Staff Software Engineer

Plenful; San Francisco (CA); Hybrid; USD 210,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare Coverage

401(k) with Company Match

Equity

Unlimited PTO

Daily Lunch Stipend

Wellness Stipend

Commuter Benefits

Parental Leave

Job summary

Plenful is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to own the data platform powering our AI-driven automation engine. You’ll define core data abstractions, shape data representations, and ensure auditability across decisions in a fast-growing healthcare tech stack on AWS, Postgres, and Python.

As the technical owner, you’ll guide architecture, set data contracts, and collaborate with product leads to scale reliability and performance while enabling rapid feature delivery.

Qualifications

• 12+ years in professional software engineering, building backend or data infrastructure in production.
• Deep expertise in relational databases: schema design, query performance, and data modeling tradeoffs.
• Designed and evolved data models in complex, growing systems.
• Operated production systems at scale, including incident response and reliability work.
• Hands-on coding in backend systems (Python-heavy environment).
• Strong reliability: observability, testing, and data integrity.
• Able to design data models with evolving product requirements and AI capabilities.

Responsibilities

• Own the design and evolution of the core data model — domain entities, actions, and the audit trail that governs every automated decision.
• Build the data layer that AI agents read from and write to, ensuring context and compliance.
• Define how domain knowledge gets structured, versioned, and queried for richer context as the platform matures.
• Establish data contracts and APIs that give feature teams clean, stable interfaces to build against.
• Drive platform reliability as the customer base and traffic grow while maintaining performance.
• Set technical direction for the data platform in partnership with product and feature team leads.

Skills

12+ years experience

Data modeling

Relational databases

Python

Backend systems

Reliability

Healthcare domain knowledge

Tools

Postgres

AWS

SQL

Job description

About Plenful

Plenful is on a mission to transform healthcare operations from the inside out. Fresh off our $50M Series B and backed by Notable Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, TQ Ventures, Susa/Kivu Ventures, and other leading investors, we’re building the category-defining AI workflow automation platform that healthcare teams rely on to operate smarter, faster, and more efficiently. Our technology empowers healthcare operators across hospital and health systems, pharmacies and payors to eliminate manual work, reduce administrative burden, and improve compliance, all while unlocking critical revenue to fund programs for their in-need patient populations.

Built by healthcare operators for healthcare operators, Plenful is driven by a deep understanding of the challenges facing today’s care teams. We’re passionate about equipping healthcare workers with world-class tools that deliver real, measurable impact, and we’re proud to serve 90+ leading health systems across the country. If you’re excited to help shape the future of healthcare, we’d love to meet you.

About the Role

Plenful is hiring a Staff Software Engineer to own the data platform that powers our automation engine. You'll operate as the technical owner of this layer — setting direction, making architectural calls, and writing code.

Our platform automates complex, multi-step processes in a regulated healthcare domain. The data layer underneath — how we model domain entities, serve rich context to AI-driven automation, and maintain auditability across every decision — is the foundation everything else is built on. The stack is AWS, Postgres, and Python. It needs to be fast, correct, and built to evolve.

This is greenfield platform work with real constraints: healthcare compliance, rapid customer growth, and AI systems that depend on the quality of the data you provide them. You'll define core data abstractions, shape how the platform represents and queries its operational world, and build the systems that let feature teams ship with confidence. This role is hybrid.

What You’ll Do

• Own the design and evolution of the core data model — domain entities, actions, and the audit trail that governs every automated decision.
• Build the data layer that AI agents read from and write to: expressive enough that models can reason over operational context, governed enough for healthcare compliance.
• Define how domain knowledge gets structured, versioned, and queried, laying the groundwork for richer context as the platform matures.
• Establish data contracts and APIs that give feature teams clean, stable interfaces to build against.
• Drive platform reliability as we double our customer base and traffic without losing performance.
• Set technical direction for the data platform in partnership with product and feature team leads.

You’ll know it's working when the data platform becomes a lasting competitive advantage, feature teams ship rapidly and safely against clear contracts, the platform stays stable as customers and traffic double, and the data foundation compounds in value as AI capabilities evolve.

You May Be a Fit If

• You’ve spent 12+ years in professional software engineering, building backend or data infrastructure in production.
• You have deep expertise in relational databases: schema design, query performance, and data modeling tradeoffs.
• You’ve designed and evolved data models in complex, growing systems.
• You’ve operated production systems at scale, including incident response and reliability work.
• You can code hands‑on in backend systems (Python-heavy environment, but you're language-agnostic).
• You have strong reliability instincts: observability, testing, and data integrity.
• You make good decisions with incomplete information — designing data models while the domain is still being codified and product requirements evolve alongside AI capabilities.
• Bonus points for experience in healthcare, fintech, or other compliance-heavy infrastructure environments; a background at high-throughput infrastructure companies like Stripe, Brex, or Notion; a practical understanding of applied AI systems; and comfort in customer-facing technical discussions.

Why You'll Love Working Here

• Mission-Driven, World-Class Team — Join an exceptional group of professionals aligned around a meaningful mission and committed to making an impact
• Opportunities for Growth — Strengthen your expertise through collaboration with experienced, high-performing leaders across the organization
• Flexible Hybrid Work Environment — We're remote-first, with meaningful office presence in San Francisco and New York. R&D roles follow a hybrid model, with two days per week in our San Francisco office

Benefits & Perks

• Healthcare Coverage — Full medical, dental, and vision insurance for you and participation for your family
• 401(k) with Company Match — Plenful matches 50% of your first 3% contributed
• Equity — Every full-time employee shares in our success
• Unlimited PTO — Take the time you need, when you need it
• Daily Lunch Stipend — $100/week to cover your midday meals
• Wellness Stipend — $100/month to support your health and well-being
• Commuter Benefits — $100/month for SF and NYC-based employees
• Parental Leave — Paid leave to support growing families