Senior Software Engineer

Who we are:  At Arkana Laboratories, everyone has an important role to fill. Come join us and be a part of a team dedicated to making life better for those who need it most.

This place is packed with super-smart people who do their best work together. We work hard every day to advance our understanding of disease and provide world-class care to our patients in hopes of leaving our corner of the world a little better than we found it. While we are committed to improving the lives of thousands of patients, we never lose sight of the realization that they are the reason we get to create change in our field.

Built on generosity, teamwork, and the freedom to try new things, we take great pride in our work. Great ideas come from everywhere in this company and we celebrate each success and failure for the opportunity it gives us to keep reaching. For more than twenty years after our founder, Dr. Patrick Walker, wrote his goals on the back of a napkin, our people, culture, and values have remained strong.

Position Summary: As the  Senior Software Engineer, you will design, build, and ship features end-to-end across Arkana's enterprise software platforms, including our next-generation Laboratory Information System and client-facing ConnectApp. The role spans frontend interfaces, backend services, and integration code that connects our applications to laboratory instruments, partners, and downstream systems. The engineer will collaborate closely with the Engineering Manager, Product Manager, Technical Operations, and our Data Engineering counterparts to deliver clean, reliable user-facing software.

What you'll do: 

• Build features end-to-end across the stack
• Develop and maintain backend services - our current stack is TypeScript and Node.js
• Build user-facing interfaces that translate clinical and operational workflows into clean, usable experiences - we build in Vue
• Build integration services connecting Arkana's applications to laboratory instruments, external partners,

  and third-party systems

• Deploy and maintain services in cloud and hybrid environments
• Contribute to CI/CD pipelines and automated testing
• Enforce security and compliance controls appropriate to a HIPAA-regulated environment
• Write tests, conduct code reviews, and maintain code quality standards
• Document features, APIs, and integration contracts
• Other duties as assigned

You should have: 

Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field, or

equivalent professional certifications, bootcamps, or experience.

Experience: 5-7 years of professional software engineering experience, with hands-on work across both

frontend and backend. Prior Healthcare, life sciences, or other regulated industry experience preferred.     

Technical Skills

• Strong proficiency in a statically typed, object-oriented or systems language; experience with TypeScript

  and Node.js is preferred, and candidates should be comfortable moving into that stack (Fastify, oRPC

  experience a plus)

• Frontend experience with modern component-based frameworks and dependency injection patterns (Vue

  preferred; React or Angular experience transfers well)

• Strong SQL and working knowledge of relational database design; experience with PostgreSQL and an

  ORM or query-builder (Prisma preferred) is a plus

• Experience designing and consuming REST APIs; exposure to event-driven patterns is a plus
• Experience with at least one major cloud platform (Azure preferred)
• Comfort with Git-based workflows, CI/CD, and modern development practices; experience with

  containerization and container runtimes (Docker)

• Experience with infrastructure as code tooling (Terraform or OpenTofu preferred) and applying common

  cloud best practices around security, scalability, and cost management

Soft Skills

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills grounded in first-principles reasoning
• Clear, confident communication across engineering, product, and operations - in writing, in design

  artifacts, and in conversation

• Ability to work independently with sound judgment while actively contributing to a collaborative, open

  team environment

• Attention to detail and pride in delivering reliable, well-tested work

Other Qualifications

• Working understanding of healthcare data privacy, HIPAA, and PHI handling
• Familiarity with FHIR (HL7 R4) or other healthcare integration patterns is a plus
• Familiarity with Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a plus
• Familiarity with Claude and the Claude ecosystem of tools and features is a plus

Differentiating Background

• You lead with first principles - you know which engineering principles and patterns apply to a given

  problem, and more importantly, when they don't. You know the difference between applying a principle

  and hiding behind one. That same discernment extends to AI - you value your autonomy and judgment in

  a world of AI sycophancy, reaching for it when it eliminates real drag and ruling it out when it doesn't.

• You prefer as little magic as possible - dependencies are wired explicitly, ownership is clear, and nothing

  happens behind the scenes that you didn't put there. You prefer explicit over implicit, interfaces at the

  boundary over deep inheritance, and errors as first-class values - typed, explicit, and handled at the right

  layer.

• You communicate with clarity and conviction - whether through an RFC, a design document, an

  architecture diagram, a coding agent spec, or a message in chat. You don't just have opinions; you can

  write them down and defend them.

• You multiply the people around you. You mentor through code review, in chat, and in person - with the

  company, the team, the individual, and yourself in mind. You keep conversations open and push back on

  silos.

This is an onsite position at our main office in Little Rock, Arkansas, applicants must live within 1 hour drive of the main office in Little Rock. 

What we offer: We know that health is more than doctor visits and life is more than work. We work hard at Arkana but in turn provide competitive salaries and generous benefit offerings.

Specifically, we offer the following benefits to full-time employees:

• Competitive salary
• Generous paid time off and Paid Holidays
• Minimal cost health insurance for you and affordable options for your family
• 401(k) with immediate eligibility and match
• Company-paid life insurance
• Company-paid long term disability coverage
• Affordable vision and dental plans
• Flexible Spending Account or Health Savings Account availability
• Wellness plan and complimentary yoga classes
• Monthly in-office massages and employer-sponsored lunches

Please see  Careers  for further information.