Principal Software Engineer

Principal Software Engineer

Remote (Full Time)

Compensation: $190,000 - $210,000

About Us

Zócalo Health is a tech-enabled, community-oriented primary care organization serving people who have historically been underserved by the one-size-fits-all healthcare system. We partner with health plans, providers, and community organizations to deliver culturally competent primary care, behavioral health, and social care.

Our model is built for populations with high medical and social complexity, where fragmented care drives poor outcomes and unnecessary cost. We combine local, community-based teams with virtual care and modern technology to deliver coordinated, whole-person care where members live and receive support.

Founded in 2021, Zócalo Health is backed by leading healthcare and mission-aligned investors and is scaling rapidly across states and populations. We are building a durable care platform designed to perform in constrained healthcare environments and to lead the shift toward accountable, value-based care.

Role Description

The Principal Software Engineer will join Zócalo Health during a period of rapid growth and increasing operational complexity. This role exists to help scale and execute a community-oriented primary care model that delivers measurable outcomes for high-need members and health plan partners.

As part of a fast-growing team, you will be responsible for building and owning the Zócalo technology platform from the ground up. This is a greenfield opportunity where you will have significant influence over the architecture, stack, and engineering culture from day one.

This position reports to the VP of Engineering.

The Principal Software Engineer will contribute in the following ways:

• Drive the architectural vision for our platform, including the evolution of event-driven patterns, service boundaries, performance expectations, and long-term scalability.

• Lead AI strategy within engineering, including the adoption of AI-accelerated developer tooling, code generation, automated testing, and pipeline automation to improve delivery speed and quality.

• Own greenfield architectural decisions, including technology selection, service design, and infrastructure strategy, establishing the foundation the team will build on for years.

• Provide leadership across application, network, and infrastructure security, including secure coding practices, OWASP considerations, and integration of DAST, SCA, and SAST tooling.

• Work with product to refine MVP scope, introduce instrumentation where appropriate, and measure feature usage and return on investment.

• Drive team SDLC processes, including feature management, testing practices, pull request quality, CI/CD pipelines, security posture, performance benchmarks, usability, and developer experience tooling enhanced with AI.

• Lead and support the recruiting process for engineers, including helping build an evaluation process that incorporates AI readiness and modern engineering practices.

• Foster a culture of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s Degree or equivalent years of experience

• Extensive experience designing and building scalable, performant systems across web, mobile, and backend services.

• Deep expertise in cloud architecture, including application infrastructure, networking, observability, and deployment strategies.

• Strong understanding of large-scale architectural patterns, including event-driven systems, microservices, distributed systems, and performance optimization.

• Experience working in regulated healthcare environments, including familiarity with HIPAA compliance, PHI handling, and the technical constraints of EHR integrations or health plan data exchange.

• Strong knowledge of application, network, and infrastructure security, including OWASP, DAST, SCA, SAST, and secure coding practices.

• Demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional technical initiatives and influence product direction.

• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to translate technical concepts for senior leadership and non-technical stakeholders.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience designing or integrating AI or ML-powered product features such as prediction models, workflow automation, or retrieval-augmented systems.

• Experience integrating AI into software development workflows, including AI-enhanced coding tools, automated testing, and CI/CD optimization.

• Proven experience identifying and driving system-level and AI-driven improvements aligned to business objectives.

What you can expect from Zócalo Health

• Equity compensation package

• Comprehensive benefits including medical, dental, and vision

• 401k

• Flexible PTO policy - take the time you need to recharge

• $1,000 home office stipend

• We provide the equipment needed for this role.

• Opportunity for rapid career progression with plenty of room for personal growth.

You must be authorized to work in the United States. Remote Work can be done from anywhere in the U.S.

At Zócalo Health Inc., we see diversity and inclusion as a source of strength in transforming healthcare. We believe building trust and innovation are best achieved through diverse perspectives. To us, acceptance and respect are rooted in an understanding that people do not experience things in the same way, including our healthcare system. Individuals seeking employment at Zócalo Health are considered without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status. 

Those seeking employment at Zócalo Health are considered without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status or disability status.