Contract Django Developer Remote Jobs in Chicago, IL

Job Type
Full-time
Description
Who we're looking for:

• Mission driven
• Curious
• Loves learning and developing skills
• Team player (though we understand you need focus time, too)

Why Join Us? At Lumata Health, you'll be part of a forward-thinking team that is dedicated to reshaping the future of healthcare. We offer comprehensive benefits, and opportunities for professional development. Join us in making a significant impact on patient care and engagement.
Position: Principal Engineer
Job Type: Exempt - Full-time
Schedule: Monday to Friday
Pay Range: $148,000 - $187,000 Annually
Reports to: Chief Technology Officer
This role is 100% remote with no face-to-face contact with patients. We have a "remote first" environment and are proud to have team members located nationally.
About Lumata Health: Blindness is a devastating-but largely preventable-consequence of poorly managed chronic eye diseases like glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration. These debilitating diseases are expected to double between 2020 and 2050, outpacing the capacity of providers and contributing to the rising cost of eye disorders in the US, which already exceeds $99B in direct medical costs annually. In over 95% of cases, disease progression can be slowed or stopped, preserving vision and extending healthspan. But doing so requires tailored, timely, and intelligent engagement throughout the patient's lifelong care journey. That's where Lumata comes in.
Lumata Health is leading the way in leveraging data-driven virtual care management to address this large and rapidly growing problem. Built with $2M in funding support from the National Eye Institute, Lumata Health's Intelligent Engagement Platform maximizes the impact of multichannel, personalized engagement by our team of JCAHPO-certified ophthalmic care coaches. Lumata takes a holistic approach to care-combining behavioral and psychosocial information with clinical data to create tailored, high-impact patient engagements. In addition to promoting adherence, we help patients overcome barriers to care by assisting with things like financial assistance programs, prescriptions and refills, insurance issues, transportation to visits, understanding their disease and care plan, and coordinating care with other providers.
With direct medical record access to hundreds of thousands of patients with vision-threatening chronic eye diseases and partnerships with over 1,400 eye care specialists in 35 states, Lumata Health is helping people affected by chronic eye conditions live healthier, longer lives.
We're looking for caring and committed teammates to join our mission of helping people see the world. If you're passionate about stopping preventable blindness, we hope you'll apply.
Summary
We are seeking a Principal Engineer to act as the CTO's technical right hand, translating complex concepts into shipped, reliable solutions. This is a builder-first role focused on output over headcount, operating with a high degree of independence and leveraging AI as a force multiplier. The role includes lean oversight of a small contractor bench, ownership of system quality and continuity, and a strong focus on delivering measurable outcomes that expand the CTO's capacity.
This role is designed for a highly impactful builder who thrives in ownership and execution. We are intentionally seeking an exceptional individual who is energized by delivering meaningful outcomes and operating with a high degree of autonomy, rather than relying on team size to drive impact. This person owns the technical and organizational shift - migrating from Salesforce to a company-owned internal system, building and leading a lean team of contractors, and acting as the operational partner to the CTO, all while ensuring the patient-facing app and underlying infrastructure can scale with the business.
Essential Functions

• CTO Partnership: Serve as the operational counterpart to the CTO, converting technical vision into execution plans, sprint priorities, and team assignments - while giving leadership visibility into capacity, risk, timelines, and resourcing trade-offs.
• Independent AI-Driven Delivery: Take handoffs from the CTO and own initiatives end-to-end, from concept through production, leveraging AI-assisted development to execute with speed and efficiency.
• Contractor and Vendor Oversight: Direct, review, and quality-check work from contract developers and vendors. Scope projects, establish standards, and ensure deliverables meet usability and quality expectations. Recruit, manage, and mentor a blended team, establishing practices for contractor onboarding, IP/security agreements, and knowledge continuity.
• Guardrails and Quality Assurance: Build and maintain review processes and guardrails for AI-generated work to ensure safe, compliant, and high-quality outputs, particularly when handling sensitive patient data.
• Institutional Knowledge Management: Document systems, processes, and technical context to preserve organizational knowledge and reduce dependency on any single individual, including the CTO.
• Salesforce Transition Support: Contribute to the transition away from Salesforce by helping design, build, and validate new systems, including managing parallel workflows until the new infrastructure is fully proven. Own the strategy, phasing, and execution of moving core workflows off Salesforce onto a new, internally-built and owned platform - including data integrity, cutover risk, and change management for affected teams.
• Team Collaboration: Partner with the legacy development team to support the transition to AI-first development, helping ease change management and model new ways of working.
• Product & App Delivery: Oversee technical delivery of the patient-facing app and internal systems, translating the shift from advisory services to a tech-enabled product model into a concrete roadmap, priorities, and delivery practices (code review, CI/CD, release management).
• Data Security & Compliance: Ensure the internal platform and app meet healthcare data privacy and security standards (e.g., HIPAA) throughout the migration and beyond, with particular attention to access controls given a mixed contractor/FTE workforce.
• Perform other duties as assigned to support Lumata Health's goals and objectives.

