Software Engineer- Backend

We’re looking for a Backend Engineer to help build and maintain the services that power Vida’s internal and external applications; primarily using Django, REST APIs, Google Cloud Platform (GCP) and Kubernetes. This role is ideal for someone early in their engineering career who wants to grow their skills in backend development, cloud infrastructure and modern software practices. You’ll collaborate closely with experienced engineers, product managers and designers to deliver new features and services that help our members and providers thrive. You’ll also have the opportunity to work with AI, both to enhance our product experience and to assist in the software development process through AI-powered tools.

Responsibilities:

• Build, document and maintain APIs that power Vida’s web, mobile and internal tools.
• Design and optimize backend systems that run in Kubernetes on Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Collaborate with engineers across disciplines to design and implement scalable, reliable services.
• Develop database models and schemas that support core application features and integrations.
• Integrate with internal and third-party systems that support member and provider workflows.
• Work with data and AI engineers to develop features that leverage AI and automation to improve user and provider experiences.
• Use AI-assisted tools (e.g., Cursor, GitHub Copilot) to accelerate development, testing and debugging.
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines; improving deployment speed and reliability.
• Write unit and integration tests to ensure code reliability and maintainability.
• Monitor and troubleshoot services in production using Datadog, GCP Cloud Monitoring and logging best practices.
• Participate in code reviews and pair programming to learn best practices and improve code quality.
• Explore and apply AI tools to assist with development, testing and code analysis.
• Continuously look for opportunities to improve reliability, observability and developer experience across backend systems.

Qualifications:

• 1–3 years of experience (or equivalent personal projects/internships) in backend software development.
• Bachelors Degree at a minimum.
• Strong foundation in Python and Django (or a similar web framework).
• Demonstrated ability to learn new tools and frameworks quickly.
• Understanding of REST API design and data modeling concepts.
• Familiarity with SQL databases (PostgreSQL preferred).
• Curiosity about cloud infrastructure and distributed systems (GCP, Kubernetes).
• Interest in AI tools and frameworks that improve productivity or enhance application features.
• Clear communication and a collaborative mindset.

Preferred:

• Experience deploying applications to GCP, AWS or similar cloud platforms.
• Familiarity with containerized development (Docker, Kubernetes).
• Experience with monitoring and alerting tools (Datadog, Prometheus, Cloud Monitoring).
• Exposure to asynchronous or event-driven systems (Celery, Pub/Sub, etc.).
• Interest in healthcare technology and building tools that make a real-world impact.
• Experience with API modeling and test tools such as OpenAPI, Swagger, GraphQL and Postman.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools such as Cursor, GitHub Copilot or similar to improve productivity and code quality.