Senior Data Engineer
9amHealth · United States · $195,000 (stated in the posting)
About 9amHealth
9amHealth is an AI-enabled virtual specialty care platform focused on managing high-cost chronic conditions at scale. The company partners with employers, health plans, and pharmacy benefit managers to deliver comprehensive, cost-effective medical care for individuals living with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia. Members receive access to specialized clinicians, including endocrinologists, obesity medicine specialists, and clinical pharmacists, at-home lab testing, prescription medications, and lifestyle support.
9amHealth was founded in 2021 and is backed by leading healthcare investors like Define Ventures, SemperVirens, 7Wire Ventures, and The Cigna Group Ventures.
About the Role
We are looking for a Senior Data Engineer to join our lean, high-impact Data & Analytics team (currently a data analyst and a data engineer). You will own and evolve the data platform that powers clinical operations, business intelligence, and AI initiatives. This is a hands-on, full-stack data role: you will build and maintain pipelines, design analytical data models, contribute backend application code, and help the team adopt modern AI-assisted development practices.
This is not a traditional analytics or BI role. We need a strong software engineer who happens to specialize in data. Our entire DWH, ETL, and reporting stack is built in Python on AWS, so deep Python development experience is essential. The ideal candidate can write production-quality Python and SQL with the same rigor as any backend engineer, while also being comfortable configuring a Looker explore, building an AWS Glue job, or contributing Java code where needed. You thrive in a startup environment where ownership is broad and velocity matters.
What it is:
Design, build, and maintain scalable data pipelines and ETL/ELT workflows in Python using AWS Glue, Apache Spark, Airflow, or equivalent orchestration tools.
Write production-grade Python code for DWH logic, reporting jobs, data transformations, and internal tooling, following software engineering best practices (testing, code review, CI/CD).
Develop and optimize analytical data models (dimensional, OBT, or hybrid) that serve self-service BI and advanced analytics use cases.
Build and maintain dashboards, explores, and semantic layers in Looker and/or Tableau; serve as the analytics infrastructure owner ensuring data quality and governance.
Contribute backend application code in Java (Spring Boot) or Python to support data-intensive features, API integrations, and internal services.
Champion modern AI coding practices across the data team, leveraging tools like GitHub Copilot, Claude, Cursor, or similar AI-assisted development environments to accelerate delivery and code quality.
Author and maintain comprehensive SQL assets (stored procedures, views, complex queries) across Redshift, Aurora/MySQL, and Athena.
Operate and optimize AWS data infrastructure including Glue, S3, Redshift, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, IAM, and Athena.
Collaborate closely with clinical operations, product, finance, and engineering teams to translate business questions into reliable, well-documented data products.
Implement data quality frameworks, monitoring, alerting, and incident response processes for the data platform.
Contribute to the architecture and data strategy for AI/ML features, including data prep, feature engineering, and model monitoring.
Mentor the existing data analyst and data engineer; help establish team standards, code review practices, and documentation norms.
What you need:
10+ years of professional experience in data engineering, analytics engineering, or a hybrid data/backend software engineering role.
Strong software engineering background: this role requires someone who can write, test, debug, and ship production code, not just query data.
Expert-level Python: deep experience building production data pipelines, ETL logic, and reporting systems in Python.
Expert-level SQL: window functions, CTEs, recursive queries, query optimization, and performance tuning at scale.
Hands-on experience with AWS data services, specifically Glue, S3, Redshift, Athena, CloudFormation, CloudWatch, and IAM.
Experience with MySQL/Aurora in a production environment.
Hands-on experience building and operating data pipelines with AWS Glue, Spark, dbt, Airflow, or comparable frameworks.
Deep experience with at least one modern BI platform. Looker (LookML) strongly preferred; Tableau also valued. Should include semantic modeling, dashboard design, and self-service enablement.
Solid understanding of data modeling techniques: star/snowflake schemas, slowly changing dimensions, event-based models.
Familiarity with AI-assisted coding tools (GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, Cody) and a demonstrated interest in integrating AI into engineering workflows.
Preferred Qualifications
Proficiency in Java (Spring Boot, Maven/Gradle) with experience shipping backend services or data-intensive applications to production.
AWS certifications (e.g., Solutions Architect, Data Analytics Specialty, or Database Specialty).
Experience in health tech, digital health, or regulated industries (HIPAA familiarity is a plus).
Experience with CI/CD for data assets (dbt CI, Great Expectations, or similar).
Background in building or contributing to AI/ML features: feature stores, training pipelines, model serving, or RAG architectures.
Comfort with infrastructure-as-code (Terraform, CloudFormation) and containerized deployments (Docker, ECS/EKS).
Prior experience in a startup or high-growth environment where you owned outcomes end to end.
Track record of improving developer experience and productivity through tooling, automation, or process improvements.
Compensation: This role offers a base salary of up to $195,000, depending on experience and qualifications.
What you can expect at 9amHealth
At 9amHealth, you'll join the exciting environment of a startup with the stability of highly experienced founders that have successfully built a business from scratch. We foster a collaborative learning mindset and a passion for improvement. You'll work with a brand-new product alongside a small, flexible team of people eager to shape technology, infrastructure, and culture.
Our team members are spread across the globe, with physical sites in San Diego, California, and Vienna, Austria, but we value your culture regardless of where you work.
Additionally, we provide a professional development budget and support continuing education, empowering our team to grow alongside the company. Team members have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on chronic disease management and patient outcomes while contributing to a collaborative, mission driven culture focused on improving healthcare accessibility and affordability.
Full-Time/W2 Positions Only: We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, along with flexible PTO and work from home options.
Our commitment to diversity and inclusion
Diabetes disproportionately impacts BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities. We are committed to creating a workforce that reflects our patients and creating a positive healthcare experience for them. We welcome applications from people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, and foreign born residents.