Requirements
Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field-or equivalent experience.
• Proven track record of owning and delivering production systems end-to-end in a hands-on engineering capacity.
• Demonstrated experience working in fast-paced, high-autonomy environments with limited structure or resources.
• Experience overseeing or collaborating with contractors, vendors, or distributed teams.
• Exposure to healthcare environments, including HIPAA, PHI, and BAA considerations, or ability to quickly ramp up in regulated domains (preferred).

Required Skills

• Elite Hands-On Engineering: High-impact, builder-first mindset with strong full-stack capability and sound technical judgment on what to build and how to approach it.
• AI-Native Development: Deep fluency with AI-assisted coding tools and agentic workflows; able to independently build and ship solutions rapidly.
• Self-Directed Execution: Thrives in ambiguity with minimal structure; able to take rough concepts and drive them through to completion without heavy oversight.
• Contractor & Vendor Leadership: Ability to scope, direct, and quality-check work from contractors and vendors while maintaining a high technical bar.
• Quality & Safety Mindset: Strong instinct for building with guardrails, validation layers, and secure practices-especially when handling sensitive or patient data.

Physical requirements

• Must have a home office that is secure and free of distractions that complies with company data security policies, confidentiality standards, and HIPAA requirements
• Prolonged periods of sitting at a desk and working on a computer
• Must be able to see, hear, speak, call and virtually meet
• Must be able to communicate both verbally and in writing

Work Environment
In order to perform the essential functions of this job, you must have a dedicated remote workspace, and a wireless connection with a minimum of 50 Mbps of download speed and 10 Mbps of upload speed of dedicated internet bandwidth for each person working from home; the workspace is private and has low to no noise level as you will be on phone calls with patients. It is very important that your workspace is HIPAA compliant; your company issued laptop/pc must maintain visibility that only you can access as you'll be handling patient data. You are also expected to have your camera on during virtual meetings, therefore, you must be in a designated workspace/room for privacy.
Please be advised that Lumata Health only accepts resumes for compensation from agencies that have a signed agreement with Lumata Health. Any unsolicited resumes, including those submitted to hiring managers, are deemed to be the property of Lumata Health. In the absence of a signed Recruitment Services Agreement, we will not consider, or agree to, payment of any referral compensation or recruiter fee. In the event that a recruiter or agency submits a resume or candidate without a previously signed agreement, we explicitly reserve the right to pursue and hire those candidate(s) without any financial obligation to the recruiter or agency.
The above statements are intended to describe the essential functions of the job being performed by the employees assigned to this classification. The duties and responsibilities listed are not to be construed as an exhaustive list of all duties, responsibilities and skills required. All employees may be required to perform duties outside their normal responsibilities from time to time, as needed. With the evolution of the organization and this role, the responsibilities of this position may change at any time.
We are an equal opportunity employer that values diversity at all levels. All individuals are encouraged to apply. If you need assistance or an accommodation due to a disability, you may contact us at: hr@lumatahealth.com (no unsolicited resumes please). Applicants must submit an application with Lumata Health to be considered for the position.
Disclaimer:
This job description is subject to change based on business needs, advancements in regulations, and workflow adjustments. Continuous review and adjustments will be made to ensure alignment with the company's goals and objectives.
Salary Description
$148,000 - $187,000 Annually