Staff Software Engineer

AirPay; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 160,000 - 220,000; Full time

Job summary

AirPay is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to lead architectural evolution across payments, ML, real-time systems, and platform tooling. You will shape technical decisions, mentor engineers, and collaborate with leadership to solve high-impact problems with broad influence.

You will work on systems powering patient payments, insurance workflows, and reconciliation, while integrating providers and delivering AI-driven experiences.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of software engineering experience with increasing scope and technical leadership.
• Strong track record building and scaling complex web applications and backend systems.
• Deep experience with modern backend architecture and systems design.
• Hands-on experience with TypeScript, Node.js, MySQL, Redis, and AWS.
• Expertise in relational data modeling, SQL, and performance optimization.
• Good architectural instincts and ability to simplify systems.
• Strong communication skills and cross-team influence.
• Builder mindset: pragmatic, curious, fast-moving, and deep when needed.

Responsibilities

• Set technical direction for major platform parts and influence architecture roadmap.
• Lead cross-team initiatives to improve scalability, reliability, and velocity.
• Make strong technical decisions in ambiguous environments with tradeoffs in mind.
• Design and build critical systems end-to-end from architecture to production.
• Partner with product, design, data, and leadership to translate business goals into technical strategy.
• Mentor senior engineers and raise the team's level through collaboration.
• Improve developer experience, observability, CI/CD, and operational excellence.
• Evaluate new technologies and approaches, including AI for durable advantage.
• Write RFCs, design docs, and proposals to align teams.

Skills

Leadership

Web applications

Backend systems

TypeScript

Node.js

MySQL

Redis

AWS

SQL optimization

Communication

Tools

TypeScript

Node.js

MySQL

Redis

AWS

Job description

AirPay is building software to make the financial experience in healthcare dramatically better for patients and providers.

We partner with leading dental groups and insurance carriers to modernize how practices verify coverage, manage billing, and get paid. We are growing quickly, solving real problems for customers at scale, and backed by top-tier investors including IA Ventures, along with founders of Flatiron Health, Clover Health, Shutterstock, and others.

This is an opportunity to join a fast-growing company with real traction and help shape the technical foundation of the business.

The role

We are hiring a Staff Software Engineer to help lead the next phase of AirPay’s technical evolution.

This is a high-impact, high-autonomy role for an engineer who wants to do more than just build features. You will help define architecture, guide major technical decisions, mentor other engineers, and partner closely with leadership on the hardest and most important problems in the business.

You will work across core products, platform, payments, real-time systems, internal tooling, and AI-powered experiences. Some problems are deeply technical. Others are ambiguous and cross-functional. The common thread is leverage where the work you do should make the entire engineering organization and product platform better.

You should be excited about building in an environment where the pace is high, the problems are real, and the best answer is not always obvious.

What you’ll work on

AirPay sits at the intersection of:

• Payments and financial workflows
• Machine learning / LLM driven product experiences

You may work on things like:

• Designing the systems that power patient payments, billing workflows, and insurance-related operations
• Building reliable event-driven infrastructure for high-volume, low-latency workflows
• Improving the architecture, performance, and maintainability of core platform systems
• Integrating payment providers and building reconciliation, ledger, and transaction infrastructure
• Bringing ML and LLM capabilities into production in ways that create real product value
• Reducing complexity across the stack so teams can ship faster and more confidently
• Raising the quality bar through better technical design, code review, documentation, and engineering standards

What you’ll do

• Set technical direction for major parts of the platform and influence the broader architecture roadmap
• Lead cross-team initiatives that improve scalability, reliability, and engineering velocity
• Make strong technical decisions in ambiguous environments, with good judgment around tradeoffs
• Design and build critical systems end-to-end, from architecture through production
• Partner with product, design, data, and leadership to translate business goals into technical strategy
• Mentor senior engineers and help level up the team through hands‑on collaboration
• Improve developer experience, observability, CI/CD, and operational excellence
• Evaluate new technologies and approaches pragmatically, including where AI can create durable advantage
• Write clear RFCs, design docs, and technical proposals that help teams align and move faster

What we’re looking for

• 10+ years of software engineering experience, with a history of increasing scope, ownership, and technical leadership
• Strong track record building and scaling complex web applications and backend systems
• Deep experience with modern backend architecture and systems design
• Strong hands‑on experience with technologies such as TypeScript, Node.js, MySQL, Redis, and AWS, or comparable tools
• Expertise in relational data modeling, SQL, and performance optimization
• Good architectural instincts and the ability to simplify systems rather than over‑engineer them
• Strong communication skills and the ability to influence across teams
• A builder mindset: pragmatic, curious, fast-moving, and willing to go deep when needed

Especially valuable experience

• Payments, fintech, or transaction‑heavy systems
• Healthcare, insurance, or other regulated environments
• PCI, HIPAA, or security/compliance‑sensitive systems
• ML or LLM integration in production applications
• Platform or infrastructure engineering
• Growth‑stage startup experience, especially in staff or principal‑level roles

How we work

We are a hybrid team with both NYC-based and remote employees. We work closely together, move quickly, and stay close to customers. We care about product quality, technical quality, and solving real operational problems in a thoughtful way.

At AirPay, strong engineers do not just ship code. They shape systems, raise standards, and help the company make better decisions.

Why this role

This is a chance to:

• Own meaningful technical problems with real business impact
• Help define the architecture of a fast-growing platform
• Work on a product used by major provider groups and healthcare organizations
• Operate in a role with real influence, not just execution responsibility
• Build at the frontier of healthcare, payments, and AI

If you want to work on hard problems, have outsized impact, and help build an important company at an inflection point, we’d love to talk.

The comp range for this role is $160,000 – $220,000, with final compensation determined based on experience, scope, and leveling.