Staff Software Engineer – Payer

Headway

Staff engineer building AI systems for Headway, a mental healthcare platform. Improving clinical quality, claims integrity, provider matching, and trustworthy care at scale.

Posted 8/7/2026full-timeRemote • California, New York, Washington • 🇺🇸 United StatesLead💰 $264,000 - $330,000 per yearWebsite

Core Competencies

Role fit

Core Competencies

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Demonstrates expertise in architecting LLM-powered systems for healthcare, focusing on clinical documentation review, provider feedback, and compliance with clinical quality standards. Proficient in end-to-end product engineering, including API architecture and backend logic, while mentoring engineers and driving improvements in engineering velocity.

Highest-signal resume keywords

LLM Application DevelopmentAPI ArchitecturePython 3TypeScriptHealthcare Payer Knowledge

ATS Keywords

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Applicant Tracking System Keywords

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Hard Skills

End-to-End Product EngineeringScalable Technical DecisionsOperational AutomationCode GenerationClinical Quality Standards

Soft Skills

Clear CommunicationMentoring EngineersProblem Solving

Tools & Technologies

ReactNext.jsFastAPIPostgresAWSKafkaDatadogSentry

Industry Keywords

Clinical DocumentationHealthcare ComplianceMental Healthcare AccessBilling and Utilization Review

Tech Stack

Tools & technologies

AWSJavaScriptKafkaNext.jsPostgresPythonReactRedisTypeScript

About the role

Key responsibilities & impact

Architect LLM-powered systems that review clinical documentation at scale and provide real-time provider feedback
Design ML/LLM systems to detect inappropriate billing, over-utilization, and low-quality care across claims and appointments
Translate risk signals into provider feedback and transparent insurance-partner reporting
Build systems to review prescribers against clinical quality standards
Develop ML systems that assess patient needs and match patients with suitable providers
Build AI evaluation frameworks, optimization loops, and observability for reliable, safe LLM features in healthcare
Set the technical bar for the Payers & Outcomes engineering group
Establish architectural foundations for other teams
Mentor engineers and improve engineering craft and velocity
Define solutions for ambiguous problems, coordinate cross-functional stakeholders, and ship software
Participate in technical decision-making, design discussions, and code reviews

Requirements

What you’ll need

End-to-end product engineering across API architecture, backend logic, frontend state management, and user experience
Experience turning ambiguous problems into shipped software
Ability to make maintainable, scalable technical decisions
Ability to improve engineering velocity through tooling, automation, and reusable patterns
Experience mentoring engineers through design discussions and code reviews
Ability to ship quickly and iterate based on user feedback
Ability to learn complex healthcare payer, regulatory, and clinical domains quickly
Motivation to improve mental healthcare access
Clear and concise written and verbal communication
Experience applying LLMs to real workflows, code generation, operational automation, or developer tooling
Ability to ship AI responsibly in healthcare
Familiarity with TypeScript and Python 3
Familiarity with React, Remix, Next.js, FastAPI, SQLAlchemy, Postgres, Redis, Snowflake, AWS, Temporal, Kafka, Datadog, Sentry, PagerDuty, Cursor, Claude, Gemini, and Eddy
Must be located in the NYC, San Francisco, or Seattle regions
Must be authorized to work in the United States

Benefits

Comp & perks

Competitive equity package
Medical insurance
Dental insurance
Vision insurance
HSA/FSA
401(k)
Carrot Fertility reimbursement
16-week parental leave
Therapy reimbursement
Professional development budget
13 holidays
Full week off in December
Flexible PTO
Reasonable accommodations for disabilities