Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Position Summary:
We are looking for a Lead Backend Software Engineer to join our cross-disciplined team enabling the next generation of Healthcare Patient Conversation features! Within our Patient Experience sub-division, we offer patients seamless access to their health records through our innovative athenaPatient mobile application and browser-based solutions, and we break down barriers by connecting patients to their providers through cutting-edge telehealth solutions. With your help, we will revolutionize the way healthcare providers engage their patients through AI-enhanced communication methods. This role reports to the Senior Engineering Manager.
About the Team:
Our Conversational Messaging Platform development team is building a greenfield next generation capability for healthcare providers and their patients. We connect patients with their healthcare providers in their time of need over their preferred channel (SMS, secure web chat, Voice) by developing and supporting our emerging Patient Conversations product. Our team is comprised of talented frontend and backend software developers, User Experience Designers, and embedded Product Owners who collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, architects, and Product Managers. We embrace an experimental mindset in how we build and deliver software – continuously exploring methodologies and practices that help us ship quality functionality quickly and gather real customer feedback as features evolve.
Essential Job Responsibilities:
Design, build, and support a high-availability enterprise service enabling healthcare providers to effectively communicate with their patients across organizations of all sizes
Design, define, and continuously refine prompt engineering strategies; integrate and operationalize LLMs within backend services to enable intelligent workflows, automate decisioning, and enhance provider-patient communication capabilities
Leverage AI-assisted development tools (e.g., Claude, Augment, Codex) to accelerate the SDLC - from generating specifications and performing technical discovery to implementing code and delivering timely fixes
Mentor and coach junior developers and colleagues unfamiliar with your areas of expertise
Ensure adherence to SDLC practices within the team, promoting good documentation and software engineering best practices
Influence coding standards and development processes for the team
Collaborate with cross-functional teams, architects, and Product Managers
Additional Job Responsibilities:
Proactively identify and address stability, scalability, security, PHI, and resiliency challenges
Integrate our capabilities with third-party messaging services via 3rd party APIs
Expected Education & Experience:
8+ years of software engineering experience with enterprise server development (Required)
3+ years of experience leading cloud-hosted SaaS products (Required)
Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools throughout full SDLC (Required)
In-depth familiarity with microservice development including hexagonal/CLEAN architecture and distributed systems (Required)
Experience with Spring Boot and relational database/SQL or No SQL DB (Required)
Experience with deployment (CI/CD) pipelines including Jenkins or Harness along with git, Bitbucket, etc. (Required)
2+ years of designing, evaluating, and integrating LLM-based solutions, including prompt engineering, model evaluation, and production integration within enterprise backend services (Preferred)
Bachelor's degree in a Computer Science related field (Preferred)
Experience in healthcare or customer outreach domains (Preferred)
Experience with AWS EKS and Kubernetes (Preferred)
Expected Compensation
$136,000 - $232,000The base salary range shown reflects the full range for this role from minimum to maximum. At athenahealth, base pay depends on multiple factors, including job-related experience, relevant knowledge and skills, how your qualifications compare to others in similar roles, and geographical market rates. Base pay is only one part of our competitive Total Rewards package - depending on role eligibility, we offer both short and long-term incentives by way of an annual discretionary bonus plan, variable compensation plan, and equity plans.
About athenahealth
Our vision: In an industry that becomes more complex by the day, we stand for simplicity. We offer IT solutions and expert services that eliminate the daily hurdles preventing healthcare providers from focusing entirely on their patients — powered by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.
Our company culture: Our talented employees — or athenistas, as we call ourselves — spark the innovation and passion needed to accomplish our vision. We are a diverse group of dreamers and do-ers with unique knowledge, expertise, backgrounds, and perspectives. We unite as mission-driven problem-solvers with a deep desire to achieve our vision and make our time here count. Our award-winning culture is built around shared values of inclusiveness, accountability, and support.
Our DEI commitment: Our vision of accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all requires addressing the inequities that stand in the way. That's one reason we prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion in every aspect of our business, from attracting and sustaining a diverse workforce to maintaining an inclusive environment for athenistas, our partners, customers and the communities where we work and serve.
What we can do for you:
Along with health and financial benefits, athenistas enjoy perks specific to each location, including commuter support, employee assistance programs, tuition assistance, employee resource groups, and collaborative workspaces — some offices even welcome dogs.
We also encourage a better work-life balance for athenistas with our flexibility. While we know in-office collaboration is critical to our vision, we recognize that not all work needs to be done within an office environment, full-time. With consistent communication and digital collaboration tools, athenahealth enables employees to find a balance that feels fulfilling and productive for each individual situation.
In addition to our traditional benefits and perks, we sponsor events throughout the year, including book clubs, external speakers, and hackathons. We provide athenistas with a company culture based on learning, the support of an engaged team, and an inclusive environment where all employees are valued.
Learn more about our culture and benefits here: athenahealth.com/careers
https://www.athenahealth.com/careers/equal-opportunity
Skills Required
- 8+ years of software engineering experience
- 3+ years leading cloud-hosted SaaS products
- Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools
- In-depth familiarity with microservice development
- Experience with Spring Boot and database technologies
- Experience with CI/CD pipelines
- 2+ years of designing and integrating LLM-based solutions
- Bachelor's degree in a Computer Science field
- Experience in healthcare or customer outreach domains
- Experience with AWS EKS and Kubernetes
athenahealth Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about athenahealth and has not been reviewed or approved by athenahealth.
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Healthcare Strength — Health coverage is described as comprehensive, including medical, dental, and vision options alongside additional protections like accident and critical illness coverage. Mental health support and EAP-style counseling resources are also part of the package.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Time-away offerings include PTO that covers vacation and sick time, paid holidays, and options for leaves of absence and sabbaticals. Flexible time off is positioned as a meaningful part of the overall rewards package for some roles.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits include a 401(k) plan with employer matching, supported by broader financial wellbeing resources. Equity and performance bonuses are also referenced as part of total rewards.
athenahealth Insights
What We Do
athenahealth strives to cure complexity and simplify the practice of healthcare. Our innovative technology includes electronic health records, revenue cycle management, and patient engagement solutions that help healthcare providers, administrators, and practices eliminate friction for patients while getting paid efficiently. athenahealth partners with practices with purpose-built software backed by expertise to produce the insights needed to drive better clinical and financial outcomes. We’re inspired by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all. For more information, please visit www.athenahealth.com
Why Work With Us
We are here to make an impact on the healthcare industry at scale. We enable our diverse teams to move fast, grapple with interesting technical challenges, and innovate at every level. We are on a modernization journey and build on the hybrid cloud. We deliver best-in-class solutions to help every patient receive the best possible care.
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