Principal Software Engineer (Python) | Remote | AirStrip

Are you ready to link your passion with a purpose? At AirStrip, we build technology that enables clinicians to diagnose earlier than ever before, accelerate life-saving interventions, reduce the cost of care, and save lives.

We provide mobile-first clinical surveillance and alarm communication management technology that unlocks siloed data from patient monitors and transforms it into contextually rich information easily accessible on mobile devices and the Web. We’re seeking innovative thinkers who love doing meaningful work. If you’re looking to bring your skills and expertise to a growing technology company, it’s time for you to join us!

We’re adding a Principal Python Engineer to our AirStrip team! In this role, you’ll be a recognized subject matter expert driving technical direction for our Insight healthcare platform. You’ll architect and build the distributed systems that power near real-time patient monitoring across hospitals nationwide. Your expertise will shape how we integrate with hospital systems, modernize our microservices architecture, and scale our platform to support growing healthcare demands.

This isn’t just about writing code. You’ll be the technical leader other engineers turn to for guidance on complex problems, from HL7 healthcare data integration to designing async service architectures.

Responsibilities on a day-to-day include, but are not limited to:

Architect & Build Core Systems

• Design and implement features across our 15+ Python microservices ecosystem (Django, aiohttp, async patterns)
• Lead technical direction for healthcare integration efforts (HL7 protocols, hospital EMR systems)
• Make architectural decisions that balance innovation with production stability for mission-critical systems

Drive Platform Modernization

• Evolve our tech stack (Django 4.0, PostgreSQL, Redis, Elasticsearch) while maintaining 99.9%+ uptime
• Identify and eliminate technical debt in complex distributed systems
• Champion best practices for async Python, microservices patterns, and API design

Enable the Engineering Team

• Provide technical mentorship and code review guidance to 2-5 engineers
• Define technical standards and patterns that multiply team productivity
• Help prevent and solve complex technical problems across projects
• Serve as escalation point for critical production issues

Shape Healthcare Technology

• Work directly with HL7 messages and clinical workflow requirements
• Ensure HIPAA-compliant data handling and encryption standards
• Collaborate with hospital implementation teams on technical integrations

Support Customer Installations

• Provide engineering support for customer deployments and troubleshooting
• Debug production issues in Linux VM environments running Dockerized services
• Work with implementation teams to resolve deployment and integration challenges

Technical Environment

Core Stack:

• Python 3.6+ (1,452+ Python files across 15+ microservices)
• Django 4.0.4, Django REST Framework 3.13
• aiohttp 3.8+ for async services
• PostgreSQL 11/13, Redis, Elasticsearch 6.3
• Docker & Docker Compose
• RQ (Redis Queue) for distributed task processing

Key Services

• Apollo (device authentication), Reliant (Django admin), HL7 Pipeline (healthcare integration)
• Notify (message routing), Metro2 (async messaging), CADT (deployment orchestration)

DevOps & Deployment

• Dockerized microservices deployed to Linux VMs (Ubuntu/Debian-based)
• Docker & Docker Compose for service orchestration
• CI/CD: Github Actions, TeamCity
• Monitoring: Datadog APM, New Relic
• Multi-tenant SaaS architecture with customer-specific deployments

Healthcare Domain

• HL7 protocol for healthcare data exchange
• HIPAA-compliant encryption and audit logging
• Hospital EMR integrations, clinical workflows

Education & Experience Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree, preferably in Computer Science or a related field (commensurate experience will be considered as an alternative to a degree)
• Expert level experience in Python (10+ years)

Required Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Django or similar web frameworks - Deep expertise with Django, Flask, or FastAPI in production environments
• Async Python mastery - Expert with asyncio, aiohttp, and async/await patterns in distributed systems
• PostgreSQL at scale - Query optimization, indexing strategies, schema design for high-traffic applications
• Microservices architecture - Hands-on experience designing and operating distributed systems with message queues, API design, service communication patterns
• Docker & containerization - Production experience with Docker, Docker Compose, and container orchestration
• Linux systems administration - Strong familiarity with Linux environments (Ubuntu/Debian), comfortable working in bash shell for debugging, deployment, and system troubleshooting
• Redis expertise - Caching strategies, job queues (RQ/Celery), pub/sub messaging
• Technical leadership - Track record of driving technical direction, conducting code reviews, mentoring engineers
• Production ownership - Experience as escalation point for critical systems, incident response, debugging complex distributed issues

Preferred Knowledge, Skills, And Abilities

• Healthcare domain knowledge - HL7 protocol, FHIR, HIPAA compliance requirements
• Elasticsearch - Search indexing, query optimization, analytics workloads
• Django REST Framework - Advanced patterns for API design and serialization
• Multi-tenant SaaS - Experience with tenant isolation, configuration management, deployment strategies
• APM tools - Datadog, New Relic, or similar observability platforms
• Near real-time systems - WebSockets, streaming APIs, event-driven architectures
• CI/CD pipelines - GitHub Actions, Codefresh, Travis CI, or similar platforms
• pytest expertise - Advanced testing patterns, fixtures, mocking for complex systems

The salary range for applicable US-based applicants to this position is below. The specific rate will depend on the successful candidate’s qualifications, prior experience as well as geographic location.

$161,000 - $196,000 base salary plus bonus potential.

We value each of our employee’s total wellness. From robust medical, dental, and vision insurance, to financial planning assistance, to physical and mental wellness discounts, and unlimited access to our online learning platform, we understand that our company succeeds when our employees succeed as individuals.

Additional Notable US-employee Benefits Include

• Paid Time Off (hourly) / Flex Time Off (salaried) programs for Full Time employees
• Growth and Development opportunities
• 401(k), including a 3% company match
• Paid Holidays
• Paid Parental Leave, including a flexible return-to-work program
• Employee Assistance Program
• Discounts on popular cell phone plan providers
• Life & Disability Insurance
• And more!

AirStrip provides equal employment opportunities to all employees and applicants for employment and prohibits discrimination and harassment of any type without regard to 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 laws.

This policy applies to all terms and conditions of employment, including recruiting, hiring, placement, promotion, termination, layoff, recall, transfer, leaves of absence, compensation and training.