About the role

Aplyr's Quick Take

This role is for a Senior Software Engineer focused on backend development at Sidecar Health. You'll be building and optimizing backend services and APIs that handle complex healthcare data, making architectural decisions, and ensuring system performance. It's an individual contributor position, so you'll need to take ownership of your projects.

Good fit

Ideal candidates have significant experience in backend development, particularly with scalable systems and APIs. You should be detail-oriented, enjoy tackling complex problems, and be comfortable working independently.

Worth noting

This position is remote but requires candidates to be based in California. The role emphasizes a high standard for code quality and includes integrating AI tools into workflows, which may appeal to those interested in innovative tech applications in healthcare.

Sidecar Health is redefining health insurance. Our mission is to make excellent healthcare affordable and accessible for everyone. We know that to accomplish this lofty mission, we need driven people who will make things happen.

The passionate people who make up Sidecar Health’s team come from all over, with backgrounds as tech leaders, policy makers, healthcare professionals, and beyond. And they all have one thing in common—the desire to fix a broken system and make it more personalized, affordable, and transparent.

If you want to use your talents to transform healthcare in the United States, come join us!

About the Role

This is a high-impact individual contributor role at the core of our backend engineering team, building the services, APIs, and data systems that power Sidecar Health's platform. You'll own complex, performance-critical systems end-to-end — from design through deployment — and make the architectural decisions that keep us fast and reliable as we scale. If you treat every feature like your name is on it and want to build things that matter in healthcare, this is the role for you.

**MUST BE BASED IN CALIFORNIA**

What You'll Do

Design, build, and own scalable backend services and APIs that handle complex healthcare data and workflows
Optimize database queries and data models to ensure system performance and reliability at scale
Evaluate and articulate technical tradeoffs across system design, performance, and maintainability
Integrate AI tools and agentic coding patterns into backend workflows where they add real value
Write clean, well-tested, production-grade code with a high bar for quality
Partner with product, data, and cross-functional stakeholders to translate requirements into robust technical solutions
Contribute to engineering standards through code reviews, technical discussion, and better defaults

What You'll Bring

5+ years of professional software engineering experience with strong backend ownership of production systems
Deep expertise in Java and/or Python
Proven experience with system design and the ability to articulate tradeoffs between architectural approaches
Solid fundamentals in testing, debugging, performance optimization, and code review
Habitual, fluent use of AI tools (Claude, Cursor, etc.) as part of your daily workflow
Comfortable owning cloud deployments, preferably on AWS (EC2, Lambda, RDS, S3)
Experience with CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
Familiarity with data engineering frameworks — Airflow, dbt, Snowflake, or Dagster — is a strong plus
Experience building AI agents is a plus
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience

The Reality

This is a startup. We move fast. We prioritize impact over polish. We expect:

Bias for action — ship, learn, iterate
Ownership — you design it, build it, run it
Pragmatism — solve real problems, not theoretical ones
Resilience — ambiguity comes with the territory

Healthcare is complex and broken. The work matters.

What You'll Get

Competitive salary, bonus opportunity, and equity package
Comprehensive Medical, Dental, and Vision benefits
A 401k retirement plan
Paid vacation and company holidays
Opportunity to make an impact at a rapidly growing mission-driven company transforming healthcare in the U.S.

Sidecar Health is an Equal Opportunity employer committed to building a diverse team. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.

Skills & Tags

python java aws ai backend devops data product

Aplyr's read

Sidecar Health redefines health insurance by empowering members to pay directly for care, attracting innovative professionals in tech, sales, and customer service.
Synthesized from recent postings & public sources

What's promising

•Innovative payment model allows members to control healthcare costs directly.
•Recent hiring in technology and sales indicates growth and expansion.
•Focus on member care suggests a commitment to customer satisfaction.

What to watch

•Limited public information about long-term financial stability.
•Potential challenges in scaling a non-traditional insurance model.
•Complex reimbursement process may confuse some users.

Why Sidecar Health

•Direct payment model differentiates it from traditional insurers.
•Transparency in pricing empowers members to make informed decisions.
•Emphasis on technology-driven solutions for healthcare financing.

Aplyr’s read is generated by AI from public sources. Was it useful?

About Sidecar Health

Sidecar Health

sidecarhealth.com

View company

Sidecar Health is a health insurance company that offers a unique approach to healthcare financing, allowing members to pay for their medical expenses directly and receive reimbursement.