Senior Backend Engineer

Steer Health

$125K — $150K *
Healthcare
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 5+ years of backend engineering experience with senior-level ownership of production systems
  • Expert-level proficiency in Node.js and TypeScript in production environments
  • Hands-on experience with Kafka-based event-driven architectures
  • Deep expertise with MongoDB, including schema design and performance tuning
  • History of building and scaling systems in high-growth or high-traffic companies
  • Strong knowledge of API design principles and testing/documentation practices

Responsibilities

  • Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs utilizing Node.js and TypeScript
  • Architect and extend event-driven systems on Kafka, focusing on topic design and stream processing
  • Own MongoDB data modeling and optimize performance
  • Build secure integrations with EHRs, FHIR, HL7, and third-party APIs
  • Support AI agent workflows with robust backend services and real-time data pipelines
  • Drive reliability and observability through monitoring, alerting, and incident response
  • Conduct code reviews and mentoring to elevate engineering standards

Benefits

  • Opportunity to build AI that improves patient access to care at scale
  • High ownership role with direct access to the founding team
  • Fast-paced environment where your contributions have a significant impact
  • Be part of an award-winning product with strong market momentum
  • Competitive benefits package including salary and equity
Full Job Description
The Role

We are hiring a Senior Backend Engineer to design, build, and scale the core services behind our platform. You will work on event-driven pipelines that move clinical and operational data in real time, integrations with EHRs and third-party systems, and the backend infrastructure that powers our AI agents. This is a high-ownership role: you will take problems from architecture through production and operate what you ship.
What You Will Do
  • Design, build, and operate backend services and APIs in Node.js and TypeScript
  • Architect and extend our event-driven systems on Kafka, including topic design, producers and consumers, stream processing, delivery guarantees, and back-pressure at scale
  • Own MongoDB data modeling and performance, including schema design, indexing, aggregation pipelines, replication, and query optimization
  • Build reliable, secure integrations with EHRs, healthcare data standards (FHIR, HL7), and third-party APIs
  • Support AI agent workflows with fast, resilient backend services and real-time data pipelines
  • Drive reliability and observability: monitoring, alerting, load testing, incident response, and postmortems
  • Handle PHI responsibly and uphold HIPAA-grade security practices across every service you touch
  • Raise the engineering bar through design docs, code reviews, and mentoring


Requirements
Must-Have Qualifications
  • 5+ years of backend engineering experience with clear senior-level ownership of production systems
  • Expert-level Node.js and TypeScript in production environments
  • Hands-on experience designing and operating Kafka-based eventing architectures
  • Deep MongoDB experience at scale, including schema design, indexing strategy, and performance tuning
  • A track record of building and scaling systems at a high-growth or high-traffic company
  • Strong API design fundamentals and disciplined habits around testing, code quality, and documentation
Strongly Preferred
  • Healthcare or health tech background, including EHR integrations, FHIR or HL7, HIPAA, and PHI handling
  • Experience at a high-scaling technology company where reliability and throughput were mission critical
Nice to Have
  • Cloud infrastructure experience (AWS preferred), Docker, and Kubernetes
  • Redis or other caching and search layers
  • Exposure to LLM or AI product pipelines
  • Early-stage startup experience and comfort with ambiguity
Our Stack

Node.js, TypeScript, Kafka, and MongoDB, with Next.js on the front end and a purpose-built eventing engine at the core of the platform.

Benefits
Why Join Steer Health
  • Build AI that measurably improves how patients access and receive care, at real scale
  • High ownership and direct access to the founding team; your work ships fast and matters
  • Award-winning product with strong market momentum
  • Competitive salary, equity, and benefits

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