Software Development Associate Jobs in Ankeny, IA

Why Wellmark? 

We are a mutual insurance company owned by our policy holders across Iowa and South Dakota, and we've built our reputation on over 80 years' worth of trust. We are not motivated by profits. We are motivated by the well-being of our friends, family, and neighbors-our members. If you're passionate about joining an organization working hard to put its members first, to provide best-in-class service, and one that is committed to sustainability and innovation, consider applying today! 

Learn more about our unique benefit offerings here. 

Want to know more? You can learn about life at Wellmark here.

Why Wellmark Technology? Wellmark is building innovative, modern solutions using cutting edge technology. We are driving organizational transformation and business strategy by empowering our technology team to innovate new and elegant solutions to enhance the customer experience. Together, we are leaning into the future, owning the outcome, and driving organizational change to transform how we work. 

We are seeking an Associate Software Engineer to join our Technology organization, supporting the Pharmacy line of business. This role is ideal for an early-career engineer who is excited to build foundational data and software skills while contributing to solutions that support pharmacy initiatives.

In this role, you will help design, develop, and support software solutions that enable the ingestion, transformation, and movement of pharmacy-related data across systems. You'll work closely with pharmacy product teams, vendors, and analytics partners to ensure data is accurate, traceable, and usable for downstream processes such as claims processing, rebates, and reporting.

What You'll Do

• Contribute to the design, development, and maintenance of software solutions supporting pharmacy data workflows and product initiatives
• Assist in building and supporting data integrations and pipelines (APIs, batch processing, and event-driven solutions) for pharmacy systems and external partners
• Support data transformation and modeling efforts with a focus on reliability, data quality, and auditability
• Collaborate with engineers, product owners, and pharmacy stakeholders to translate business needs into scalable technical solutions
• Participate in agile ceremonies, pair programming, and code reviews while continuing to grow engineering skills
• Help monitor, troubleshoot, and improve existing data pipelines and applications to ensure operational efficiency and accuracy
• Ensure solutions align with Wellmark engineering practices, security requirements, and regulatory standards

What You Bring

• Foundational knowledge of software development concepts, with exposure to one or more languages (e.g., TypeScript, Java, Python, SQL)
• Familiarity with APIs, data processing, or integration patterns (ETL/ELT concepts a plus)
• Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking skills with attention to detail
• Interest in working with healthcare or pharmacy data in a regulated environment
• Ability to collaborate effectively on a team and communicate technical concepts clearly
• A growth mindset with eagerness to learn modern engineering practices, tools, and cloud technologies

Required:

• Associate degree or direct and applicable work experience.
• Less than 1 year software development experience OR demonstrated success at an associate level.
• Demonstrated knowledge of developer concepts/tools.
• Knowledge of programming languages (ex. Angular, NodeJS, TypeScript, C++, .NET, Java, SQL).
• Knowledge of computer operating systems - Windows, Unix, etc.
• Healthcare or IT experience.
• Knowledge and experience with structured and/or object-oriented programming techniques.
• Analytical problem-solving skills. Accuracy and high attention to detail. Ability to trouble-shoot and develop creative and efficient technical solutions.
• Eagerness to learn and stay current on industry trends and have a continuous learning mindset.
• Ability to gather information, perform necessary research needed for root cause analysis, problem definition and formulation, recommend solution implementation, verification, and ongoing optimization, using data to support recommendations.
• Excellent organizational skills. Strong time management skills and ability to continually prioritize as needed.
• Ability to thrive in fast-paced environment with changing priorities.
• Ability to maintain a positive attitude, stay calm under pressure, be approachable, and respectful and take responsibility when needed.
• Ability to communicate key information in a timely manner to the appropriate stakeholder audience with the ability to adjust communication style that will best suit the audience.
• Ability to collaborate and work as a team to accomplish goals and/or solve problems. Ability to earn trust and respect from peers, leadership, and stakeholders. Ability to learn by actively listening and applying coaching feedback.
• Ability to support and work within a diverse development team model including global staffing, crowd sourcing, etc.

Preferred:

• Bachelor's degree.
• Experience working within an Agile team environment.
• Previous technology internship experience
• Background in data engineering or ETL.
• Familiarity with HIPAA and healthcare data standards.
• CI/CD and infrastructure-as-code experience.
• Previous Health Care/Pharmacy experience working with vendors on data exchange.

Job Responsibilities 

a. Provide development and/or production support for key software applications and systems. Analyze, estimate, develop, test, implement, document, and maintain programs and systems that meet business requirements.

b. Contribute to solutions architecture deliverables and decisions, through gaining an understanding of and beginning to interpret architectural diagrams as inputs to the design deliverable. Apply the reference architecture, contribute to reusable assets, and produce technical specifications sufficient for development teams. 

c. Collaborate with the UX team in the development of solutions that improve the user experience, pass minimum accessibility or usability criteria.

d. Leverage AWS principles to assist in the delivery of robust and efficient cloud solutions that take advantage of the benefits when utilizing the cloud.

e. Assist and support Technology stakeholders in the gathering of information, necessary research needed for root cause analysis, problem definition and formulation, solution implementation, verification, and ongoing optimization. Provide support in the analysis of defects to find root cause.

f. Contribute to recommended solution(s) that promote successful delivery of business project objectives or production support objectives and support benefits realization.

g. Begin to identify issues and think through challenges in the form of options and solutions. Articulate the known issues, impacts to project or production outcomes if not resolved, and determine when to escalate when necessary. 

h. Communicate and provide regular updates and key information in a timely manner to leadership as well as the appropriate stakeholder audience. Collaborate and work as a team to accomplish goals and/or solve problems.

i. Other duties as assigned.

An Equal Opportunity Employer

The policy of Wellmark Blue Cross Blue Shield is to recruit, hire, train and promote individuals in all job classifications without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, veteran status, disability, sexual orientation, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by law.

Applicants requiring a reasonable accommodation due to a disability at any stage of the employment application process should contact us at [email protected]

Please inform us if you meet the definition of a "Covered DoD official".

At this time, Wellmark is not considering applicants for this position that require any type of immigration sponsorship (additional work authorization or permanent work authorization) now or in the future to work in the United States. This includes, but IS NOT LIMITED TO: F1-OPT, F1-CPT, H-1B, TN, L-1, J-1, etc. For additional information around work authorization needs please refer to the following resources:Nonimmigrant Workers and Green Card for Employment-Based Immigrants 

Wellmark supports and expects the responsible use of AI for our workforce! We welcome the responsible use of these tools by job seekers as well and are interested in learning from you; you will have an opportunity in the application process to share which tools you used and how you applied them.