Principal Data Engineer

About Halcyon Labs Halcyon Labs is a mission-driven team of healthcare providers, technologists, and builders working to transform care for people with Medicaid benefits. Our community-based care teams—powered by proprietary data science and ML technologies—support care for tens of thousands of Medicaid members across multiple states, driving measurable reductions in avoidable emergency department visits and hospitalizations. We’re designing tools and systems that bring care directly to those who need it most—removing barriers and reimagining what’s possible in Medicaid healthcare delivery and we are seeking a highly experienced Data Engineer to join this mission. This is a senior to principal-level individual contributor role who combines deep backend engineering fundamentals with specialized expertise in Electronic Health Record (EHR) data integration. You will report to data engineering leadership and setting the technical direction for our clinical data platform by leading the design, development, and optimization of data pipelines that ingest, normalize, and transform clinical data from diverse EHR and payer systems. If this resonates with you, we invite you to bring your creativity, energy, and curiosity to Halcyon Labs . Key Responsibilities EHR & Partner Integrations Architect production-grade data pipelines that integrate clinical data through multiple channels—direct EHR connections (e.g., Epic, Cerner, Athenahealth), health information exchanges (HIEs), health alliance networks, and third-party integration vendors—via FHIR R4 APIs, HL7v2 feeds, CCDA documents, and bulk data exports, while enforcing healthcare standards and clinical terminologies (ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm), targeting sub-hour latency from clinical event to actionable insight and ≥99.9% pipeline reliability Lead end-to-end integration efforts with health plan partners, HIEs, health alliance networks, provider organizations, and data integration vendors—owning partner technical evaluation, connectivity, data mapping, validation, and production rollout Data Platform & Tooling Build and optimize cloud-native data infrastructure (AWS) and ETL/ELT workflows using modern orchestration tools (e.g., Step Functions, dbt) with robust data quality monitoring and lineage tracking Develop reusable backend frameworks, libraries, and internal tooling that accelerate onboarding of new data sources—whether direct EHR feeds, HIE connections, or vendor integrations—with the goal of reducing new-partner integration time by 50% or more while improving developer productivity and reducing operational toil across engineering ML/AI Enablement & Product Collaboration Partner with data science and data analytics teams to build and operationalize the data foundations for predictive risk scores, care gap identification, clinical alerting, and patient outreach prioritization Collaborate with product and clinical teams to translate care delivery requirements into scalable, production-grade technical solutions and influence. Security & Compliance Ensure all data systems comply with HIPAA, HITECH, and applicable privacy regulations, implementing access controls, audit logging, encryption, and de-identification processes for PHI Leadership & Mentorship Provide technical leadership and mentorship to engineers across Halcyon Labs , raising the bar on healthcare data best practices. Qualifications Must-have Significant software engineering experience with substantial focus on healthcare data engineering or EHR integration (Senior: 5+ years; Principal: 8+ years). Expert-level proficiency in Python ( required ) and experience in at least one compiled or concurrent language ( such as Elixir) Deep understanding of distributed systems, cloud computing, and backend system design: API architecture (REST), microservices, event-driven systems, message queues (RabbitMQ), caching strategies, and distributed systems patterns Strong background in data modeling, schema design, performance optimization, and both relational (PostgreSQL) and columnar/analytical databases (Redshift) Experience with containerization and orchestration technologies (e.g., Docker (required), Kubernetes) Design data integration systems resilient to inconsistent, incomplete, and delayed clinical data across heterogeneous EHRs and payer systems either directly or through HIEs, health alliance networks, or integration vendors, using FHIR APIs, HL7v2 interfaces, or CCDA parsing Strong experience in mapping/normalizing healthcare standards such as ICD-10, SNOMED CT, LOINC, RxNorm Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain complex technical concepts to both technical and non-technical audiences Additional Expectations for Principal (L4) Demonstrated track record of setting technical direction for complex platforms and influencing engineering strategy across multiple teams. Comfort operating as a principal IC with broad influence and without direct reports—shaping roadmaps, standards, and architectural decisions