Staff Python Engineer

Alaffia Health; New York (NY); On-site; USD 190,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Medical, Dental, Vision benefits

Flexible vacation policy

Direct access to Leadership

Job summary

Alaffia Health is hiring a Staff Python Engineer to build the GenAI framework and scale our AI-powered medical billing platform. You will own backend systems, set technical direction, and drive AI tooling adoption across engineering, partnering with data, DevOps, and product teams.

You bring 10+ years of strong Python backend experience, AWS and cloud infrastructure know-how, and a proven track record mentoring engineers.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, incl. API and backend data processing at scale.
• Expert-level Python proficiency with test suites and CI/CD experience.
• Strong design skills for distributed backend systems and cloud infra (AWS).
• Hands-on Docker/Kubernetes, observability, logging, metrics, tracing.
• Experience adopting AI coding assistants to boost team productivity.
• Excellent communication and mentoring of senior engineers.

Responsibilities

• Architect and own delivery of complex backend systems including GenAI framework.
• Set technical direction and coding standards for Python backend development.
• Design, develop and deploy data-intensive Python applications in production.
• Drive AI coding tool adoption and measure productivity gains.
• Mentor senior engineers and influence decisions across teams.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to craft GenAI-powered workflows.
• Own testing strategy, observability, and build-vs-buy decisions for critical infra.

Skills

Python

API development

Backend architecture

CI/CD tooling

Cloud AWS

Observability

Mentoring

Communication

AI tooling

Datadog integration

Tools

Docker

Kubernetes

Airflow

Dagster

Datadog

AWS SQS/Kinesis

Job description

Every year, U.S. health plans lose billions to improper payments and administrative waste. That wasted spending ultimately trickles down across the healthcare ecosystem, driving up costs for plans, providers, and patients alike. We're here to change that paradigm.

Alaffia is a new kind of claims operations partner for health plans. Using expert clinicians and transparent AI, we deliver deeper insights, smarter automation, and consistently better outcomes across the entire lifecycle of claims. With Alaffia, health plans can cut wasted spending more effectively than ever — and provide their members the most affordable care.

We're a high-growth, venture-backed Series B healthtech startup based in NYC and are actively scaling our company. Join us in helping to build a healthcare system that works better for everyone.

*This position requires current authorization to work in the United States. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to sponsor work visas at this time.

About the Role & What You'll Be Doing

Alaffia Health is a healthcare AI startup revolutionizing medical billing and data automation. Our AI-driven platform leverages state-of-the-art generative AI and machine learning technologies to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and compliance in medical billing and auditing. As we scale, we're looking for a Staff Python Engineer to solve complex, cross-team technical challenges, set architectural direction, and act as a force multiplier across our engineering org.

You will be tasked to build the GenAI framework for the engineering team to build AI agents on, and lead the effort to scale our GenAI applications. You'll translate strategic goals into technical roadmaps, drive execution, and champion AI-augmented development practices, all while tackling challenging problems in backend architecture, system design, and cloud infrastructure.

What You'll Do

• Architect and own delivery of complex, high-impact backend systems spanning multiple teams, including the GenAI framework other engineers build AI agents on
• Set technical direction and coding/design standards for Python backend development across the org
• Design, develop, and deploy data-intensive applications in Python in a production environment
• Drive AI coding tool adoption (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) — establish best practices and measure productivity gains
• Mentor senior engineers and influence technical decisions without formal authority
• Partner cross-functionally with fullstack, data, DevOps, and AI engineers, as well as product and business teams, to craft a feature-rich, GenAI-powered agentic workflow framework
• Own testing strategy, system health, observability, and build-vs-buy decisions for critical infrastructure

What We're Looking For

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of leading complex, high-impact projects at scale, including large-scale, production-level API development and backend data processing
• Expert-level Python, with hands-on experience developing test suites and working with CI/CD tooling for automation
• Hands‑on experience with relational databases and data model design
• Strong system design and cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred), including CI/CD, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and observability practices such as logging, user activity metrics, and integration with Datadog or similar tooling
• Demonstrated success adopting AI coding assistants to improve team productivity
• Excellent communication skills and experience mentoring senior engineers
• Healthcare tech/regulatory experience (HIPAA, HITRUST) a plus

Preferred

• Building SaaS apps in the healthcare sector
• Experience shipping user-facing AI products or AI/ML model deployment
• Building Python SDKs/libraries
• Experience with vector databases
• Experience with data processing orchestrators, such as Airflow or Dagster
• Experience with message queue systems, such as AWS SQS, Kinesis, or Kafka
• Open source contributions or technical publications

Our Culture

Alaffia was born out of our founders' personal connection to the inefficiency of the U.S. healthcare system. We are deeply mission‑driven, with an abiding belief that technology can help create a better future for everyone — and we're looking for others who share our passion for change to join the team.

What Else Do You Get?

• Competitive compensation package (cash + equity)
• Medical, Dental and Vision benefits
• Flexible, paid vacation policy
• Work in a flat organizational structure — direct access to Leadership