Staff Python 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 & What You'll Be Doing Alaffia Health is a healthcare AI startup revolutionizing medical billing and data automation. Our AI-driven platform leverages state-of-the-art generative AI and machine learning technologies to enhance accuracy, efficiency, and compliance in medical billing and auditing. As we scale, we're looking for a Staff Python Engineer to solve complex, cross-team technical challenges, set architectural direction, and act as a force multiplier across our engineering org. You will be tasked to build the GenAI framework for the engineering team to build AI agents on, and lead the effort to scale our GenAI applications. You'll translate strategic goals into technical roadmaps, drive execution, and champion AI-augmented development practices, all while tackling challenging problems in backend architecture, system design, and cloud infrastructure. What You'll DoArchitect and own delivery of complex, high-impact backend systems spanning multiple teams, including the GenAI framework other engineers build AI agents onSet technical direction and coding/design standards for Python backend development across the orgDesign, develop, and deploy data-intensive applications in Python in a production environmentDrive AI coding tool adoption (Claude Code, Copilot, Cursor) — establish best practices and measure productivity gainsMentor senior engineers and influence technical decisions without formal authorityPartner cross-functionally with fullstack, data, DevOps, and AI engineers, as well as product and business teams, to craft a feature-rich, GenAI-powered agentic workflow frameworkOwn testing strategy, system health, observability, and build-vs-buy decisions for critical infrastructureWhat We're Looking For10+ years of software engineering experience, with a track record of leading complex, high-impact projects at scale, including large-scale, production-level API development and backend data processingExpert-level Python, with hands-on experience developing test suites and working with CI/CD tooling for automationHands-on experience with relational databases and data model designStrong system design and cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred), including CI/CD, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), and observability practices such as logging, user activity metrics, and integration with Datadog or similar toolingDemonstrated success adopting AI coding assistants to improve team productivityExcellent communication skills and experience mentoring senior engineersHealthcare tech/regulatory experience (HIPAA, HITRUST) a plusPreferredBuilding SaaS apps in the healthcare sectorExperience shipping user-facing AI products or AI/ML model deploymentBuilding Python SDKs/librariesExperience with vector databasesExperience with data processing orchestrators, such as Airflow or DagsterExperience with message queue systems, such as AWS SQS, Kinesis, or KafkaOpen source contributions or technical publicationsOur CultureAlaffia 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