Principal, R&D Engineer

Vizient•Chicago, IL

6d•$156,500 - $290,100

About The Position

This is not a typical R&D role -- and it’s not meant to be. We’re building something new inside Vizient -- and we’re starting small on purpose. This team operates like a set of focused startups: small, hands-on, and accountable for shipping real products that real customers use. The difference is that access to customers, data, and scale is already solved -- from day one. You won’t be exploring ideas in isolation. You’ll be building, validating, and deploying software directly into live environments, with immediate feedback and a clear line of sight from problem to impact. Vizient is the largest healthcare performance improvement company in the U.S., working with thousands of hospitals and health systems and supporting care delivery for millions of patients nationwide. This R&D unit exists because Vizient sits closer to the real needs of health systems than almost any organization in healthcare. By working directly with providers, operators, and product leaders across that network, the team has immediate access to the problems that matter most -- allowing it to identify needs early, validate ideas quickly, and build software grounded in how healthcare actually operates. That proximity enables speed, fidelity, and impact that are difficult to achieve anywhere else.

Requirements

Demonstrated success in leading high-impact projects or initiatives in a fast-paced, innovative environment
Proven experience collaborating with cross-functional stakeholders and influencing technical direction at an organizational level
Prior exposure to large-scale systems, cloud-native platforms, and enterprise-grade software development
Strong software engineering fundamentals and a bias toward shipping
Comfort working on ambiguous problems with real users and real constraints
Ability to quickly understand product intent and translate it into working software
A track record of building things that were actually used
2-5 years of experience is common, but not required -- judgment and capability matter more than tenure

Nice To Haves

Healthcare experience is not required

Responsibilities

Customer-facing tools used by real Vizient members
Rapid experiments and prototypes designed to learn quickly
Products that ship, evolve, and ship again -- in rapid succession
Platform work that unlocks future product velocity
Partner closely with product leaders to understand problems, users, and rationale
Shape solutions collaboratively when it makes sense, or execute independently when that’s more effective
Move fluidly from idea to prototype to production
Make pragmatic technical decisions that balance speed, learning, and durability
Help define how this R&D unit operates as it grows