Staff Backend Engineer, Agentic AI

Company: Artera
Location: Kansas City
Posted on: February 16, 2026

Job Description:

Job Description Job Description ABOUT ARTERA Our Mission: Make healthcare 1 in customer service. What We Deliver: Artera, a SaaS leader in digital health, transforms patient experience with AI-powered virtual agents (voice and text) for every step of the patient journey. Trusted by 1,000 provider organizations — including specialty groups, FQHCs, large IDNs and federal agencies — engaging 100 million patients annually. Artera’s virtual agents support front desk staff to improve patient access including self-scheduling, intake, forms, billing and more. Whether augmenting a team or unleashing a fully autonomous digital workforce, Artera offers multiple virtual agent options to meet healthcare organizations where they are in their AI journey. Artera helps support 2B communications in 109 languages across voice, text and web. A decade of healthcare expertise, powered by AI. Our Impact: Trusted by 1,000 provider organizations — including specialty groups, FQHCs, large IDNs and federal agencies — engaging 100 million patients annually. Hear from our CEO, Guillaume de Zwirek, about why we are standing at the edge of the biggest technological shift in healthcare’s history! Our award-winning culture: Our award-winning culture: Since founding in 2015, Artera has consistently been recognized for its innovative technology, business growth, and named a top place to work. Examples of these accolades include: Inc. 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies (2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024); Deloitte Technology Fast 500 (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025); Built In Best Companies to Work For (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026). Artera has also been recognized by Forbes as one of “America’s Best Startup Employers,” Newsweek as one of the “World’s Best Digital Health Companies,” and named one of the top “44 Startups to Bet your Career on in 2024” by Business Insider. Applicants must be currently authorized and have the ability to provide proof of full-time, long-term authorization to work in the United States. We are unable to provide visa sponsorship or support visa transfers now or in the future. JOB SUMMARY Artera’s Engineering team is seeking a Staff Backend Engineer to help define, evolve, and scale the platform that powers next-generation patient communication—especially as we accelerate our work in agentic AI , MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers , and high-throughput distributed systems . This role reports directly to the VP of Engineering and is responsible for shaping platform architecture, driving technical excellence across teams, and leading execution on high-risk or high-impact initiatives critical to Artera’s long-term success. You will be a multiplier: architecting large-scale systems, mentoring engineers, and ensuring our platform remains resilient, performant, and ready for the next wave of AI-driven patient engagement. RESPONSIBILITES Technical Leadership - Serve as a domain expert in backend architecture, distributed systems, and high-throughput IO. - Drive company-wide architectural patterns, platform strategy, and engineering standards. - Lead execution on complex, open-ended projects spanning multiple quarters—including 2026 initiatives in agentic AI and MCP server infrastructure. - Own cross-team architectural buy-in and guide teams through refactors and modernization efforts. Execution & Delivery - Independently design and deliver large-scale features that impact multiple products or services. - Systematically reason through system-wide implications, edge cases, and performance trade-offs. - Identify and eliminate sources of instability, latency, and operational risk. - Build from scratch when needed—especially for distributed IO-intensive systems. Mentorship & Culture - Model engineering maturity through thoughtful code reviews, documentation, and technical communication. - Mentor engineers across teams; elevate their understanding of architecture, debugging, reliability, and AI-era best practices. - Foster a blameless culture that encourages learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement. - Champion transparency, clear communication, and strong cross-functional collaboration. Collaboration - Partner with product, design, and data/ML teams to translate complex technical ideas into practical, user-centered solutions. - Provide architectural guidance on story-level decisions within your domain. - Advocate for engineering-focused improvements in process, tooling, reliability, and developer experience. Requirements Bachelor’s degree in STEM 10 years of equivalent professional experience building and scaling cloud-native applications Deep experience with event-sourced , microservice , and distributed architectures Expert at integrating LLMs and agentic tools like Claude Code to automate and enhance development workflows. Advanced TypeScript skills, focusing on building scalable, type-safe, and high-performance backend services. Expert in Node.js and NEST , with a focus on modular system design and enterprise-level API structures. Advanced proficiency in SQL , especially PostgreSQL schema design and