Staff Backend Engineer (RWE) - Distributed Systems & Data Platform

Transformcap; New York (NY); On-site; USD 170,000 - 190,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health insurance

Stock options

Flexible work hours

Job summary

H1 is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer on the Real World Evidence team to lead backend and platform initiatives that power large healthcare datasets. You will own architecture for backend services, build scalable APIs, and mentor engineers while collaborating with Product, Data Engineering, AI/ML, and engineering leadership.

Ideal candidates have 8+ years in backend development, deep distributed systems experience, and strong Python or similar language skills, with comfort in cloud-native

Qualifications

• 8+ years building scalable backend software in production environments.
• Strong experience designing scalable backend architectures and making technical decisions.
• Proficiency in Python or another modern backend language and ability to quickly learn Python.

Responsibilities

• Lead backend and platform initiatives for large-scale healthcare data processing.
• Own architectural decisions for backend services and distributed systems.
• Design and build scalable backend services, APIs, and data processing pipelines.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to translate business needs into technical roadmaps.
• Mentor engineers and influence engineering practices across the organization.

Skills

Leadership

Distributed systems

Backend design

APIs and event-driven architecture

Mentoring

Communication

Scalability

Tools

Spark

Kafka

Hudi

Airflow

Job description

At H1, we believe access to the best healthcare information is a basic human right. Our mission is to provide a platform that can optimally inform every doctor interaction globally, promoting health equity and building trust in healthcare systems. To accomplish this, our teams harness data and AI technology to unlock groundbreaking medical insights and convert those insights into action that results in optimal patient outcomes and accelerates an equitable and inclusive drug‑development lifecycle.

WHAT YOU'LL DO AT H1

As a Staff Backend Engineer on the Real World Evidence (RWE) team, you’ll be one of the most senior individual contributors and a key technical leader responsible for building the backend systems and platform capabilities that power some of H1’s largest healthcare datasets. You will partner closely with Product, Data Engineering, AI/ML, and downstream engineering teams to turn ambiguous business problems into scalable technical solutions that improve how healthcare data is processed, linked, and delivered.

You will:

• Act as a self‑starter who drives execution independently, taking ownership and initiative with minimal day‑to‑day direction.
• Lead high‑impact backend and platform initiatives that support large‑scale healthcare data processing and critical customer‑facing capabilities.
• Own architectural decisions for backend services and distributed systems, ensuring solutions are scalable, reliable, and aligned with H1’s long‑term technical vision.
• Design and build highly scalable backend services, APIs, and processing systems capable of supporting hundreds of terabytes of healthcare data.
• Partner closely with Product, Data Engineering, AI/ML, and Engineering leadership to translate ambiguous business needs into technical roadmaps and production‑ready solutions.
• Collaborate across engineering teams to reduce technical bottlenecks, improve platform capabilities, and accelerate delivery.
• Represent engineering in cross‑functional planning discussions, helping shape technical strategy while influencing without formal authority.
• Mentor engineers through technical leadership, architectural guidance, design reviews, and thoughtful engineering practices.

ABOUT YOU

You’re a Staff‑level backend engineer who enjoys solving difficult technical problems at scale. You thrive in environments where requirements aren’t always fully defined and enjoy bringing clarity to ambiguity. You naturally think in terms of systems, architecture, and long‑term scalability while remaining hands‑on enough to build production software.

You:

• Have a proven track record of leading complex technical initiatives from concept through production.
• Bring deep experience designing scalable backend platforms, distributed systems, APIs, event‑driven architectures, or infrastructure platforms.
• Enjoy solving messy technical problems and making pragmatic architectural trade‑offs.
• Communicate effectively with technical and non‑technical stakeholders, helping shape direction across teams.
• Raise the engineering bar through thoughtful design, high‑quality code, and strong technical leadership.
• Invest in mentoring teammates and improving engineering practices across the organization.

REQUIREMENTS

• 8+ years building scalable backend software, distributed systems, or platform infrastructure in production environments.
• Strong experience designing scalable, reliable backend architectures and making technical decisions around system design, performance, and maintainability.
• Strong programming experience in Python or another modern backend language (Java, Go, Scala, C++, etc.) with the ability to quickly become productive in Python.
• Experience building systems that process large volumes of data or high‑throughput distributed workloads.
• Experience working in cloud‑native environments (AWS preferred) and deploying distributed systems in production.
• Demonstrated ability to independently lead complex technical initiatives, influence architectural direction, and partner effectively across engineering and product organizations.
• Experience with Spark, Kafka, Hudi, Airflow, or other distributed data technologies is a plus—but we’re equally interested in backend engineers with strong distributed systems experience who are excited to deepen their expertise in modern data engineering.

COMPENSATION

This role pays $170,000 to $190,000 per year, based on experience, in addition to stock options.

BENEFITS

• Full suite of health insurance options, in addition to generous paid time off
• Pre‑planned company‑wide wellness holidays
• Retirement options
• Health & charitable donation stipends
• Impactful Business Resource Groups
• Flexible work hours & the opportunity to work from anywhere
• The opportunity to work with leading biotech and life sciences companies in an innovative industry with a mission to improve healthcare around the globe

H1 is proud to be an equal‑opportunity employer that celebrates diversity and is committed to creating an inclusive workplace with equal opportunity for all applicants and teammates. Our goal is to recruit the most talented people from a diverse candidate pool regardless of race, color, ancestry, national origin, religion, disability, sex (including pregnancy), age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, marital status, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by law.

H1 is committed to working with and providing access and reasonable accommodation to applicants with mental and/or physical disabilities. If you require an accommodation, please reach out to your recruiter once you’ve begun the interview process. All requests for accommodations are treated discreetly and confidentially, as practical and permitted by law.

Applies until 8/15/2026.