Principal Data Engineer, Waymark
$124.2-206k
Compensation will depend on multiple factors, including job location, training, education, and experience. Offers Stock Options & Incentive Program
Community-based care for people receiving Medicaid
Open for applications
Community-based care for people receiving Medicaid
101-200 employees
Open for applications
$124.2-206k
Compensation will depend on multiple factors, including job location, training, education, and experience. Offers Stock Options & Incentive Program
101-200 employees
Company mission
To help people enrolled in Medicaid programs find their way to better health through evidence-based community care.
Role
Who you are
- 8+ years of software engineering experience, with substantial time focused on healthcare data engineering or EHR integration
- Expert-level proficiency in Python (required) and experience in at least one compiled or concurrent language (such as Elixir)
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, cloud computing, and backend system design: API architecture (REST), microservices, event-driven systems, message queues (RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and distributed systems patterns
- Strong background in data modeling, schema design, performance optimization, and both relational (PostgreSQL) and columnar/analytical databases (Redshift)
- Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker (required), Kubernetes)
- Design data integration systems resilient to inconsistent, incomplete, and delayed clinical data across heterogeneous EHRs and payer systems either directly or through HIEs, health alliance networks, or integration vendors, using FHIR APIs, HL7v2 interfaces, or CCDA parsing
- Strong experience in mapping/normalizing healthcare standards such as ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm
- Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences
- Comfort with operating as a principal IC with influence over multiple teams, without direct reports
- If this resonates with you, we invite you to bring your creativity, energy, and curiosity to Waymark
- Don’t check off every box in the requirements listed above? Please apply anyway! Studies have shown that some of us may be less likely to apply to jobs unless we meet every single qualification
Desirable
- Advanced degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related field
- Experience working in value-based care, population health, or Medicaid/Medicare data environments
- Experience with ML/AI frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and MLOps practices for healthcare applications
What the job involves
- This is a principal-level individual contributor role who combines deep backend engineering fundamentals with specialized expertise in Electronic Health Record (EHR) data integration.
- You will report to data engineering leadership and setting the technical direction for our clinical data platform by leading the design, development, and optimization of data pipelines that ingest, normalize, and transform clinical data from diverse EHR and payer systems
- Architect production-grade data pipelines that integrate clinical data through multiple channels—direct EHR connections (e.g., Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth), health information exchanges (HIEs), health alliance networks, and third-party integration vendors—via FHIR R4 APIs, HL7v2 feeds, CCDA documents, and bulk data exports, while enforcing healthcare standards and clinical terminologies (ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm), targeting sub-hour latency from clinical event to actionable insight and ≥99.9% pipeline reliability
- Lead end-to-end integration efforts with health plan partners, HIEs, health alliance networks, provider organizations, and data integration vendors—owning partner technical evaluation, connectivity, data mapping, validation, and production rollout
- Build and optimize cloud-native data infrastructure (AWS) and ETL/ELT workflows using modern orchestration tools (e.g., Step Functions, dbt) with robust data quality monitoring and lineage tracking
- Develop reusable backend frameworks, libraries, and internal tooling that accelerate onboarding of new data sources—whether direct EHR feeds, HIE connections, or vendor integrations—with the goal of reducing new-partner integration time by 50% or more while improving developer productivity and reducing operational toil across engineering
- Partner with data science and data analytics teams to build and operationalize the data foundations for predictive risk scores, care gap identification, clinical alerting, and patient outreach prioritization
- Collaborate with product and clinical teams to translate care delivery requirements into scalable, production-grade technical solutions and influence
- Ensure all data systems comply with HIPAA, HITECH, and applicable privacy regulations, implementing access controls, audit logging, encryption, and de-identification processes for PHI
- Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers across Waymark, raising the bar on healthcare data best practices
Our take
Over 80M people in the US receive healthcare coverage from Medicaid (a number that continues to grow), yet care is delivered through a highly fragmented network of independent primary care providers (PCPs). These providers often lack the infrastructure and coordination needed to effectively manage complex, high-need populations.
Waymark is addressing this gap by building a tech-enabled care model that combines data infrastructure with embedded clinical support. Rather than acting purely as a software layer, the company partners with health plans and PCPs to both coordinate and deliver care, deploying teams that include community health workers, pharmacists, care coordinators, and behavioral health specialists. Allowing Waymark not just to facilitate communication (e.g.. between doctors and pharmacist managing a diabetic patient's medications), but to actively support ongoing care.
A core part of Waymark's approach is using predicative analytics to identify "rising-risk" patients, those who are not yet high-cost but are likely to become so without intervention. By intervening earlier, the company aims to prevent avoidable hospitalizations and improve long-term outcomes, effectively expanding provider capacity for underserved populations.
Having now moved beyond early pilots, Waymark is scaling through value-based partnerships with Medicaid managed care organizations, working across tens of thousands of patients. While challenges remain in translating proven models to national scale, growing alignment among payers, providers, and policymakers around improving Medicaid outcomes provides strong tailwinds for continued adoption.
Freddie
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Oct 2023
$22m
EARLY VC
Jan 2022
$45m
SERIES A
Total funding: $67m
Company HQ
Lower Pacific Heights, San Francisco, CA
Leadership
Rajaie Batniji
(Co-Founder & CEO)Prior to co-founding Waymark, Rajaie co-founded Collective Health where he served as the Chief Health Officer for nearly 8 years. He also spent nearly 5 years as a Clinical Assistant Professor at Stanford University School of Medicine.
Afia Asamoah
(Co-Founder, General Counsel, Corporate Secretary & Head of Strategic Alliances)Prior to co-founding Waymark, Afia was the Head of Legal at Google Health. She also spent nearly 4 years at Verily in various roles, including Senior Counsel.
Sanjay Basu
(Co-Founder, CMO & CTO)Sanjay is also an Internal Medicine Physician at the Integrated Care Center at HealthRIGHT 360, a role he has held since 2019. Previously, he was a Director of Research at the Center for Primary Care at Harvard University and a VP of Research and Population Health at Collective Health.
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