Public Health API Engineer

Flourish and Thrive Labs

$95K — $107K *
US-AnywhereRemote in United States
Healthcare
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of hands-on API development and systems integration experience at a senior level.
  • 1-3 years working for a governmental public health agency (local, state, federal, or tribal).
  • Strong backend engineering skills in Java, Python, Node.js, or similar languages.
  • Experience working in Agile or SAFe environments.
  • Strong collaboration and communication abilities.
  • Track record of mentoring or guiding less experienced engineers.

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and maintain APIs and integrations across the API-led layers.
  • Lead API architecture discussions and contribute to solution design.
  • Audit inherited APIs and integrations and propose corrections.
  • Coach client technical teams on API best practices.
  • Mentor junior engineers through pair programming and code reviews.
  • Identify and resolve complex integration challenges across systems.
  • Translate public health workflows into reliable API patterns.

Benefits

  • 100% coverage of health insurance.
Full Job Description
Senior API Engineer

WE ARE LOOKING FOR A TEAM MEMBER WITH GOVERNMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERIENCE (LOCAL / TRIBAL / STATE / FEDERAL). IF YOU HAVE THAT EXPERIENCE IN ADDITION TO API ENGINEERING SKILLS, PLEASE ENSURE IT IS CLEAR ON YOUR RESUME.

What do we mean by governmental public health? We're looking for people who have worked directly for a public health agency: a local health department, tribal health organization, state health department, or federal public health agency like CDC or HRSA. We require this because there's no substitute for the lived experience of navigating government systems, understanding the constraints public health staff face, and developing genuine empathy for the people doing this work. That empathy shapes how we build solutions.

Compensation Note: If a salary range is listed for this position, please note that we will be offering at the starting point of the band. We cover 100% of your health insurance!

Role Overview

We're seeking a Senior API Engineer who pairs deep integration and API design expertise with a strong understanding of public health operations. You'll own API and integration architecture on complex implementations, coach less experienced engineers, and shape how data moves between the systems that public health teams depend on every day.

This role is about building APIs and integrations that fit how public health actually operates. Your background in public health means you understand the human stakes of this work. A delayed notification, a dropped record, or a broken data feed affects real people and real public health responses. You'll anticipate needs that clients haven't named yet, push back on designs that won't hold up in production, and advocate for the end users who rely on these systems.

You'll work on our PH360 platform and on client implementations that often involve inherited integrations built by previous vendors. You'll partner with Salesforce developers, solution architects, and QA to make APIs reliable, observable, and aligned with API-led best practices. You'll also coach client technical teams, helping them adopt sound patterns and grow their skills.

If you've ever inherited a tangle of integrations and wanted to set them right, this is your chance to build it right.

How You'll Work

You'll be part of an Agile Release Train (ART) that follows SAFe principles. This means:

  • Program Increment (PI) Planning: You'll participate in quarterly planning sessions, helping shape the integration roadmap and contributing your public health perspective
  • Sprint Collaboration: You'll work in two-week sprints with daily standups, regular backlog refinement, and sprint retrospectives
  • Technical Leadership: You'll guide API and integration architecture decisions and help less experienced engineers grow their skills
  • Cross-functional Partnership: You'll work closely with Salesforce developers, solutions analysts, architects, and QA to ensure what we build truly serves our clients

Key Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and maintain APIs and integrations across the API-led layers (System, Process, and Experience)
  • Lead API architecture discussions and contribute to solution design alongside architects
  • Audit inherited APIs and integrations and propose corrections, including restructuring services that sit at the wrong architectural layer
  • Coach client technical teams on API best practices, helping them move from ad-hoc patterns to sound API-led design
  • Mentor junior engineers through pair programming, code reviews, and direct guidance
  • Write clean, well-documented, testable code with robust error handling, retry logic, and observability
  • Identify and resolve complex integration challenges across Salesforce, notification platforms, and other connected systems
  • Collaborate with Salesforce developers and QA to ensure end-to-end quality across integrated workflows
  • Translate public health workflows into reliable, scalable API and integration patterns
  • Contribute to code reviews with constructive, supportive feedback

Experience Required

  • 5+ years of hands-on API development and systems integration experience at a senior level
  • 1-3 years working for a governmental public health agency (local, state, federal, or tribal)
  • Strong backend engineering background in Java, Python, Node.js, or a comparable language
  • Experience working in Agile or SAFe environments
  • Strong collaboration and communication skills
  • Track record of mentoring or guiding less experienced engineers, including across organizational boundaries

Technical Requirements

  • Expertise in API-led connectivity and clear judgment on when a service belongs at the System, Process, or Experience layer
  • Experience designing API contracts with OpenAPI Specification (OAS), RAML, or equivalent
  • Deep experience with REST and SOAP APIs, including OAuth 2.0, mTLS, and JWT
  • Strong data transformation skills across JSON, XML, and flat-file formats
  • Familiarity with asynchronous messaging patterns, including queues, topics, and event streams (SQS, SNS, Kafka, Anypoint MQ, or similar)
  • Experience deploying and operating services in cloud or hybrid environments (AWS preferred)
  • Proficiency in automated unit and integration testing, with meaningful coverage of integration flows
  • Strong understanding of error handling, retry strategies, and observability in distributed systems
  • Experience with API gateways and lifecycle management
  • Experience with version control (Git) and CI/CD practices (Maven, GitHub Actions, or comparable tooling)

Preferred Qualifications

  • MuleSoft development experience on Mule 4, including Anypoint Studio, API Manager, Runtime Manager, DataWeave, and MUnit
  • MuleSoft Certified Developer or MuleSoft Certified Integration Architect
  • Experience integrating with Salesforce (Bulk API, Streaming API, Platform Events, Change Data Capture)
  • Familiarity with HIPAA compliance requirements and PHI handling in integrations
  • Experience with SAFe Agile methodology
  • Background in public health data systems, including HL7, FHIR, immunization information systems (IIS), or electronic case reporting (eCR)
  • Experience with notification platforms and event-driven architectures
  • Experience building or consuming AI and LLM APIs (AWS Bedrock or similar)

Product DevelopmentRemote (United States)

The pay range for this role is:

95,000 - 107,500 USD per year (US National)

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