Staff Software Engineer

About Brightline

Brightline is a therapy and psychiatry practice dedicated to providing expert pediatric, teen, and parental mental health care. Our virtual and in-person services include diagnostic evaluation, therapy, psychiatry, and psychological testing. Founded in 2019, Brightline has delivered care to tens of thousands of families and has been recognized for clinical excellence and innovation. We are based in Palo Alto and backed by investors including Boston Children’s Hospital, Northwell Health, and Google Ventures.

The Opportunity

Brightline is seeking a Staff Software Engineer to bridge deep technical execution with cross-functional leadership. You will drive alignment across teams, influence our approach to complex problems, and elevate our engineering organization as we scale our platform and clinical infrastructure.

We are primarily a Ruby on Rails shop, committed to a simple tech stack that enables us to focus on shipping fast and enjoying our work. We favor straightforward solutions and clear standards to ensure a maintainable and enjoyable codebase. Our UI stack includes Turbo, Tailwind, and ViewComponent, with Stimulus for interactivity. We may incorporate React where beneficial and use TypeScript where it adds value, defaulting to JavaScript otherwise. Our mobile apps leverage Hotwire Native.

Responsibilities

• Lead and collaborate across engineering, product, design, and clinical/operations teams to ensure technical decisions align with business and clinical goals.
• Write code across the full stack (Ruby + Rails backend, Turbo/Tailwind frontend), focusing on systems and abstractions that empower other engineers.
• Contribute meaningfully to engineering culture through process improvements, documentation, standards, and team health initiatives.
• Mentor and grow senior engineers via pairing, code reviews, architecture discussions, and direct feedback, raising the technical bar without creating gatekeeping.
• Own complex, multi-team technical initiatives end-to-end, from problem discovery and scoping through delivery and iteration, ensuring stakeholder alignment.
• Translate technical context clearly for non-technical stakeholders, surfacing risks early, communicating trade-offs, and advocating for the right solutions, even when it requires changing direction.
• Bridge the gap between strategic technical direction and daily execution, providing the team with the clarity and context needed to move fast and build effectively.

Requirements

• Excitement about improving behavioral health for children, teens, and their families.
• Significant professional software development experience, primarily in Ruby + Rails, with a proven track record of delivering complex projects end-to-end.
• A connector who builds trust quickly across teams, communicates with clarity and empathy, and aligns groups effectively without relying on authority.
• Takes ownership of problems, digs into the domain, questions assumptions, and finds the right solutions, even when they are not obvious.
• Thoughtful and empathetic in decision-making, execution, communication, and collaboration.
• Raises the bar for the team through high-quality work, constructive feedback, and a proactive willingness to improve processes and outcomes.
• Developed a personal workflow for building software with AI coding tools, with informed opinions on their effective use.
• Driven by solving problems rather than adhering to specific solutions or technologies.

Bonus Points

• Experience in healthcare, particularly clinical workflows, scheduling systems, EHR integrations, insurance billing, or multi-clinic operations.
• Experience with complex data modeling and migration challenges (system unification, managing domain complexity).
• Experience with API development and integrating with third-party systems.
• Experience working within Shape Up or similar appetite-based development methodologies.

Compensation

Brightline offers a total rewards philosophy that includes fair, equitable, and competitive geo-based compensation, which is performance and potential-based. The annual base salary range for this role is $175,000 - $205,000 USD. This range is complemented by equity, benefits, and well-being programs.

Benefits

• Medical, Dental, Vision, Long-Term Disability, Life Insurance, Flexible Spending Account, and 401k.
• 12 Company Holidays, Holiday Shutdown, Flexible Time Off, and Parental Leave.
• Health and Wellness Stipend, Home Office Reimbursement, and Professional Development Reimbursement.
• Stock Options.

Our Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Brightline is committed to building a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce where all employees can show up authentically, reach their highest potential, and have an equal opportunity to thrive. We systematically evaluate and improve our beliefs, behaviors, structures, and systems to ensure every employee, candidate, client, and family is valued and respected.