Staff Software Development Engineer - Application Architecture

We’re building a world of health around every individual—shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience. At CVS Health®, you’ll be surrounded by passionate colleagues who care deeply, innovate with purpose, hold ourselves accountable and prioritize safety and quality in everything we do. Position Summary If you’re eager to make a meaningful impact through deep technical leadership, consider a role in technology with CVS Health. Our journey calls for senior‑level engineers who can shape the future of pharmacy prior authorization platforms and solutions for CAS (Clinical Authorization System). As a Staff Software Development Engineer – Application Architecture, you serve as a technical authority for CAS architecture and design. You define, evolve, and govern architectural patterns across multiple teams while remaining hands‑on with design, code, and critical technical decisions. This role is central to CAS modernization as we evolve from a large on‑prem monolith to a cloud‑ready, API‑first, domain‑aligned platform. You partner closely with engineering teams, product, UX, QA, DevSecOps, SRE, data, and enterprise architecture to ensure solutions are secure, reliable, performant, compliant, and aligned with long‑term strategy. Key Responsibilities Drive decomposition of legacy monolithic components into cloud‑ready services and modular architectures, balancing short‑term delivery with long‑term sustainability. Define and deliver a clearly articulated CAS North Star Architecture, including target‑state platform, core principles, reference patterns, and a phased migration strategy. Design a cloud‑ready, hybrid‑capable platform supporting coexistence of on‑prem and cloud workloads, with clear service boundaries and integration contracts. Drive API‑first design with consistent standards for versioning, backward compatibility, contract testing, and developer experience. Establish domain‑aligned services and modular components (DDD‑inspired bounded contexts) to reduce coupling and enable independent delivery by multiple teams. Design and promote event‑driven architectures where appropriate, publishing authorization and clinical lifecycle events to enable scalable workflows and downstream integration. Define a pragmatic strangler‑fig migration strategy for decomposing the legacy monolith, including incremental cutovers, coexistence patterns, and measurable milestones. Own CAS architecture governance, including principles, standards, reference architectures, reference implementations, ADRs, and a lightweight, auditable exception process. Produce and maintain executable reference patterns for common concerns such as API design, service templates, security controls, integration patterns, data access, and observability. Define and report architecture governance metrics such as standards adoption, exception volume and age, architectural debt remediation, service SLO attainment, and change quality indicators. Define architectural patterns spanning presentation, service, integration, data, and platform layers, ensuring alignment between UI experiences, APIs, and backend workflows. Establish standards for frontend architectures (componentized UI, accessibility, performance budgets) aligned with shared design systems and backend contracts. Design backend services using modern stacks (.NET, Java, Node.js) with clean architecture, testability, and clear separation of concerns. Standardize synchronous and asynchronous integration patterns (REST/JSON, messaging, streaming, gRPC) with secure partner connectivity. Drive platform architecture aligned to Azure and/or GCP, including containerization, environment strategy, networking, secrets management, and landing‑zone alignment. Partner with DevSecOps to define CI/CD and DevSecOps standards, including automation‑first testing, security scanning, policy gates, infrastructure as code, and safe deployment strategies. Design for reliability and operability by default, defining SLIs/SLOs, graceful degradation, bulkheads, and resilient integration patterns. Define and enforce security and compliance architectures for regulated healthcare data, including least‑privilege access, encryption, auditability, identity controls, and data classification standards. Establish observability requirements across services (metrics, logs, traces, alerts), operational runbooks, and incident response expectations aligned to SLOs. Participate in incident analysis and drive architectural remediation to prevent recurrence. Architect end‑to‑end data and analytics solutions supporting CAS operational reporting and insights. Define data modeling and SQL performance standards, data governance controls, and reliable KPI/metric contracts suitable for regulated data. Establish consistent data integration patterns across heterogeneous platforms, including error handling, retries, and pipeline observability. Set architectural standards for integrating analytics and automation tooling (dashboards/KPIs, analytics automation, workflow orchestration, Python‑based data processing). Identify and enable AI‑assisted capabilities that improve prior authorization outcomes and throughput, with strong human‑in‑the‑loop controls. Define AI service patterns (model‑as‑a‑service behind stable APIs) and establish MLOps and Responsible AI guardrails, including monitoring, bias evaluation, and auditability. Ensure AI solutions comply with PHI security and privacy requirements, including data minimization, encryption, access controls, and audit logging. Design interoperable solutions aligned with clinical and claims ecosystems, including standards‑based approaches such as FHIR/HL7 where applicable. Define canonical data contracts, mapping strategies, and resilient interface patterns (idempotency, retries, circuit breakers, dead‑letter handling). Partner with Product, UX, QA, DevSecOps, SRE, Data, and Enterprise Architecture to align technical solutions with business outcomes. Communicate architectural vision, tradeoffs, and decisions clearly to technical and non‑technical stakeholders. Mentor senior engineers and tech leads and influence engineering standards without direct people‑management responsibility. Required Qualifications 10+ years of software engineering experience with demonstrated impact at scale. Proven experience leading application architecture in large, complex enterprise systems. Strong hands‑on expertise in at least one modern backend stack (.NET, Java, Node.js). Deep experience designing APIs, integrations, and data‑driven systems. Strong understanding of cloud‑ready architectures, CI/CD, and secure SDLC practices. Excellent communication and influencing skills across organizational boundaries. Preferred Qualifications Experience modernizing monolithic systems into cloud‑native or hybrid architectures. Experience with DDD, event‑driven architecture, and API governance. Hands‑on full‑stack experience across UI, services, integration, data, and platform layers. Experience applying AI/ML or Generative AI in regulated environments with MLOps and Responsible AI controls. Experience architecting operational analytics platforms, including dashboards/KPIs, semantic layers, and analytics automation tools. Strong SQL and enterprise data platform experience (e.g., Teradata, SQL Server, Oracle). Experience with Python‑based automation and workflow orchestration. Experience in healthcare, pharmacy, insurance, or other highly regulated industries. Familiarity with HIPAA and related compliance requirements. Experience with Azure and/or GCP platforms. Prior experience in healthcare, pharmacy, insurance, or highly regulated enterprise environments. Knowledge of regulatory and compliance requirements such as HIPAA, PCI DSS, or FedRAMP. SAFe Agile or cloud architecture certifications. Education Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field required. Master’s degree preferred. Culture Fit Mission‑aligned engineering with strong ownership mindset. Architectural stewardship with pragmatic innovation. Quality and reliability by design. Constructive challenge and continuous improvement. Outcome‑driven, collaborative leadership. Pay Range The typical pay range for this role is: $118,450.00 – $236,900.00. Benefits This full‑time position is eligible for a comprehensive benefits package designed to support the physical, emotional, and financial well‑being of colleagues and their families, including medical, dental, and vision coverage, paid time off, retirement savings options, and wellness programs. EEO Statement Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered for employment in accordance with all federal, state and local laws. Application Deadline Application window for this opening will close on: 06/29/2026. #J-18808-Ljbffr