Principal Data Infrastructure Engineer

Layer Health (Headquarters: Boston / NYC)

Data Infrastructure Data Engineering Python GCP Data Pipeline Data Warehouse Architecture BigQuery Spark Big Data Healthcare AI ML LLM Principal Lead Vision Data Engineer Staff Engineer

Company: Layer Health is a rapidly growing AI/ML startup (fresh $21M Series A, backed by Define Ventures, GV, Flare Capital Partners) spun out of MIT. We are building an enterprise LLM platform to transform clinical data understanding and tackle the $2B/year problem of manual patient chart abstraction in healthcare. Our AI-powered platform reasons longitudinally across patient charts, aiming to surpass human performance and unlock value for health systems and life science organizations. Join our team of ~18 (growing to 40-50) with deep research/ML backgrounds.

Role Overview: As a Principal Data Infrastructure Engineer, you will be the chief architect and visionary for Layer Health's entire data ecosystem. You will define the long-term strategy for handling petabyte-scale clinical data, drive innovation in data processing and management technologies on GCP, tackle the most formidable data challenges, and provide technical leadership across the engineering organization.

Responsibilities:
*   Define and drive the overarching technical vision and architecture for Layer Health's data platform, ensuring scalability, reliability, and security for years to come.
*   Lead the design and implementation of cutting-edge solutions for managing and processing vast and complex clinical datasets, potentially involving real-time streams, graph databases, or novel storage paradigms.
*   Spearhead initiatives related to data governance, lineage, quality, and security at scale, particularly within the context of HIPAA and other regulations.
*   Identify, evaluate, and champion the adoption of new data technologies and architectural patterns that provide strategic advantages.
*   Mentor and guide Staff/Senior data and backend engineers, setting the standard for technical excellence in data infrastructure.
*   Act as the ultimate technical authority on data systems, collaborating with leadership on strategic decisions and representing Layer Health's data capabilities.

Required Skills:
*   10+ years of experience in data engineering/infrastructure, with extensive experience in architecting and leading complex, large-scale data platforms.
*   Recognized expertise in distributed data processing systems (Spark, Flink, etc.), data warehousing, and data modeling at scale.
*   Mastery of cloud data ecosystems (GCP strongly preferred), including managed services for storage, processing, databases, and analytics.
*   Deep understanding of data architecture principles, trade-offs, and emerging trends.
*   Exceptional programming skills (Python preferred) and SQL expertise.
*   Proven ability to solve ambiguous, highly complex data challenges and deliver robust, innovative solutions.
*   Strong leadership, mentoring, and communication skills.

Ideal Candidate:
*   Deep expertise in handling healthcare data complexities, compliance (HIPAA), and standards (FHIR, OMOP).
*   Experience architecting data platforms specifically designed for massive AI/ML training and inference workloads, including LLMs.
*   Contributions to the data engineering community (open-source, publications, talks).
*   Strategic thinker passionate about building a world-class data foundation to revolutionize healthcare AI.
*   Ability to work hybrid (2-3 days/week) in either our Boston (Back Bay) or NYC (Grand Central) office.

Location: Boston or NYC (Hybrid 2-3 days/week)
Apply: Email mike-c@layerhealth.com