Senior Backend Software Engineer

About Alaffia & Our Mission Every year, U.S. health plans lose billions to improper payments and administrative waste. That wasted spending ultimately trickles down across the healthcare ecosystem, driving up costs for plans, providers, and patients alike. We're here to change that paradigm. Alaffia is a new kind of claims operations partner for health plans. Using expert clinicians and transparent AI, we deliver deeper insights, smarter automation, and consistently better outcomes across the entire lifecycle of claims. With Alaffia, health plans can cut wasted spending more effectively than ever, and provide their members the most affordable care. We're a high-growth, venture-backed Series B healthtech startup based in NYC and are actively scaling our company. Join us in helping to build a healthcare system that works better for everyone. (This position requires current authorization to work in the United States. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to sponsor work visas at this time.) About The Role We're looking for a Senior Backend Engineer to solve meaningful technical challenges, contribute to architectural decisions, and help raise the bar across our engineering org. You'll take ownership of complex backend systems, collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, and bring strong AI-augmented development practices into your day-to-day work, all while tackling challenging problems in backend architecture, system design, and cloud infrastructure. Note on language: this role will work primarily in either Python or TypeScript, depending on team need. You don't need extensive experience (or any experience) in either language specifically, what matters most is strong, transferable backend engineering fundamentals with the ability to pick up new languages and tooling as needed. We'll find the right fit for your background on our team. What You'll Do Design, build, and own delivery of backend systems supporting our claim review platform, including data-intensive, production-level applicationsContribute to technical direction and coding/design standards for the teamAdopt and champion AI coding tools (Claude Code) in your daily workflowCollaborate with and mentor other engineers, sharing knowledge and best practicesPartner cross-functionally with product, data, DevOps, and business teams to scope and deliver technical solutionsContribute to testing strategy, system health, observability, and infrastructure decisions for your area of ownership What We're Looking For 5-7+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of owning and delivering complex backend projects, including large-scale API development and backend data processingHands-on experience with relational databases and data model designSolid system design fundamentals and cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred), including CI/CD and containerization (Docker, Kubernetes)Comfort using AI coding assistants to improve your own and your team’s productivity via automationStrong communication skills and willingness to collaborate and share knowledge with the team Preferred Healthcare SaaS experience; familiarity with medical billing, claims, or clinical workflowsExperience shipping user-facing AI products or AI/ML model deploymentGraphQL and PostgreSQL experienceExperience with observability tooling such as DatadogOpen source contributions or technical publications Our Culture Alaffia was born out of our founders' personal connection to the inefficiency of the U.S. healthcare system. We are deeply mission-driven, with an abiding belief that technology can help create a better future for everyone, and we're looking for others who share our passion for change to join the team. What Else Do You Get? Competitive compensation package (cash + equity)Medical, Dental, and Vision benefitsFlexible, paid vacation policyWork in a flat organizational structure, direct access to Leadership