Senior Software Engineer - Distributed Systems

Become a part of our caring community We are seeking an accomplished Senior Software Engineer to design, implement, and operate mission-critical stateful services that form the backbone of real-time, automated decisioning and personalization platforms. These systems are responsible for maintaining authoritative state, orchestrating lifecycle transitions, and ensuring reliable downstream effects—often in high-concurrency, low-latency environments. This position is ideal for engineers with a strong grasp of state machines, idempotency, distributed systems, and “exactly-once” execution semantics. You will also employ advanced AI-assisted and agentic engineering tools to drive correctness, velocity, resilience, and scalability. Key Responsibilities State Machine Architecture & Implementation Design, build, and maintain explicit state machines governing:Lifecycle transitions (e.g., open → in progress → completed → suppressed)Validation of permissible transitionsTime-based and event-driven changesEnsure state machines are:Clearly modeled and not hidden in code logicDeterministic, reproducible, and auditableEasily understood and testableRobust against illegal or duplicate transitions through comprehensive validation Transactional State Memory & Exactly-Once Processing Architect and manage transactional state stores serving as the single source of truthSupport safe, high-concurrency read/write operationsUphold system invariants across partial failures and recovery scenariosImplement robust idempotency controls so:Requests can be safely retriedCommands execute at most onceDuplicate events do not compromise state integrityDevelop APIs and workflows resilient to retries, restarts, and replay events Reliable Side Effects via Outbox Pattern Employ the outbox pattern to guarantee atomicity of state updates and event publicationPrevent loss or duplication of side effectsMaintain clear separation between state mutation and downstream event deliveryFacilitate replay, backfill, and recovery operations without breaching state guaranteesIntegrate seamlessly with messaging and streaming platforms, ensuring fault tolerance Distributed Systems & Concurrency Management Design for correctness under concurrent updates, network partitions, partial failures, and service redeploymentsApply expertise in:Idempotency keysOptimistic and pessimistic locking strategiesEvent ordering and causalityBalance rigorous correctness with performance and latency requirements AI-Assisted & Agentic Engineering Practices Leverage AI-powered and agentic tools to:Automatically generate and validate state transition testsProbe edge cases and concurrency challengesAssist in code reviews, refactoring, and documentationAccelerate debugging, incident analysis, and root cause discoveryUse AI responsibly to enhance productivity while maintaining clarity and system integrity Observability, Auditability & Trust Engineer services with robust observability through:Structured logging, metrics, and alertingDistributed tracingEnsure all state transitions and emitted events are:Fully traceable and reproducibleAuditable for compliance and investigative needs Collaboration & Technical Leadership Partner with platform, data, and quality engineering teams to assure end-to-end reliabilityParticipate in architecture and design reviews to elevate system quality standardsMentor and guide engineers on best practices for safe, reliable, and maintainable distributed systems Required Qualifications Use your skills to make an impact Bachelor's degree in computer science or related field6+ years of experience in backend or platform engineeringDemonstrated hands-on expertise with:State machine modeling and lifecycle managementTransactional state storesIdempotent API and workflow designIn-depth understanding of:Exactly-once or effectively once processingFailure modes in distributed environmentsProficiency in one or more contemporary languages (e.g., Java, Kotlin, Go, Python)Experience with AI-assisted development tools for productivity and code quality Preferred Qualifications Experience with outbox, transactional messaging, or event sourcing patternsFamiliarity with low-latency, high-throughput architecturesOperational experience in systems requiring strict auditability and correctnessBackground in regulated or mission-critical domains Success Indicators State transitions are precise, deterministic, and resilient to retriesSide effects reliably occur exactly once, even during failures or replaysSystems recover gracefully from crashes and redeploymentsAI-driven tooling decreases defect rates and expedites debuggingThe state layer is trusted as the definitive source of truth across engineering teams Why This Role is Critical In contemporary automated platforms, correctness and reliability hinge on the integrity of state, not just requests. This role ensures that every state transition and side effect is executed once—and