing, and common troubleshooting (cURL, traceroute, etc.).
• Data & FHIR Facade: Experience working with HL7 FHIR or adapters; familiarity with FHIR resource modeling and transformations (e.g., Patient, Observation, Encounter).
• Testing & Quality: Unit, integration, and contract testing; test automation and CI/CD pipelines (YAML-based workflows).
• Cloud & Ops: Experience deploying and operating services in a cloud or containerized environment (Docker/Kubernetes).

U.S. National Base Pay Range: $78,800 - $131,300. Geographic differentials may apply in some locations to better reflect local market rates. This job is eligible for an annual incentive bonus.

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