Staff Software Engineer (Payment Workflows)

Our healthcare system is the leading cause of personal bankruptcy in the U.S. Every year, over 50 million Americans suffer adverse financial consequences as a result of seeking care, from lower credit scores to garnished wages. The challenge is only getting worse, as high deductible health plans are the fastest growing plan design in the U.S.

Cedar’s mission is to leverage data science, smart product design and personalization to make healthcare more affordable and accessible. Today, healthcare providers still engage with its consumers in a “one-size-fits-all” approach; and Cedar is excited to leverage consumer best practices to deliver a superior experience.

The Role:

We’re looking for a Staff Software Engineer to join Payment Workflows, the team that owns the checkout flow for Cedar Pay and the orchestration and business rules that shape our payment experiences. You’ll act as a impact amplifier for the team—raising the bar for design quality, speed, and reliability—while partnering with engineering, product, design, and commercial/sales leaders to make clear, durable tradeoffs.

Scope & boundaries: Payment Workflows owns the end‑to‑end checkout journey and workflow capabilities. We partner closely with the Payment Platform team, who owns core transaction processing.

What you’ll do:

• Lead and multiply: Unlock the productivity of the team through strong patterns, high‑signal design/code reviews, mentorship, and clear documentation. Help less‑experienced engineers build confidence on large, multi‑month projects.
• Evolve checkout & workflows: Drive the next generation of our checkout experience and workflow capabilities (e.g., plans, refunds, schedules), making them easier to extend and personalize over time.
  
  
• Simplify & standardize: Replace ad‑hoc paths with scalable designs and clear interfaces so features can be configured safely across customers without bespoke work.
• Reduce thrash, increase focus: Establish simple operating practices—lightweight design briefs, intake/prioritization, and decision records—so customer‑driven requests don’t derail long‑term work.
• Balance priorities well: Partner with Product, Design, Commercial/Sales, Support, and Payment Platform to align on goals, explain tradeoffs, and keep the team moving.
• Build vs buy with intent: Evaluate vendor options and platform abstractions in collaboration with Payment Platform to reduce cost and complexity.
• Advocate for reliability & operability: Ensure the checkout experience is observable, resilient, and easy to support.

Why this role matters:

Checkout is the front door to Cedar Pay and one of our most visible experiences. Thoughtful workflow design and clear operating practices improve patient trust, reduce provider effort, and speed up delivery across the company.

Who you are:

• 8+ years of professional software development experience with a strong backend focus (APIs, services, event‑driven systems).
• A proven force multiplier who raises standards across teams through patterns, reviews, tooling, and mentorship.
• Experience leading large, cross‑team initiatives or refactors; exposure to systems like workflow/rules engines or ledgering/financial correctness is a plus
• Skilled at balancing near‑term needs with long‑term investments; communicates tradeoffs clearly to technical and non‑technical partners.
• Strong sense of accountability, comfortable with ambiguity, and motivated by improving the healthcare financial experience.
• Payments experience is a plus, not a requirement.

How we’ll work together:

• Clear boundaries between Payment Workflows and Payment Platform, with tight collaboration where the journeys meet.
• Lightweight, written decision‑making to create shared understanding and reduce churn.
• A focus on repeatable patterns over one‑offs, and on coaching to build team confidence.

What success looks like (first 6–12 months):

• A predictable operating rhythm that reduces thrash and increases trust with partners.
• Simpler, well‑documented workflow patterns that speed delivery and reduce bespoke work.
• Stronger team confidence and capability to deliver large, cross‑squad projects.
• Improved reliability and supportability of checkout flows.

What this role is not:

• Infra‑only or data‑pipeline‑only