Backend Software Engineer (Data Platform)

Vida Health; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Vida Health is seeking a Backend Software Engineer II to help build the data platform powering Vida’s products. You will work on backend services and data-intensive systems in Python, turning data from health plans, employers, and partners into reliable information.

Expect to design APIs, data pipelines, and asynchronous workflows, and to grow toward owning services and technical decisions independently. You’ll enhance reliability and observability while processing complex healthcare data.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in a technical field.
• 2+ years building backend software.
• Strong Python programming and testing fundamentals.
• Experience with relational databases and SQL.
• Ability to work in cloud environments and containers.
• Familiarity with data-intensive systems and ETL/ELT pipelines.

Responsibilities

• Build backend services and data-intensive systems in Python.
• Ingest, validate, reconcile, and serve data from external partners.
• Design APIs, asynchronous workflows, and data pipelines.
• Improve reliability, observability, and performance of production systems.
• Own features from design through production with increasing independence.
• Collaborate with Engineering, Product, and Operations on requirements.

Skills

Backend development

Python

Distributed systems

APIs

Testing & debugging

SQL & relational databases

Data processing

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Tools

PostgreSQL

Cloud environments

Containers

Workflow orchestration

Job description

Responsibilities

• Vida is looking for a Backend Software Engineer II to help build the data platform that supports much of Vida’s business
• Our team builds the systems that turn data from health plans, employers, and other partners into reliable information that Vida’s products and operations can use
• That includes member identity, eligibility, billing, partner integrations, and the data foundations behind reporting and analytics
• You will work on backend services and data-intensive systems, primarily in Python, and take features from design through production
• You will start with well-defined problems and grow toward owning services and technical decisions independently
• Build backend services that ingest, validate, reconcile, and serve data from external partners
• Develop systems for member identity, eligibility, billing, and other core business domains
• Design APIs, asynchronous workflows, and data pipelines used across Vida
• Make systems resilient to incomplete, duplicated, delayed, and inconsistent real-world data
• Build safe ways to retry, replay, and recover data when something goes wrong
• Improve the reliability, observability, testing, and performance of production systems
• Work with Engineering, Product, and Operations to figure out what needs to be built when the requirements are incomplete or messy
• Additional responsibilities as needed

Qualifications

• Clear written communication and an ability to explain technical decisions and tradeoffs
• A solid understanding of testing, debugging, APIs, and common distributed-system failure modes
• Good instincts around correctness, including validation, idempotency, retries, and edge cases
• Strong programming fundamentals- we primarily use Python
• The ability to get into an unfamiliar codebase, understand how it works, and improve it without making it more complicated
• Experience building systems that process, transform, or move significant amounts of data
• Bachelor’s degree at a minimum
• Experience working with relational databases and SQL
• 2+ years of professional experience building backend software
• You do not need previous healthcare experience or experience with every technology we use
• Experience deploying or operating software in a cloud environment
• Data-intensive backend systems, ETL/ELT pipelines, or event-driven architectures
• PostgreSQL, analytical warehouses, or data modeling
• Infrastructure as code, containers, or workflow orchestration
• Identity resolution, entity matching, eligibility, claims, or other healthcare data
• Regulated or security-sensitive production environments