Data Engineer

Headwater Science; Raleigh (NC); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 135,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health, dental, and vision coverage

401(k) with company match

Generous PTO and company holidays

Paid parental leave

Job summary

Headwater Science is seeking a Data Engineer to design, build, and maintain data pipelines and software infrastructure for real-world evidence. You will work mainly with R, Python, and SQL, creating scalable solutions and supporting cloud-based infrastructure (AWS preferred).

You will collaborate with operations and product teams on deployment, testing, and troubleshooting, while driving ongoing improvements to systems that support evidence generation in healthcare.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering or related field.
• Healthcare, life sciences, or clinical data background.
• 3+ years of software development experience, ideally in data engineering, data platform development, or backend systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and working in cloud-native environments.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage tasks with moderate supervision.

Responsibilities

• Design and implement data pipelines and software solutions that promote operational efficiency and scalability.
• Write clean, maintainable code primarily in R and Python, with a strong emphasis on SQL for data manipulation and transformation.
• Manage collaborative development through Git and GitLab, and maintain the CI/CD tooling to ensure tested, validated and reproducible code.
• Support and optimize cloud-based data infrastructure (AWS preferred).
• Develop and modify databases to support internal applications.
• Collaborate with operations and product teams to support deployment, testing, and maintenance.
• Help troubleshoot production issues and contribute to ongoing improvement efforts.
• Stay up to date on relevant tools, technologies, and best practices.

Skills

Problem-solving

Communication

Independent work

Education

Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering or related field

Tools

Git

GitLab

CI/CD

Python

R

SQL

AWS

GCP

Azure

UNIX/Linux

Job description

About Headwater Science

At Headwater Science, we believe better evidence leads to better medicine. We are a data science and methods company dedicated to generating principled, reproducible insights that help life sciences organizations tackle their most complex clinical and regulatory challenges. Our work spans causal inference, comparative effectiveness, healthcare utilization research, and regulatory-grade analytical software, all grounded in a shared conviction that evidence should be continuous, cumulative, and built to improve patient outcomes. We partner with life sciences organizations as a long-term scientific ally, and as part of the Highlander Health family, we're helping to build a fundamentally more modern approach to evidence generation.

The Role

We are seeking a talented Data Engineer to design, build, and maintain the data pipelines and software infrastructure that power our real-world evidence research. Working primarily in R, Python, and SQL, You'll create clean, scalable solutions that transform healthcare data into research-ready resources - managing collaborative development through Git and GitLab, maintaining CI/CD tooling that keeps code tested and reproducible, and supporting cloud-based infrastructure (AWS preferred). You'll partner closely with operations and product teams on deployment, testing, and troubleshooting, and help drive ongoing improvements to our systems that support Headwater Science's mission.

What You'll Do

• Design and implement data pipelines and software solutions that promote operational efficiency and scalability.
• Write clean, maintainable code primarily in R and Python, with a strong emphasis on SQL for data manipulation and transformation.
• Manage collaborative development through Git and GitLab, and maintain the CI/CD tooling to ensure tested, validated and reproducible code.
• Support and optimize cloud-based data infrastructure (AWS preferred).
• Develop and modify databases to support internal applications.
• Collaborate with operations and product teams to support deployment, testing, and maintenance.
• Help troubleshoot production issues and contribute to ongoing improvement efforts.
• Stay up to date on relevant tools, technologies, and best practices.

What You'll Bring

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, engineering or a related field (or equivalent practical experience).
• Background in healthcare, life sciences, or clinical data.
• 3+ years of software development experience, ideally in data engineering, data platform development, or backend systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP, or Azure) and working in cloud-native environments.
• Strong problem-solving and communication skills.
• Ability to work independently and manage tasks with moderate supervision.

Nice to Have

• R package development, SQL, Python, version control and CI/CD tools (e.g., GitLab, GitHub Actions).
• Familiarity with software validation practices for regulated or regulatory-grade environments.
• Experience working with or developing machine learning pipelines or models.
• Exposure to Generative AI or LLM frameworks (e.g., Langchain, LangGraph).
• Knowledge of distributed computing concepts or tools (e.g., Spark, Dask).
• Knowledge of command-line workflows in UNIX/Linux environments.

What We Offer

• Hybrid work environment - 3 days onsite per week.
• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision coverage for you and your family.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Generous PTO and company holidays.
• Paid parental leave.

If you are ready to be part of a team where your work truly matters - where your expertise is valued, your growth is supported, and your contributions help shape the future of healthcare - Headwater Science is the place for you. We're building something meaningful together, and we'd love for you to be a part of it.