Chief Engineer

HIRA is an agentic AI-driven workforce optimization platform that helps hospitals reduce labor costs and improve staffing decisions. Instead of relying on dashboards or manual analysis, HIRA acts as an AI coach that interprets KPIs, identifies root causes, and guides managers on what actions to take. Hospitals are facing rising labor costs, worsening staffing shortages, and increasing pressure to do more with less. Existing workforce solutions focus on scheduling or HCM tasks but do little to help leaders understand demand, project staffing needs, or make consistent, data-driven decisions. HIRA closes this gap by combining predictive demand modeling, staffing grid intelligence, scenario planning, and agentic AI designed specifically for healthcare operations. About the Role: HIRA is looking for a technical leader who can lead the technical strategy, architecture, and execution of our AI-driven workforce optimization platform. This is a highly influential, hands-on leadership role where you will help define how the platform is built, guide engineering direction, and contribute directly to its development. Responsibilities: Technical Strategy & Architecture • Own the technical roadmap, system architecture, and engineering direction • Translate business, operational, and data requirements into clear technical planning • Architect scalable systems across data pipelines, AI agents, integrations, and core application services Hands-On Engineering • Build foundational backend services, data workflows, and integrations • Develop APIs, microservices, and internal automation tools • Build and optimize LLM-powered agents, RAG pipelines, vector store logic, and reasoning workflows Team Leadership & Management • Hire, manage, and mentor an engineering team as it grows • Set engineering standards, code review processes, and development best practices • Run sprint planning, architecture reviews, and milestone execution Data Engineering & Integrations • Build and manage data ingestion pipelines (e.g. APIs, SFTP, HL7/FHIR, CSV/Excel) • Design performant SQL data models and transformation layers • Implement integrations with EHRs, workforce management systems, and other hospital tools Cross-Functional Collaboration • Work directly with the co-founders, product stakeholders, and healthcare SMEs • Break down operational workflows (staffing, demand forecasting, scheduling) into structured engineering logic • Participate in design sessions, customer calls, and early deployments Qualifications: Required • 7+ years of engineering experience (backend, full-stack, or data engineering) • Experience leading or managing engineers • Strong hands-on skills with Python, TypeScript/JavaScript, SQL • Deep experience with cloud infrastructure (Azure strongly preferred) • Proven experience building LLM-based features, agentic workflows, or AI-enabled applications • Prior architecture experience in a startup or complex data environment • Strong ownership mindset and comfort operating independently Preferred • Experience with healthcare data, EHR integrations, and staffing workflows • Familiarity with HL7, FHIR, and secure healthcare APIs • Experience with agent frameworks, vector databases, or orchestration tooling • Prior early-stage or founding engineer role • Exposure to HIPAA or SOC 2 environments Compensation: Hourly compensation tied to defined milestones • Milestones will be collaboratively defined • Milestones may include technical deliverables, integrations, data models, prototypes, and platform features • Equity package with vesting schedule (standard 4-year or milestone-based vesting) • Clear path to grow into a long-term CTO or VP of Engineering role This structure provides flexibility while ensuring transparency, alignment, and meaningful upside as a core technical leader.