Ness is an early-stage, remote-first startup at the unique intersection of fintech and healthcare. We’re on a mission to build a world where everyone can afford to be healthy.

We’re a seed stage company funded by some of the most iconic operators and entrepreneurs in the space (e.g., Sweetgreen, Headspace, One Medical, Thrive Market).

Started by the former CEO & Founder of Greatist (acquired by Healthline in 2019), we're building an AmEx-like credit card for health. We’ve got enormous ambitions to flip healthcare on its head through an alternative to health insurance that rewards consumers for the right behaviors and brings down the cost of healthcare.

tl;dr: We're an early-stage startup in the financial technology space, and we are looking for a Backend Engineer passionate about building scalable and secure backend systems. The ideal candidate will have experience in fintech (card payments preferred), Python, and microservices architecture and be excited to contribute to a growing engineering team. This position is fully remote, but US-time zones only, please! We're on an ambitious mission to build a world where everyone can afford to be healthy. More details about us, the role, and the interview process are below.

Base comp $150k-$170k, dependent on experience

Meaningful equity and benefits—see our Callings page for more details

What Impact You Can Make

Generally, we’re looking for someone passionate about building the platform to power our mobile-native product. and excited about creating a delightful consumer-first user experience. You will be responsible for building reliable and scalable backend systems that will enable our product to deliver on its promises. You will work closely with the engineering team, mobile and front-end developers, and other cross-functional teams to drive our services' strategy and best practices, including architecture principles, testing, and the CI/CD pipeline.

Ultimately, you will be one of our most essential builders, responsible for laying the technical foundation of a truly innovative product with the potential to change healthcare forever. You will be instrumental in setting the foundation for a high-performance, remote-first engineering culture that can help Ness achieve our mission.

Our Core Values

We aren't a family, we're an incredible team. A super team that does things differently... At Ness, our core values are the source of our POWER.

Pencil It In

We move fast, try new things fearlessly, think differently, and learn from our mistakes.

One Ness

We're all on the same team, give regular feedback, have short memories, plus can "disagree and commit."

Work Crispy

We value clear, rigorous thought, and we're always prepared.

Embrace Your Mythical Creature

Our differences make us special. Come as you are (but no trolls, please!)

Right Way To Win (Not The Easy Way)

We believe in doing well AND doing good.

You May Be The Ideal Candidate If...

If you don’t meet 100% of the below qualifications, you should still seriously consider applying. We take a holistic approach to evaluating talent for our team.

• You have strong proficiency in Python or the ability to learn Python quickly.

• You have in-depth knowledge of GCP or AWS.

• You have significant experience in regulated industries, particularly fintech and the debit/credit card space.

• You are familiar with event-driven systems and technologies such as functions and message queues.

• You have a solid understanding of database systems.

• You’re eager to be a hands-on contributor and work with a growing engineering team.

• You enjoy collaborating closely with mobile or front-end developers and building APIs to increase their productivity.

• You’re experienced in approaching third-party integrations successfully.

• You’re pragmatic with technology choices and able to balance velocity and iteration with a strategic and scalable architecture.

• You thrive in the ambiguity of an early-stage startup and are motivated by the search for product-market fit.

• You understand the need to move fast but not break things.

• You have a Computer Science degree or equivalent practical experience.

FYI, we’re passionate about these tech stack buzzwords:

• Python (FastAPI)

• PostgreSQL

• Event-driven systems

• Pub/Sub or Kafka

• GCP or AWS

Things You Might Do...

This is an opportunity to join an early-stage startup and have a meaningful impact on a product with the potential to change healthcare forever. We encourage you to apply if you are excited about building platforms and creating delightful consumer-first user experiences!

• Build reliable and scalable backend systems that power the product.

• Understand fundamental customer needs and propose technology-driven solutions.

• Drive the services' strategy and best practices, including architecture principles, testing, and the CI/CD pipeline.

• Set the foundation for a high-performance, remote-first engineering culture.

• Collaborate closely with Product, Design, and Marketing teams to shape and influence the product strategy and roadmap.

How We Hire

First, we don't discriminate. We know from experience a more diverse and inclusive team leads to bigger impact and success.

1. First Hello

You’ll speak with our Engineering leader for 15 minutes over the phone. First, we want to figure out if you've got the right experience for this position and if working at Ness is a fit for you and us. We'll have reviewed your application and resume in detail, and we’ll save a few minutes to answer your top questions!

2. Let's Work Together

We have two technical interviews: live coding & architecture.

We’ll start with a Live Coding session. This interview will be a series of exercises meant to build confidence in your technical expertise and aptitude to make technical decisions.

After this, we'll complete a Whiteboarding Architecture Challenge with you. Here, we’ll ask you to solve a problem with a senior engineer on our team so we can experience how you communicate and how we would work together.

Why? Well, we believe communication skills are key for team members in a remote-first company—and want a chance to see you collaborate. We'll share more details about this when we get there!

3. Meet the Team

You'll talk to a few Nessies: our Engineering leader, Product leader, and Co-Founder & Chief Experience Officer, Kenneth, each on a 45-minute video call. (These meetings will most likely happen on separate days.)

Here, we want to explore if we're a good fit for each other. We will have reviewed your application, take-home, and any prior meeting notes in detail, so the discussion will be focused mostly on what brings out the best in you and what's next. We want to be confident Ness can offer the environment (culture, responsibility, org structure, etc...) that's led you to the most professional success so far.

You'll have time to ask questions, too!

4. References

Oh—and, with your help, we'll reach out to folks you've worked with in the past. We're usually pretty far along here, so this is mostly about learning from outside perspectives about how to manage and empower you best.

If relevant, we might have you also meet some other folks on the team. This can be a great opportunity to get a better feel for us and for us to get a better feel for you!

5. The Job Offer

Got this far? That means you're in. Expect a personal call and welcome to the team!

The position of Backend Engineer is classified as an M2 Engineering Owner under Ness' leveling framework. Should an offer of employment be extended, the official title for this position will be M2 Engineering Owner per Ness' leveling framework. We'll be sure to touch on this during the interview process!

No recruiters or agencies, please. Thanks!

Please be aware of fake job offers coming from people claiming to be Ness Well, Inc. employees. Ness employees and/or our recruiters will never ask you for money or personal information like bank account numbers, and will always ask for a phone call or video call as the first step in our hiring process.