Senior Data Engineer

Opala delivers robust, secure solutions to tackle the most complex data challenges faced by healthcare's payers and providers. As a startup originating from a major healthcare plan in the Northwest, we combine deep health-tech expertise with top-tier data and software engineering talent to create products that our customers find meaningful and valuable. These products empower payers and their partners to find timely insights and take action to intervene in areas like value-based care analytics, interoperability compliance, and real-time streaming of clinical data.  

In this remote position, we are seeking a Senior Data Engineer with a strong background in various databases, processes, and tools to join our team. In this role, you will design, develop, deploy, and maintain our data-hub and associated integrations.

• Build and optimize scalable end-to-end data pipelines for ingestion, transformation, and delivery.
• Design and develop data models and warehouse structures to support analytics and reporting.
• Operationalize data-driven solutions, including advanced analytics and predictive models.
• Create high-quality datasets for business intelligence, machine learning, and experimentation.
• Implement data quality, lineage, and observability best practices across data workflows.
• Maintain and improve internal tools and automation frameworks for data operations.
• Integrate new data sources, including clinical systems, healthcare standards, vendor feeds, and real-time streams.
• Contribute to CI/CD workflows, infrastructure automation, and cloud-based data architecture.
• Support all software development lifecycle activities following industry best practices.
• Research and integrate design strategies, specifications, and user requirements into data solutions.
• Conduct complex investigations and testing for data systems and workflows.
• Participate in special projects as needed.
• Provide technical guidance to the data engineering team through reviews and infrastructure support.
• Troubleshoot complex data and application issues, ensuring reliability and performance.

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or related technical discipline (or equivalent experience).
• 7+ years overall experience in data engineering or related fields.
• 5+ years building and managing data pipelines and workflows.
• 5+ years designing and managing relational and non-relational data systems.
• Experience with cloud platforms and distributed data environments.
• Strong understanding of data modeling, performance optimization, and reliability.
• Experience supporting advanced analytics or machine learning workflows.
• Familiarity with data integration from diverse sources, including healthcare systems and standards for data representation and communication.

• Experience building data flow processes in large-scale or cloud-based environments.
• Knowledge of healthcare-specific standards for data representation and interoperability (e.g., widely adopted frameworks for clinical data exchange).
• Exposure to data governance, compliance, and security in healthcare contexts.

Benefits:

• The Seattle base salary range for this full-time position is $163k-$192k. Our salary ranges are determined by role, level, and location. Within the range, individual pay is determined by work location and additional factors, including job-related skills, experience, and relevant education or training.  
• Benefits include medical, dental, vision, life and AD&D insurance, EAP, short-term and long-term disability, 16 days PTO, 8 paid holidays, fully paid holiday closure, parental and family medical leave, 401k, stock options and annual bonuses and salary increases based on merit.

• At Opala, we believe that diversity and inclusivity are critical to our success. We encourage and value diverse perspectives and experiences, and we believe that they are essential for driving innovation and creating products that meet the needs of our diverse customer base.