optimization Experience with asynchronous, high-volume messaging or event-driven systems Strong commitment to testing, observability, and operational excellence Excellent communicator—able to influence stakeholders and product Proven ability to lead technical initiatives and mentor engineers Strong customer empathy and an understanding of how technical decisions influence user experience Familiarity with Docker & containerized environments, AWS (or similar cloud providers), Python (for platform tools, services, or ML integrations) Bonus Experience Experience with large-scale remote/hybrid teams Contributions to open source Collaboration/contributions with the open source community The compensation for this role will be based on level of experience and the geographic tier in which you are located. This position also comes with equity and a variety of benefits. Security Requirements for Engineering Roles This engineering role contributes to a secure, federally compliant platform. Candidates must be eligible for a government background check and operate within strict code management, access, and documentation standards. Security-conscious development and participation in compliance practices are core to the role. OUR APPROACH TO WORK LOCATION Artera has hybrid office locations in Santa Barbara, CA, and Philadelphia (Wayne), PA, where team members typically come in three days a week. Specific frequency can vary depending on your team's needs, manager expectations and/or role responsibilities. In addition to our U.S. office locations, we are intentionally building geographically concentrated teams in several key metropolitan areas, which we call our “ Hiring Hubs .” We are currently hiring remote candidates located within the following hiring hubs: - Boston Metro Area, MA - Chicago Metro Area, IL - Denver Metro Area, CO - Kansas City Metro Area (KS/MO) - Los Angeles Metro Area, CA - San Francisco / Bay Area, CA - Seattle Metro Area, WA This hub-based model helps us cultivate strong local connections and team cohesion, even in a distributed environment. To be eligible for employment at Artera, candidates must reside in one of our hybrid office cities or one of the designated hiring hubs. Specific roles may call out location preferences when relevant. As our hubs grow, we may establish local offices to further enhance in-person connection and collaboration. While there are no current plans in place , should an office open in your area, we anticipate implementing a hybrid model. Any future attendance expectations would be developed thoughtfully, considering factors like typical commute times and access to public transit, to ensure they are fair and practical for the local team. WORKING AT ARTERA Company benefits - Full health benefits (medical, dental, and vision), flexible spending accounts, company paid life insurance, company paid short-term & long-term disability, company equity, voluntary benefits, 401(k) and more! Career development - Manager development cohorts, employee development funds Generous time off - Company holidays, Winter & Summer break, and flexible time off Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) - We believe that everyone should belong at their workplace. Our ERGs are available for identifying employees or allies to join. EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY (EEO) STATEMENT Artera is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to fair and equitable hiring practices. All hiring decisions at Artera are based on strategic business needs, job requirements, and individual qualifications. All candidates are considered without regard to race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, genetics, protected veteran status, or any other protected status. In compliance with federal law, all persons hired will be required to verify identity and eligibility to work in the United States and to complete the required employment eligibility verification form upon hire. Artera is committed to providing employees with a work environment free of discrimination and harassment; Artera will not tolerate discrimination or harassment of any kind. Artera provides reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees in compliance with state and federal laws. If you need an accommodation, please reach out to hr@artera.io. DATA PRIVACY Artera values your privacy. By submitting your application, you consent to the processing of your personal information provided in conjunction with your application. For more information please refer to our Privacy Policy. SECURITY REQUIREMENTS All employees are responsible for protecting the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the organization’s systems and data, including safeguarding Artera’s sensitive information such as, Personal identifiable Information (PII) and Protected Health Information (PHI). Those with specific security or privacy responsibilities must ensure compliance with organizational policies, regulatory requirements, and applicable standards and frameworks by implementing safeguards, monitoring for threats, reporting incidents, and addressing data handling risks or breaches. We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.

Keywords: Artera, Lawrence , Staff Backend Engineer, Agentic AI, IT / Software / Systems , Kansas City, Kansas