# Software Engineer, Healthcare
**Company:** [OpenAI](https://scaleengineer.com/companies/openai)
OpenAI's Healthcare team is seeking backend and full-stack software engineers to build systems that integrate advanced AI capabilities into healthcare workflows, managing complex requirements around security, privacy, compliance, and interoperability. This role involves designing and maintaining production systems that connect enterprise data with OpenAI products while serving healthcare systems, insurance companies, and healthcare IT organizations. Success requires 5+ years of experience building scalable, reliable systems with deep expertise in backend services, APIs, data integration, and the ability to translate complex healthcare workflows into robust technical solutions.
**Role:** Backend Engineer
**Seniority:** Senior
**Locations:** San Francisco
**Salary:** 347000–385000 USD
[Apply](https://jobs.ashbyhq.com/openai/4923fd3e-acf2-4551-91ad-5a92ca81455b)
Canonical: https://scaleengineer.com/jobs/openai/software-engineer-healthcare
---
## Responsibilities

- Backend and Full-Stack System Design: Design and architect backend services and full-stack systems that power OpenAI's healthcare products, ensuring scalability, reliability, and performance in production environments serving healthcare organizations at scale.
- Healthcare Integration and Data Pipeline Development: Build services, APIs, and data pipelines that securely connect OpenAI's AI capabilities with healthcare systems, electronic health records (EHRs), and enterprise data sources while maintaining data integrity and compliance requirements.
- Enterprise Integration Architecture: Develop integrations with complex third-party healthcare systems, electronic health records, and healthcare data sources, managing evolving integration requirements and partial failure scenarios in mission-critical environments.
- Security, Privacy, and Compliance Systems: Design systems that meet demanding regulatory and operational requirements around privacy, security, permissions, compliance, and data governance, including HIPAA compliance, authentication, identity management, and enterprise security protocols.
- End-to-End Feature Ownership: Own features and systems from early architecture and design through implementation, deployment, monitoring, and iterative improvements, taking full responsibility for production reliability and operational maturity.
- Reliability and Production Operations: Improve reliability, performance, observability, and operational maturity of production healthcare systems, including incident response, migrations, rollout strategies, and comprehensive testing frameworks.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with product, research, security, privacy, go-to-market teams, and healthcare organizations to translate real-world clinical workflows and organizational requirements into scalable, durable technical solutions.
- Ambiguous Problem Resolution: Take ownership of ambiguous and complex technical problems, driving them from initial definition through production deployment with high agency, clear communication, and practical, sustainable solutions.

## Requirements

### education

- {"name":"Computer Science Fundamentals","description":"Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Mathematics, or related field, or equivalent professional experience demonstrating strong foundational knowledge of algorithms, data structures, and system design principles."}

### technical

- {"name":"Backend Services and APIs","description":"Strong expertise building production-quality backend services, RESTful APIs, and distributed systems architecture with deep understanding of service communication patterns, error handling, and system resilience."}
- {"name":"Data Systems and Pipelines","description":"Demonstrated experience designing and maintaining data systems, ETL pipelines, and data integration architectures capable of handling large-scale data flows, data transformations, and complex warehousing requirements."}
- {"name":"System Architecture and Design Patterns","description":"Proficiency reasoning about system architecture, data models, API boundaries, authentication mechanisms, permissions systems, and integration patterns in distributed systems."}
- {"name":"Production System Operations","description":"Hands-on experience owning production systems at scale including monitoring and observability, comprehensive testing strategies, incident response procedures, database migrations, and controlled rollout processes."}
- {"name":"Database Design and Optimization","description":"Strong SQL and database design fundamentals with experience optimizing queries, managing schema evolution, understanding transactional guarantees, and implementing effective indexing strategies."}

### experience

- {"name":"Senior Backend Software Development","description":"Minimum 5+ years of professional experience writing maintainable, production-quality software with demonstrated capability to architect and deliver complex systems from conception through deployment."}
- {"name":"Enterprise Systems Experience","description":"Experience building enterprise SaaS products or platforms, managing complex interoperability requirements, enterprise security considerations, and serving multiple organizational customers with varying needs."}
- {"name":"Regulated Industry Background (Preferred)","description":"Background working in regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, or enterprise infrastructure, demonstrating familiarity with compliance frameworks, data governance, and high-stakes system reliability."}
- {"name":"Healthcare Domain Experience (Preferred)","description":"Experience with healthcare interoperability standards, electronic health record systems, healthcare data models, HIPAA compliance frameworks, or previous roles in healthcare technology companies."}

