Senior Sustaining & Forward Deployed Engineer

About UsAbacus Insights is transforming how data works for health plans. Our mission is simple: make healthcare data usable, so the people responsible for care and cost decisions can act faster, with confidence.We help health plans break down data silos to create a single, trusted data foundation. That foundation powers better decisions—so plans can improve outcomes, reduce waste, and deliver better experiences for members and providers alike. Backed by $100M from top investors, we’re tackling big challenges in an industry that’s ready for change. Our platform enables GenAI use cases by delivering clean, connected, and reliable healthcare data to support automation, prioritization, and decision workflows—and it’s why we are leading the way.Our innovation begins with people. We are bold, curious, and collaborative—because the best ideas come from working together. We embrace the thoughtful use of AI and automation to drive innovation and efficiency, and we look for individuals who are curious and adaptable—those excited to leverage emerging technologies to enhance how we work—while keeping human insight, connection, and our clients at the center of every decision.Ready to make an impact? Join us and let’s build the future together.About The RoleThe Senior Sustaining & Forward Deployed Engineer is a senior individual contributor responsible for production operations, incident response, and post‑launch system reliability across Abacus Insights’ platform.This Role BlendsSRE and production operationsSWAT-style deep technical problem solvingForward‑deployed, customer‑facing technical workHands‑on software development and automationYou will own the most complex, ambiguous, and high‑impact production issues, particularly those involving AWS infrastructure, Databricks workloads, and large‑scale data pipelines. You will work directly with customers on escalations and deployments, while ensuring learnings are translated back into durable product and platform improvements.This is a hands-on role. You are expected to lead technically during incidents, debug live systems, and write production code where it meaningfully improves reliability and operability.Your day to dayProduction Operations & Incident ResponseAct as a senior technical escalation point during production incidentsLead real-time incident triage, mitigation, and recovery effortsDrive root cause analysis (RCA) with a focus on systemic, long-term fixesIdentify recurring failure patterns and push for architectural or operational improvementsPartner with Customer Success and Engineering to manage customer impact during incidentsSustaining Engineering & Post‑Launch OwnershipOwn post-launch reliability, stability, and operational quality of core systemsInvestigate and resolve complex field issues and production defectsEnsure fixes developed during incidents or customer escalations are up streamed into the core productImprove operational readiness of services through better runbooks, monitoring, and alertingReduce operational toil by converting repeated manual work into automationForward Deployed / Customer‑Facing EngineeringEngage directly with strategic customers to solve real-world, production-grade technical challengesSupport complex deployments, integrations, and escalations in customer environmentsAct as a trusted technical partner to customers during high-impact issuesTranslate customer learnings into concrete product, platform, and operational improvementsContribute to reusable tools, playbooks, and best practices that accelerate future deploymentsAWS & Databricks Technical ExpertiseServe as a subject matter expert for AWS-hosted production systemsTroubleshoot and resolve issues across:AWS compute, storage, networking, IAM, and securityDatabricks jobs, clusters, and Spark-based data pipelinesDebug performance degradation, scalability issues, job failures, and data correctness problemsPartner with platform and data teams to harden systems for reliability, scale, and operabilitySoftware Development & AutomationWrite production-quality code to:Automate operational workflowsImprove reliability and observabilityEliminate manual intervention and reduce incident frequencyContribute primarily in Python, with exposure to JVM-based systems as neededReview code with a strong emphasis on operability, resiliency, and maintainabilityAdvocate for “build it so it can be operated” engineering standardsTechnical Leadership & CollaborationProvide technical leadership without formal authority, influencing design and operational decisionsMentor engineers through pairing, reviews, and incident leadershipCollaborate closely with Product, Engineering, Data, and Customer teamsOperate effectively in high-pressure, ambiguous environments, especially during customer-impacting incidentsWhat You Bring To The Team10+ years of experience in software engineering, SRE, sustaining engineering, or production operationsDeep hands-on experience operating production systems in AWSStrong experience troubleshooting Databricks and large-scale data platformsProficiency in Python and experience building production services or toolingStrong understanding of:Distributed systemsIncident management and RCA practicesMonitoring, alerting, and observabilityCI/CD Pipelines that leverage Infrastructure as Code.Proven ability to own problems end-to-end, from detection to permanent resolutionExcellent communication skills, especially during incidents and customer escalationsAbility to work backward from customer impact to root cause across systems and codebases, delivering fixes in environments with minimal documentation.Strong instinct for operational risk, with the ability to proactively identify failure modes and harden systems before they impact customers.What We Would Like To See, But Not RequiredExperience in healthcare, health insurance, or regulated data environmentsFamiliarity with:Kubernetes (EKS), EMR, LambdaSpark internalsSnowflake or similar data warehousesExperience with FHIR, MDM systems, or entity resolutionPrior experience in SWAT, escalation engineering, or tiger-team rolesExperience contributing to or operating within SRE/on-call programsCompensation: Compensation for this role is based on experience, skills, and location, and includes base salary plus eligibility for performance bonuses and equity grants.What You’ll Get In ReturnUnlimited paid time off – recharge when you need itWork from anywhere – flexibility to fit your lifeComprehensive health coverage – multiple plan options to choose fromEquity for every employee – share in our successGrowth-focused environment – your development matters hereHome office setup allowance – one-time support to get you startedMonthly cell phone allowance – stay connected with easeOur Commitment as an Equal Opportunity EmployerAs a mission-led technology company helping to drive better healthcare outcomes, Abacus Insights believes that the best innovation and value we can bring to our customers comes from diverse ideas, thoughts, experiences, and perspectives. Therefore, we dedicate resources to building diverse teams and providing equal employment opportunities to all applicants. Abacus prohibits discrimination and harassment regarding race, color, religion, age, sex, national origin, disability status, genetics, protected veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, or any other characteristic protected by federal, state, or local laws.At the heart of who we are is a commitment to continuously and intentionally building an inclusive culture—one that empowers every team member across the globe to do their best work and bring their authentic selves. We carry that same commitment into our hiring process, aiming to create an interview experience where you feel comfortable and confident showcasing your strengths. If there’s anything we can do to support that—big or small—please let us know.