Principal Software Engineer

Who We Are:

SmithRx is a rapidly growing, venture-backed Health-Tech company.  Our mission is to disrupt the expensive and inefficient Pharmacy Benefit Management (PBM) sector by building a next-generation drug acquisition platform driven by cutting edge technology, innovative cost saving tools, and best-in-class customer service.  With hundreds of thousands of members onboarded since 2016, SmithRx has a solution that is resonating with clients all across the country.

We pride ourselves for our mission-driven and collaborative culture that inspires our employees to do their best work. We believe that the U.S healthcare system is in need of transformation, and we come to work each day dedicated to making that change a reality. At our core, we are guided by our company values:

• Integrity: Our purpose guides our actions and gives us confidence in the path ahead. With unwavering honesty and dependability, we embrace the pressure of challenging the old and exemplify ethical leadership to create the new.
• Courage: We face continuous challenges with grit and resilience. We embrace the discomfort of the unknown by balancing autonomy with empathy, and ownership with vulnerability. We boldly challenge the status quo to keep moving forward—always.
• Together: The success of SmithRx reflects the strength of our partnerships and the commitment of our team. Our shared values bind us together and make us one. When one falls, we all fall; when one rises, we all rise.

Job Summary:

As a Principal Software Engineer at SmithRx, you will be a technical leader driving multi-year, multi-team initiatives that shape the future of our engineering organization and business. You will influence the technical strategy across teams and work closely with senior leadership in engineering, product, and design to align technical direction with company goals. Your work will unlock new business opportunities through innovative technical capabilities, and you will ensure the long-term health and quality of our systems.

This role requires exceptional leadership, technical depth, and strategic foresight to guide the design, execution, and evolution of complex systems. You will mentor and collaborate with engineers across the organization, set standards for engineering excellence, and lead the charge in delivering high-quality, scalable, and impactful solutions.

In order to be eligible for this position applicants must be based in one of the following states: Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin.

What you will do:

Technical Leadership

• Define and align technical strategies for multi-year, multi-team initiatives with broader company goals.
• Own technology decisions for large-scale architectures, including frameworks and build-versus-buy choices for key components.
• Design systems with high reliability, scalability, and long-term maintainability, incorporating staged validation plans where necessary.
• Ensure engineering quality through regular health reviews, curated testing strategies, and technical documentation that supports maintainability independent of your expertise.
• Drive overall testing strategies for systems requiring high reliability or quality, including creating validation frameworks or systems.
• Design platforms with long-term maintainability and embedded ML components, ensuring anomaly detection and NLP features were both scalable and production-ready.
• Collaborate with machine learning engineers to design, validate, and deploy ML-based anomaly detection systems, ensuring performance met system SLAs
• Employ systems-level mindset to integrate ML in production environments.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner with Directors, product managers, and design leadership to ensure alignment on technical strategy and business objectives.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify and deliver new business opportunities enabled by technical capabilities.
• Influence product decisions, scope, and technical trade-offs to prioritize customer value without compromising quality.

Organizational Impact

• Drive technical choices that have sweeping implications across the engineering organization, rallying teams around clear rationales and technical visions.
• Proactively identify and refocus engineering efforts when projects are off-course or not driving meaningful business impact.
• Partner with senior leadership to define a long-term vision for engineering teams that aligns with business and market opportunities.

Mentorship and Advocacy

• Serve as a mentor and technical guide for engineers at all levels, fostering a culture of learning and growth.
• Champion engineering excellence by setting high standards for system design, coding, testing, and operational practices.

What you will bring to SmithRx:

Qualifications

• BS or advanced degree in computer science or applicable experience. 
• 15 years required, or 12+ years with an advanced degree of software engineering experience, including leading large-scale, complex systems or initiatives.
• Expertise in system architecture, including design for scalability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Proficiency in evaluating build-versus-buy decisions and choosing frameworks/tools for diverse use cases.
• Proven ability to design systems that address ambiguous or novel challenges, using research and validation plans to guide execution.
• Experience driving the overall health and quality of systems, including testing strategies and technical documentation.
• Strong ability to influence and align technical and product strategies across teams and stakeholders.

Key Skills

• Deep technical expertise in software design and architecture.
• Experience with Machine Learning concepts and their application in software systems.
• Familiarity with Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques and their use cases.
• Experience in developing and deploying anomaly detection algorithms.
• Exceptional problem-solving and decision-making skills, especially in situations with no clear “right” answer.
• Strong communication skills to rally teams, explain complex concepts, and build alignment across organizations.
• A track record of identifying opportunities to meet customer needs through technical capabilities and driving meaningful results.

What SmithRx Offers You: 

• Highly competitive wellness benefits including Medical, Pharmacy, Dental, Vision, and Life Insurance and AD&D Insurance
• Flexible Spending Benefits 
• 401(k) Retirement Savings Program 
• Short-term and long-term disability
• Discretionary Paid Time Off 
• 12 Paid Holidays
• Wellness Benefits
• Commuter Benefits 
• Paid Parental Leave benefits
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Well-stocked kitchen in office locations
• Professional development and training opportunities