## Skills

### required

- {"name":"Backend Development Languages","description":"Proficiency in at least one mature server-side programming language such as Python, Java, Go, TypeScript/Node.js, or similar, with ability to write clean, maintainable, testable code at production scale."}
- {"name":"Distributed Systems Design","description":"Deep understanding of distributed systems concepts including asynchronous communication, eventual consistency, fault tolerance, service-to-service communication, and handling of network partitions in complex architectures."}
- {"name":"SQL and Relational Databases","description":"Strong SQL fundamentals and experience with relational databases like PostgreSQL or MySQL, including query optimization, schema design, transaction management, and understanding of database performance implications."}
- {"name":"API Design and Development","description":"Expertise designing and implementing robust, scalable APIs including REST principles, versioning strategies, error handling, rate limiting, and authentication/authorization integration patterns."}
- {"name":"System Observability and Monitoring","description":"Practical experience implementing monitoring, logging, and alerting systems; using observability platforms; and performing performance analysis to maintain reliability and detect issues in production systems."}
- {"name":"Security and Privacy Principles","description":"Core understanding of security fundamentals including authentication, authorization, encryption, secure data handling, and privacy considerations essential for building protected systems."}

### preferred

- {"name":"Healthcare Data Standards (HL7, FHIR)","description":"Familiarity with healthcare interoperability standards such as HL7, FHIR, or experience working with healthcare data models and information exchange protocols in clinical systems."}
- {"name":"HIPAA Compliance and Healthcare Security","description":"Experience building HIPAA-compliant systems, understanding regulatory requirements for healthcare data handling, audit logging, and implementing healthcare-specific security controls and privacy measures."}
- {"name":"Event-Driven Architecture","description":"Experience building event-driven systems using message queues, event streaming platforms, or asynchronous processing to handle complex workflows and data integrations."}
- {"name":"Applied AI and LLM Integration","description":"Experience building products that integrate machine learning models, language models, or conversational AI capabilities into production systems and user-facing applications."}
- {"name":"Enterprise Integration Platforms","description":"Experience with enterprise application integration tools, API gateways, or integration platforms for connecting disparate systems and managing complex enterprise workflows."}
- {"name":"Cloud Infrastructure and DevOps","description":"Hands-on experience with cloud platforms like AWS, GCP, or Azure; containerization with Docker/Kubernetes; and infrastructure-as-code practices for managing production deployments."}

## Tech stack

### tools

- {"name":"Git and Version Control","description":"Essential version control system for collaborative software development, code review, and maintaining codebase integrity across teams."}
- {"name":"CI/CD Platforms","description":"Tools like GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, or Jenkins for automating testing, deployment, and monitoring of software releases."}
- {"name":"Docker","description":"Containerization platform for packaging applications and dependencies, ensuring consistency across development, testing, and production environments."}
- {"name":"Observability and Monitoring Tools","description":"Platforms such as Datadog, New Relic, or ELK Stack for logging, metrics collection, distributed tracing, and production system monitoring."}
- {"name":"API Development Tools","description":"Tools like Postman or Insomnia for API testing, debugging, and documentation during development and integration phases."}

### others

- {"name":"Event-Driven Architecture Patterns","description":"Kafka, RabbitMQ, or similar message queue systems for building asynchronous, loosely-coupled systems handling complex data flows."}
- {"name":"Authentication and Authorization","description":"OAuth 2.0, JWT, SAML, or similar protocols and frameworks for implementing enterprise-grade authentication and fine-grained access control."}
- {"name":"Healthcare Interoperability Standards","description":"FHIR, HL7, and other healthcare data standards for building compliant integrations with electronic health records and healthcare information systems."}
- {"name":"Enterprise Security Frameworks","description":"Encryption standards, secure communication protocols, and security best practices for building protected systems handling sensitive healthcare information."}

### databases

- {"name":"PostgreSQL","description":"Enterprise-grade relational database with strong ACID compliance, advanced features, and excellent performance characteristics for mission-critical healthcare systems."}
- {"name":"MySQL","description":"Widely-deployed relational database used in enterprise applications and SaaS platforms for transactional data management."}
- {"name":"Redis","description":"In-memory data store used for caching, session management, real-time analytics, and high-performance data retrieval in distributed systems."}
- {"name":"Data Warehouse Solutions","description":"Platforms like BigQuery, Snowflake, or Redshift for large-scale data analytics and warehouse operations supporting healthcare analytics and reporting."}

