Senior​/Backend Engineer

Senior/Staff Backend Engineer

Join Lighten as a Senior/Staff Backend Engineer.

Lighten envisions a future where clinical data can drive next generation human health breakthroughs. We build AI-native software platforms to transform raw clinical data into high-quality patient journeys, accelerating evidence generation for R&D and bringing therapies to market faster. We partner with life sciences and healthcare organizations to deliver on their mission for patient benefit.

Competitive salary, employee equity options, 3% company-sponsored 401(k) contributions, comprehensive medical, dental and vision insurance for employees and families.

San Mateo, CA (hybrid; work in person 3-4 days a week)

• Own architecture, design, development, and operations of platform infrastructure and customer-facing deployments, contributing to launching product from 0 to 1 handling heterogeneous healthcare data at scale.
• Prototype, optimize, and maintain scalable back-end API services powering new ML and LLM model development workflows.
• Develop automated processes that build, deploy, and test software.
• Design and implement cybersecurity solutions compliant with customer requirements and healthcare regulations.
• Optimize web applications for performance, speed, and scalability.
• Write clean, well-structured, maintainable code following best practices; conduct code reviews and provide constructive feedback.
• Design storage solutions and data models that grow with the team’s mission and ambitions.
• Be an engaged team player in a customer-focused cross-functional environment, excited to take on what's most impactful.

• Proficiency in Python backend API development and Terraform.
• 5+ years of experience in Backend Engineering, Dev Ops, Site Reliability Engineering, or similar infrastructure roles.
• Solid understanding of cybersecurity solutions and best practices.
• Knowledge of cloud services (AWS, Azure, GCP) and containerization technologies (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience delivering distributed and ML systems and services in a production setting for cloud-native applications.
• Experience with distributed compute frameworks and data processing pipelines.
• Ability to design and build efficient scalable data storage, compute, and retrieval systems for AI/ML tasks.
• Previous experience with healthcare data is beneficial but not required.
• Located in the San Francisco Bay Area or willing to relocate.

Mid-Senior level

Full-time

Engineering and Information Technology

Software Development

We are proud to be an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and are committed to building a team that represents a variety of backgrounds, perspectives, and skills. We embrace diversity and provide equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants. We prohibit discrimination and harassment of any type on the basis of race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local law.

All employment is decided on the basis of qualifications, performance, merit, and business need.