Staff Software Developer (Remote US)

Smile Digital Health; Northern (KY); Hybrid; USD 140,000 - 175,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote Work Environment

Flexible Time Away From Work

Competitive Salary & Benefits

RRSP/TFSA/401K

Life & Disability

Employee Assistance Program

FHIR Study Program

Learning & Growth Opportunities

Job summary

Smile Digital Health is seeking a Staff Software Developer to lead core platform features and drive technical excellence across teams. You will mentor developers, shape architecture for healthcare data platforms, and deliver end‑to‑end features with RESTful/FHIR APIs, Kafka pipelines, and cloud-native tooling.

A senior, hands-on role with strong collaboration across stakeholders. The position offers a remote-friendly environment with competitive salary and health benefits.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in software development lifecycle, ideally in healthcare technology.
• 4+ years in senior or staff-level development roles.
• Post-secondary degree in CS/SE or equivalent experience.
• Proven experience with unit and functional testing.
• Expertise in backend with Java and Spring Boot; microservices & distributed systems.
• APIs: RESTful and FHIR-based; data pipelines, ETL/ELT, streaming (Kafka).
• Cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP); Kubernetes, Docker, Helm; CI/CD.
• Experience with healthcare data standards (HL7, FHIR); dQM/CQL a plus.
• Strong technical decision-making, mentoring, and cross-functional writing/speaking.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop and implement Smile Digital Health core features.
• Lead sessions for new features; provide design estimates for SOWs.
• Resolve complex challenges; ensure interoperable, performant solutions.
• Guide distributed dQM processing, CQL execution, validation and reasoning.
• Mentor junior developers; enforce high coding standards across teams.
• Collaborate with product and customers to refine requirements and design.

Skills

Java & Spring Boot

Backend development

Microservices

RESTful APIs & FHIR

Cloud platforms

CI/CD

Team leadership

Communication

Healthcare data standards

Cross-functional collaboration

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Software Engineering

Tools

Kubernetes (EKS)

Docker

Helm

Kafka

Job description

Working for a company like Smile Digital Health means supporting our mandate for #BetterGlobalHealth. We strive towards this goal every day, and the results can be seen in the impact of our innovative health data platform and data management solutions, which are used in over 20 countries. We were #19 on Deloitte's Technology Fast 50 Ranking for 2024!

Smile Digital Health makes it easy for healthcare stakeholders to collect and exchange data with our leading FHIR-based data liberation platform.

At its heart, the Smile platform enables people and organizations to better manage healthcare data. We helpgenerate andliberate structured healthcare data to ensure effective delivery across care teams and health systems bringing #BetterGlobalHealth to patients everyday!

The Staff Software Developer is a technical leader that works closely with all areas of the business to drive high impact Clinical Intelligence projects by gathering product requirements and design, evaluating and resolving complex system challenges, and implementing and testing components of the system. This role will also guide and mentor associate level Software Developers and drive a culture of technical excellence across the organization.

Responsibilities

Core Software Development:

• Design, develop and implement Smile Digital Health’s core application features.
• Lead tasking sessions for new features.
• Provide high-level design and estimates to support SOW and innovation projects.
• Analyze and solve complex and escalated challenges, identify risks and roadblocks, and effectively implement solutions.
• Develop and analyze solutions to ensure that they are interoperable, performant and maintainable.
• Analyze and evaluate requirements and propose high-level design and technical solutions at all stages of development.
• Lead and support distributed dQM processing, CQL execution, validation and clinical reasoning

Technical Leadership:

• Act as a key technical leader for complex project challenges and roadblocks.
• Serve as technical lead for customer-facing implementation.
• Provide guidance and coaching to team members to resolve complex technical challenges.
• Advise and drive software development best practices to ensure robust and solid technical design.
• Work closely with all areas of the business to refine product requirements and design, implement and test components of the system.
• Mentor and coach junior Software Developers to foster a culture of learning, growth and technical excellence.
• Establish and maintain high coding standards for the team and/or department.

Requirements

• 10+ years in the software development lifecycle, ideally within healthcare technology; 4+ years in senior or staff-level development roles.
• Post-secondary degree, diploma, or certificate in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or equivalent professional experience.
• Proven experience developing software applications with strong unit and functional testing practices.
• Expertise in backend development using Java and Spring Boot; hands‑on experience with microservices and distributed systems architecture.
• Demonstrated skills in designing and developing APIs, preferably RESTful and FHIR‑based.
• Experience building and maintaining data pipelines, ETL/ELT processes, and streaming systems (e.g., Kafka).
• Hands‑on experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP), Kubernetes (EKS), Docker, and Helm.
• Experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and infrastructure‑as‑code practices.
• Demonstrated ability to deliver end‑to‑end features and solutions.
• Experience building complex healthcare systems; familiarity with healthcare data standards (HL7, FHIR) preferred.
• Exposure to Digital Quality Measures (dQM), Clinical Quality Language (CQL), and terminology standards (SNOMED, LOINC) is an asset.
• Proven ability to drive technical decisions, lead projects, and mentor development teams.
• Demonstrated ability to translate technical concepts to clear and understandable non‑technical terms for cross‑functional teams and customers.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills with strong collaboration abilities across technical and non‑technical stakeholders.

$140,000 - $175,000 a year

Smile discloses that artificial intelligence (AI) may be used in portions of the recruitment and selection process, such as resume screening or application assessment. All hiring decisions are ultimately made by qualified human decision‑makers, and AI tools are used to support — not replace — fair and equitable hiring practices.

Some of the benefits we offer:

• Remote Work Environment
• Flexible Time Away From Work Policy including PTO, Personal and Sick Days
• Competitive Salary and Health/Medical Benefits
• RRSP/TFSA/401K Employee Contribution
• Life and Disability
• Employee Assistance Program
• FHIR Study Program and Skillsoft Learning
• Super HAPI Fun Club

Smile's core values include respect, inclusion, embracing our differences, and celebrating shared values because our people are the foundation of our success. We are big on creating a sense of belonging and empowering each other to bring our authentic selves to work. We are dedicated to fostering a workplace that values diversity, equity, and inclusion.

We welcome and encourage candidates of all backgrounds to apply. Candidates are encouraged to inform us if they wish to discuss or require accommodations during interviews or while working at Smile.