### languages

- {"name":"Python","description":"Widely used for backend services, data engineering, and AI/ML integration at leading technology companies; excellent for rapid development and healthcare data processing workflows."}
- {"name":"TypeScript/JavaScript","description":"Popular for full-stack development and API services; provides strong typing with TypeScript for building reliable, maintainable backend systems."}
- {"name":"Go","description":"Preferred language for building scalable microservices and distributed systems due to simplicity, performance, and excellent concurrency primitives."}
- {"name":"Java","description":"Enterprise-standard language for large-scale backend systems; commonly used in healthcare technology and enterprise SaaS platforms."}

### frameworks

- {"name":"FastAPI","description":"Modern Python web framework for building high-performance REST APIs with automatic documentation and strong type hints."}
- {"name":"Django/Django REST Framework","description":"Mature Python framework with comprehensive ecosystem for building scalable web applications and APIs with built-in security features."}
- {"name":"Node.js/Express or Fastify","description":"JavaScript runtime and lightweight frameworks for building scalable backend services and APIs."}
- {"name":"Kubernetes","description":"Container orchestration platform for deploying, scaling, and managing containerized backend services in production."}

## Benefits

### benefits

- {"name":"Equity and Stock Options","description":"Ownership stake in OpenAI through competitive equity packages, allowing you to participate in the company's growth and long-term value creation in the AI industry."}
- {"name":"Comprehensive Health and Wellness","description":"Medical, dental, and vision coverage; mental health resources; wellness programs; and fitness benefits to support your personal well-being."}
- {"name":"Retirement Planning","description":"401(k) retirement plans with employer contributions to support long-term financial security and retirement planning."}
- {"name":"Unlimited Paid Time Off","description":"Flexible paid time off policy allowing you to manage work-life balance while maintaining flexibility for personal and professional priorities."}
- {"name":"Professional Development","description":"Learning and development budgets, access to conferences, training programs, and internal knowledge-sharing opportunities to advance technical expertise."}
- {"name":"Remote and Flexible Work","description":"Flexible work arrangements supporting remote work and flexible scheduling to accommodate diverse working styles and life circumstances."}
- {"name":"Mission-Driven Impact","description":"Opportunity to work on AI systems that directly improve healthcare outcomes and positively impact human health at scale across healthcare organizations."}

## Compensation

- **max:** 280000
- **min:** 180000
- **currency:** USD
- **stockOptions:** true

## Interview process

### steps

- {"name":"Initial Screening Call","description":"Introductory conversation with recruiting team to discuss background, experience, and alignment with role requirements; typically 30 minutes to assess general fit and answer questions about the position and company."}
- {"name":"Technical Phone Screen","description":"Engineering-focused phone interview assessing backend engineering expertise, system design thinking, and problem-solving approach; typically 60 minutes covering architecture discussions and technical depth."}
- {"name":"System Design Interview","description":"In-depth technical interview focusing on your ability to design scalable, distributed systems; specifically addressing healthcare integration patterns, data architecture, and addressing non-functional requirements like security and reliability."}
- {"name":"Behavioral and Product Sense Interview","description":"Discussion assessing cross-functional collaboration skills, product thinking, ability to navigate ambiguity, and alignment with OpenAI's mission-driven culture and healthcare-focused objectives."}
- {"name":"Onsite Interviews (Optional)","description":"In-person or virtual onsite interviews with engineering leadership, product team, and potential teammates; includes technical deep-dives, architectural discussions, and team fit assessment."}
- {"name":"Offer and Background Check","description":"Following successful interviews, receive offer details including compensation, benefits, and equity; then proceed with background check administered in accordance with applicable laws and local regulations."}

## Full description
**About the Team**

OpenAI’s Healthcare team is working to ensure that advances in AI meaningfully improve health for everyone. We build AI systems that support patients, clinicians, and healthcare organizations while setting a high standard for deploying AI responsibly in a high-stakes domain.

On the Healthcare team, we are building products and infrastructure that bring OpenAI’s capabilities into healthcare organizations and clinical workflows. We serve health care systems, insurance companies, and the broad range of healthcare IT companies. Our products include connecting ChatGPT with healthcare data and systems and building reliable enterprise experiences that can operate within complex security, privacy, compliance, and interoperability requirements.

We work closely with product, research, design, security, privacy, GTM, and our healthcare customers to turn powerful AI capabilities into dependable products that clinicians and healthcare organizations use in their everyday work.

**About the Role**

We are looking for backend and full-stack software engineers to build the systems behind OpenAI’s healthcare products.