only once—providing a solid foundation for trust, reliability, compliance, and scalability throughout the system. Qualified candidates are required to currently live in, or be willing to move to, a commutable distance for a hybrid (~3 days in-office) work arrangement Location options are currently: Washington, D.C. metropolitan area  Louisville, KY metropolitan area  Denver, CO metropolitan area  Dallas, TX metropolitan area  Ft. Lauderdale, FL metropolitan area Work Style: Remote/Hybrid. Occasional travel to Humana's offices for training or meetings may be required. Work Hours: Typical business hours are Monday-Friday, 8 hours/day, 5 days/week-- some flexibility might be possible, depending on business needs. Very minimal travel might be required for training, meetings, and/or conferences Interview Format As part of our hiring process, we will be using on-demand technology provided by Hire Vue, a third-party vendor. This technology provides our team of recruiters and hiring managers with an enhanced method for decision-making through on-demand candidate assessments. If you are selected to move forward from your application prescreen, you will receive correspondence inviting you to participate in an on-demand assessment with pre-determined questions. You should anticipate the assessment to take approximately 10-15 minutes. Your on-demand assessment will be reviewed, and you will subsequently be informed if you will be moving forward to next round of interviews. SSN Task via Workday Should you be extended a formal employment offer you will receive a request to enter your SSN into our Workday system to scan for duplicate profiles. Work at Home Requirements: To ensure Home or Hybrid Home/Office employees’ ability to work effectively, the self-provided internet service of Home or Hybrid Home/Office employees must meet the following criteria: At minimum, a download speed of 25 Mbps and an upload speed of 10 Mbps is required; wireless, wired cable or DSL connection is suggested. In certain roles, the minimum recommended internet speed required by Humana may not be sufficient for business needs. Humana reserves the right to require associates to upgrade their internet service if necessary. Work from a dedicated space lacking ongoing interruptions to protect member PHI / HIPAA information. Travel: While this is a remote position, occasional travel to Humana's offices for training or meetings may be required. Scheduled Weekly Hours 40 Pay Range The compensation range below reflects a good faith estimate of starting base pay for full time (40 hours per week) employment at the time of posting. The pay range may be higher or lower based on geographic location and individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, certifications, etc. $106,900 - $147,000 per year This job is eligible for a bonus incentive plan. This incentive opportunity is based upon company and/or individual performance. Description Of Benefits Humana, Inc. and its affiliated subsidiaries (collectively, “Humana”) offers competitive benefits that support whole-person well-being. Associate benefits are designed to encourage personal wellness and smart healthcare decisions for you and your family while also knowing your life extends outside of work. Among our benefits, Humana provides medical, dental and vision benefits, 401(k) retirement savings plan, time off (including paid time off, company and personal holidays, paid parental and caregiver leave), short-term and long-term disability, life insurance and many other opportunities. Application Deadline: 08-30-2026 About Us About Humana: Humana Inc. (NYSE: HUM) is a leading U.S. healthcare company. Through our Humana insurance services and our CenterWell healthcare services, we make it easier for the millions of people we serve to achieve their best health – delivering the care and service they need, when they need it. These efforts are leading to a better quality of life for people with Medicare and Medicaid, families, individuals, military service personnel, and communities at large. Learn more about what we offer at Humana.com and at CenterWell.com. Equal Opportunity Employer It is the policy of Humana not to discriminate against any employee or applicant for employment because of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability or protected veteran status. It is also the policy of Humana to take affirmative action, in compliance with Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act and VEVRAA, to employ and to advance in employment individuals with disability or protected veteran status, and to base all employment decisions only on valid job requirements. This policy shall apply to all employment actions, including but not limited to recruitment, hiring, upgrading, promotion, transfer, demotion, layoff, recall, termination, rates of pay or other forms of compensation and selection for training, including apprenticeship, at all levels of employment.