Senior Software Engineer / Technical Lead (Java/AWS, Remote, Contract) | Healthtech

About TBD Health

TBD Health is a rapidly growing, mission-driven startup at the forefront of sexual healthcare technology. Founded in 2020 and backed by $4.4M in seed funding in 2023, we're building an accessible, sex-positive, and non-judgmental platform for at-home STI testing, prevention, and education. We offer a unique hybrid care model, blending the convenience of our digital platform with the accessibility of our physical clinics where patients can get samples collected. The rest of the care journey, from telemedicine consults via video conferencing to secure in-platform messaging, all happens seamlessly on the TBD platform. We're a small but mighty engineering team, and we're looking for a passionate and skilled engineer to help us scale our impact.

The Opportunity: Shape the Future of Healthcare Technology

As a Senior Software Engineer / Technical Lead, you'll play a pivotal role in evolving our core platform and providing technical leadership to our backend engineering team. Reporting directly to the CTO, you'll be instrumental in reducing bottlenecks, fostering engineering excellence, and driving the technical roadmap as we grow. You will be the most senior and technically focused engineer on the team, taking ownership of key technical responsibilities currently handled by the CTO. This is an incredible chance to make a tangible impact on a product that genuinely improves people's lives and influences the future of sexual healthcare.

Your work will directly power:

• Our home-grown Electronic Health Record (EHR) system.
• Strategic B2B partnerships through robust public APIs, enabling partners like Planned Parenthood and WISP to place orders for test kits, track status, and retrieve results seamlessly. You will be responsible for maintaining these critical integrations. We also have many new strategic partnerships in the pipeline, presenting massive opportunities for scaling our reach and impact.
• Our customer-facing portal, where users order and register kits, view results, and engage with clinicians via video conferencing and secure in-platform messaging.
• Our clinician-facing portal, providing tools for clinicians to log in and communicate with patients, review medical information, and order tests.
• Integrations that support our physical clinic operations, including patient appointment scheduling, test ordering, and payment processing, seamlessly connecting in-person care with digital results access and follow-up discussions.

What You'll Do

• Provide Technical Leadership & Mentorship: Guide and mentor our backend engineering team through code reviews, design discussions, and knowledge sharing, fostering a culture of high quality and collaboration.
• Architect & Design: Take strong ownership of API design, crafting robust, scalable, and well-documented RESTful APIs for both internal services and critical B2B integrations. Drive technical design discussions and contribute to long-term architectural decisions.
• Manage Lab Integrations: Oversee and optimize integrations with our network of laboratory partners for seamless test ordering and results delivery.
• Develop & Implement: Write high-quality, performant, and secure backend services primarily using Java (JDK17+) and Spring Boot. You'll work independently, taking features from concept to deployment.
• Drive Infrastructure as Code: Take ownership of our Terraform migration, continuing to build and maintain our cloud infrastructure as code.
• Ensure Compliance: Develop with a strong understanding of HIPAA compliance principles and secure coding practices, contributing to our journey towards full compliance.
• Troubleshoot & Optimize: Identify and resolve complex technical issues, ensuring the reliability and scalability of our platform.
• Customer and Clinical Support & Issue Resolution: Actively diagnose and resolve issues reported by both customers and clinical staff, including system access, login problems (e.g., related to AWS Cognito), and backend API failures, ensuring timely and effective solutions and being prepared to prioritize urgent fixes.
• Collaborate: Work closely with the executive team, clinical team, and frontend developer to translate business requirements into technical solutions.
• On-Call Rotation: Participate in our on-call rotation to ensure the continuous availability and performance of our critical systems.

What You'll Bring

• Experience: 8+ years of progressive professional backend development experience, with at least 2-3 years in a technical leadership or senior mentorship role.
• Java & Spring Boot Mastery: Deep expertise in Java (JDK17+) and building scalable applications with Spring Boot.
• Deep AWS Cloud Understanding: Proven deep technical understanding and hands-on experience with AWS cloud services in a production environment, particularly with:
• AWS Fargate, AWS Lambda, ECS, ECR, and VPC, along with familiarity with Docker or other containerization technologies.
• DynamoDB and RDS, including an understanding of their respective tradeoffs and appropriate use cases for data modeling and table design.
• SQS, S3, SNS, API Gateway, Cognito, Secrets Manager, Firehose.
• API Design Excellence: Demonstrated ability to design, implement, and maintain clean, performant, and extensible RESTful APIs.
• CI/CD & IaC: Hands-on experience with modern CI/CD pipelines and Terraform for infrastructure as code, with a willingness to drive ongoing IaC initiatives.
• Code Quality: Exceptional code review skills, with an ability to identify issues and propose effective, long-term solutions.
• Development Tools & Methodologies: Comfortable working with IntelliJ IDEA, leveraging AI-assisted development tools, and experience working in an Agile environment with relevant issue tracking tools like Jira.
• Problem-Solver: A highly independent, proactive, and strategic thinker who can tackle complex technical challenges and balance short-term needs with long-term architectural vision.
• Customer-Centric Mindset: A strong commitment to understanding and resolving issues for both customers and internal clinical teams, with a proactive approach to improving their experience.
• Healthcare Tech Affinity: Experience in the healthcare industry, or a strong passion for improving healthcare accessibility through technology.
• Bonus Points: Familiarity with Machine Learning / AI concepts and an interest in exploring their future applications within healthcare technology.

Our Technology Stack

• Languages: Java (JDK17+)
• Frameworks: Spring Boot
• Databases: DynamoDB, RDS
• Cloud Platform: AWS (Fargate, Lambda, Docker/Containerization, ECS, ECR, VPC, SQS, SNS, S3, Firehose)
• CI/CD: Modern CI/CD Pipelines
• IaC: Terraform
• Version Control: GitHub
• Development Tools: IntelliJ IDEA, GitHub Copilot, Jira
• Monitoring/Alerting: Robust monitoring and alerting systems

Our Interview Process

Our goal is to get to know you and your technical capabilities efficiently. Our process typically includes:

• Round 1: Intro / Fit Interview (30 mins with the CTO)
• Round 2: Technical Deep Dive (120 mins with the CTO)
• Part A: System Design (60 mins - Open Tools/AI)
• Part B: Foundational Computer Science / Problem Solving (60 mins - Closed AI/Tools)
• Round 3: Peer & Cross-Functional Collaboration (60 mins with 2 engineers or developers)
• Focus: Discuss past projects, collaborative problem-solving, mentorship approach, and API interaction. This is a conversational round to assess team fit and communication.
• Round 4: Culture & Leadership Fit (30 mins with the CEO)
• Round 5: Offer Extension (15 mins)

Compensation & Engagement

This is a 100% remote, ongoing contractor position with no defined end date. Compensation is paid monthly and is competitive within mid-to-low cost global markets (e.g., South Asia, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Southeast Asia). A typical monthly compensation for this role ranges from $4,000 to $6,000 USD, with final offers based on experience, skill set, and location. While this is our current target range, we are open to revisiting the budget for the right candidate.

Candidates must be able to work effectively during core US hours (overlapping at least 6 hours within 8 AM–6 PM ET).

Ready to Make an Impact?

If you're a skilled Staff Software Engineer with a passion for building robust, scalable backend systems in a mission-driven healthcare environment, we encourage you to apply! Join TBD Health and help us transform sexual healthcare.