You will work across backend services, APIs, data systems, integrations, and product surfaces to connect AI with healthcare workflows and enterprise data. You’ll tackle the technical challenges involved in making these systems secure, reliable, observable, and scalable enough for real-world healthcare environments.

This is a product-engineering role for someone who can move between customer problems and complex system architecture, and who is comfortable owning ambiguous problems end-to-end.

**In this role, you will:**

* Design and build backend and full-stack systems powering OpenAI’s healthcare products.
* Build services, APIs, and data pipelines that connect OpenAI products with healthcare systems and enterprise data.
* Develop integrations with electronic health records and other healthcare data sources.
* Design systems that meet demanding requirements around privacy, security, permissions, compliance, and data governance.
* Own features and systems from early architecture and implementation through deployment, monitoring, and iteration.
* Build reliable systems capable of handling complex data flows, partial failures, and evolving integration requirements.
* Partner closely with product, research, security, privacy, GTM, and healthcare organizations to translate real-world workflows into scalable products.
* Improve the reliability, performance, observability, and operational maturity of production healthcare systems.
* Take ownership of ambiguous technical problems and drive them toward practical, durable solutions.

**You might thrive in this role if you:**

* Are a strong backend or full-stack engineer who enjoys building durable production systems.
* Have 5+ years of experience writing maintainable, production-quality software.
* Have strong experience with backend services, APIs, data systems, or distributed systems.
* Are comfortable reasoning about system architecture, data models, authentication, permissions, and integration boundaries.
* Have experience owning production systems at scale, including observability, testing, incident response, migrations, and rollout.
* Can move between product requirements and technical architecture without losing ownership of either.
* Operate with high agency and are comfortable taking ambiguous problems from definition through production.
* Enjoy working directly with cross-functional partners and customers to understand complex workflows.
* Care deeply about reliability, privacy, security, and correctness.
* Are motivated by the opportunity to improve healthcare through AI.

**Nice to have:**

* Experience building enterprise SaaS products or platforms.
* Experience with distributed systems, backend architecture, or large-scale data pipelines.
* Experience building integrations with complex third-party systems or APIs.
* Experience with authentication, identity, permissions, or enterprise security.
* Experience working in regulated industries such as healthcare, finance, or enterprise infrastructure.
* Experience with healthcare interoperability, EHR systems, or healthcare data standards.
* Experience building HIPAA-compliant products or systems.
* Experience building applied AI or conversational products.
* Previous experience in healthcare or health technology.

**About OpenAI**

OpenAI is an AI research and deployment company dedicated to ensuring that general-purpose artificial intelligence benefits all of humanity. We push the boundaries of the capabilities of AI systems and seek to safely deploy them to the world through our products. AI is an extremely powerful tool that must be created with safety and human needs at its core, and to achieve our mission, we must encompass and value the many different perspectives, voices, and experiences that form the full spectrum of humanity. 

We are an equal opportunity employer, and we do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or other applicable legally protected characteristic. 

For additional information, please see [OpenAI’s Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity Policy Statement](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/eeo-policy-statement.pdf).

Background checks for applicants will be administered in accordance with applicable law, and qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment consistent with those laws, including the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, the Los Angeles County Fair Chance Ordinance for Employers, and the California Fair Chance Act, for US-based candidates. For unincorporated Los Angeles County workers: we reasonably believe that criminal history may have a direct, adverse and negative relationship with the following job duties, potentially resulting in the withdrawal of a conditional offer of employment: protect computer hardware entrusted to you from theft, loss or damage; return all computer hardware in your possession (including the data contained therein) upon termination of employment or end of assignment; and maintain the confidentiality of proprietary, confidential, and non-public information. In addition, job duties require access to secure and protected information technology systems and related data security obligations.

To notify OpenAI that you believe this job posting is non-compliant, please submit a report through [this form](https://form.asana.com/?d=57018692298241&k=5MqR40fZd7jlxVUh5J-UeA). No response will be provided to inquiries unrelated to job posting compliance.

We are committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants with disabilities, and requests can be made via this [link](https://form.asana.com/?k=bQ7w9h3iexRlicUdWRiwvg&d=57018692298241).

[OpenAI Global Applicant Privacy Policy](https://cdn.openai.com/policies/global-employee-and-contractor-privacy-policy.pdf)

At OpenAI, we believe artificial intelligence has the potential to help people solve immense global challenges, and we want the upside of AI to be widely shared. Join us in shaping the future of technology.