Lead Software Engineer at Unite Us in United States

Job description

• Unite Us is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to provide senior technical leadership for our Platform Services team, the core APIs and services that power the entire Unite Us product suite.
• This is a senior individual-contributor role, not a people-management role: the Lead Engineer sets technical direction, raises the bar on engineering quality, and multiplies the team's effectiveness through mentorship, architecture, and hands-on delivery, rather than through direct reports.
• The Lead Engineer acts as the primary technical counterpart to the Senior Engineering Manager, translating team goals and long-term architectural context into concrete technical plans, and representing Platform Services' technical perspective in conversations with other engineering teams and stakeholders.
• This role requires deep experience with large-scale, object-oriented backend systems, APIs, and interoperability standards, along with the judgment to make and defend significant design and architecture decisions. A background in the healthcare or social care problem space is useful but not required.

Responsibilities

• Own and evolve the technical architecture of Platform Services' core APIs and interoperability solutions, ensuring they remain scalable, secure, and maintainable as usage grows.
• Lead the design and implementation of complex, cross-cutting technical initiatives (e.g., FHIR-based interoperability, authentication frameworks such as SAML, SCIM, OAuth, and SMART), from proposal through delivery.
• Set technical standards and best practices for the team; review designs and code to maintain quality, consistency, and long-term maintainability across new and legacy codebases.
• Mentor and grow other engineers on the team, including pairing, technical coaching, and helping less experienced engineers reason through design trade-offs.
• Partner closely with the Senior Engineering Manager to translate team vision and business priorities into a concrete technical roadmap, and surface technical risks early.
• Represent Platform Services in cross-team technical discussions, building consensus with other technical leads on shared approaches and integration points.
• Break down ambiguous or large-scale problems into well-scoped technical plans that others on the team can execute against.
• Stay hands-on: contribute production code, especially for the highest-leverage or highest-risk parts of the system.
• Contribute to a positive, solution-focused, and collaborative team culture.

Requirements

• 7-8+ years of relevant experience as a software engineer, with a track record of increasing technical scope and ownership.
• Demonstrated experience leading the design and delivery of complex, large-scale, or cross-team technical initiatives.
• Deep understanding of CS fundamentals and of building and operating large-scale distributed backend systems and APIs.
• Strong track record of mentoring engineers and raising the technical bar of a team, without formal management authority.
• Experience making and communicating significant architecture and design trade-offs, and influencing technical direction beyond your own immediate work.
• Experience writing code that is clear, concise, testable, and easily understood by other engineers, and holding others to that same bar.
• Proficiency with modern web development technologies and techniques for building web services; strong back-end and API integration background.
• Experience with cloud-based SaaS development and CI/CD practices.
• Comfortable navigating ambiguity and multiple concurrent stakeholder demands.
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related engineering field required; equivalent practical experience will be considered in lieu of a degree.
• Experience with open standards-based authentication frameworks such as OAuth and SAML.
• Experience with Ruby or Ruby on Rails, Python, or with object-oriented and/or functional programming generally.
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, and monitoring systems like New Relic or DataDog.
• Experience working in Agile teams, particularly remotely.
• Experience with healthcare or social care technologies such as Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR).

Skills

Required

• Deep understanding of CS fundamentals
• Mentoring engineers
• Architecture and design trade-offs
• Writing clear, concise, testable code
• Modern web development technologies
• Back-end and API integration
• Cloud-based SaaS development
• CI/CD practices

Preferred

• Ruby or Ruby on Rails, Python
• Agile teams, particularly remotely

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, and Vision
• We offer insurance to team members and eligible partners and dependents, including unlimited virtual mental health and acute medical visits.
• Wellness
• Mental health benefits, such as the Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and wellness platform subscription, are available to all team members.
• Flexible Time Off
• Take what you need, including volunteer days and mental health days. We also offer 14 paid, company-wide holidays.
• Paid Parental Leave
• Adoptive parents are included.
• Employee Resource Groups
• Join our ERGs to connect and engage with colleagues, like Military Veterans
• Spending Accounts
• We offer tax-advantaged health savings accounts (HSAs), flexible spending accounts (FSAs), and commuter benefits.
• 401(k) + Employer Match
• Enjoy matching, immediate vesting and financial wellness resources
• Additional Benefits
• Life and AD&D - a company paid benefit, with the option to purchase additional coverage for yourself and your dependents
• Disability Coverage
• Accident Insurance
• Pet Insurance
• As part of this work at home job, we will provide you with all the necessary equipment to perform your duties, including a computer, mouse, keyboard as well as other items on our approved list of WFH supplies.