Principal Software Architect

Overview

Abbott is a global healthcare leader that helps people live more fully at all stages of life. Our portfolio of life-changing technologies spans the spectrum of healthcare, with leading businesses and products in diagnostics, medical devices, nutritionals and branded generic medicines. Our 114,000 colleagues serve people in more than 160 countries.

Job Title

Principal Software Architect, Digital Solutions

Location

Sylmar, Chicago, Minneapolis, Santa Clara

Working at Abbott

At Abbott, you can do work that matters, grow and learn, care for yourself and your family, be your true self, and live a full life. We’re committed to building an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued and empowered. Here’s what you can expect:

• Career development in a global company that supports your aspirations.
• Free medical coverage through our Health Investment Plan (HIP) PPO medical plan.
• An excellent retirement savings plan with high employer contribution.
• Tuition reimbursement, the Freedom 2 Save student debt program, and FreeU education benefit.
• Recognition as a top workplace for diversity, working mothers, women in leadership, and scientists.

The Opportunity

Abbott’s Digital Solutions organization, part of the Medical Devices group, partners with our Diabetes, Cardiovascular, and Neuromodulation businesses to develop and commercialize digital technologies that expand access to care, optimize medical procedures, and improve chronic disease management. Together with Abbott’s life-changing medical devices, Digital Solutions leverages technologies such as AI and data interoperability to enable people to live life to the fullest.

We are seeking a Principal Software Architect to join our team within Digital Solutions Technology function for a diverse and growing portfolio of digital health products, including software as a medical device (SaMD), connected devices, and digital health platforms. This position reports directly to the Director, Software Engineering Digital Solutions.

This position will advance the usage of standardized Interoperability and Connectivity technology stack across Medical Devices. This position will drive technical execution of Interoperability and Connectivity solutions providing efficient means to improving clinical workflow and outcomes for patients, providers and customers.

This position will have responsibility for Digital Solutions Interoperability and Connectivity software architecture, associated regulated and compliant cloud infrastructure, and platform integration with Abbott Medical Devices Division products.

This position will also work closely with IT, Privacy and Cybersecurity functions to ensure underlying data and cloud infrastructure and supporting technologies are in place with consistency across Medical Devices.

Key Responsibilities

• Software Architecture and Software Product Development

  • Own and architect end-to-end software architecture leveraging Cloud-native technologies across Backend Services, Databases, Web, Mobile Applications, and Medical Connected Devices—to ensure seamless interoperability, scalability, availability, security, maintainability, and regulatory compliance.

  • Apply structured architectural frameworks (e.g., the 4+1 View Model) to develop comprehensive system artifacts—including logical, process, development, deployment, and use case views—to support technical alignment and cross-team communication

  • Collaborate closely with product management, clinical teams, regulatory, quality, compliance, security, and engineering leaders to ensure software architecture supports business needs, clinical workflows, and industry standards.

  • Guide engineering teams in modern software engineering practices—such as microservices, event-driven architecture, serverless computing, API design, Cloud-native development, DevOps, Kubernetes, CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and operational excellence.

  • Guide development and documentation of requirements, test plan protocols, standard operating procedures, specifications, and test procedures. Ensure Connectivity platform team complies with these policies, procedures, and processes.

  • Interface with appropriate cross-functional teams and internal and external resources (regulatory, quality, IT, customers, etc.) to ensure Connectivity platform development meets regulatory, compliance, legal and customer requirements.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering, or related field

• Minimum 10 years of proven experience in Connectivity development within the medical device / life sciences / digital health space developing regulated medical device software that strictly adheres to design controls and quality management system requirements

• Advanced to expert-level knowledge of software architecture, systems design, application integration, and platform scalability.

• In depth understanding of cloud architecture principles, including PaaS, SaaS, multi-tenancy, and multi-tiered infrastructure, with hands-on experience in Azure, AWS, or GCP.

• In depth understanding of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems (e.g. Epic and Cerner) and interoperability standards such as HL7, FHIR

• Must have experience working with large complex integrated delivery network deployment of an EHR such as Cerner, EPIC or equivalent EHR systems

• Proven expertise in designing, developing, and deploying scalable software architectures for Digital products / Connectivity solutions based on relevant EHR (HL7/FHIR), DICOM, IoT standard protocols

• Experience with Electronic Health Record (EHR) integration engines, their capabilities and sending and receiving different types of HL7 messages via HTTP(s) and TCP/IP

• Hands-on experience with Cloud-native technologies and modern development stacks, such as Spring Boot/Java (Backend), Ruby on Rails/Ruby (Backend), Angular/TypeScript (Web), Flutter/Dart (Mobile), and Kubernetes/Docker (Deployment)

• Proficiency in one or more programming languages, such as Java, C#, Python, or JavaScript

• Strong understanding of database technologies (e.g., SQL, NoSQL) and data modeling principles

• Strong communication, analytical, and strategic thinking skills

• Strong organizational skills, including program/project governance

• Strong influence and negotiating skills with all levels of stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• 15 years of experience in developing and commercializing medical devices or life sciences Connectivity products and services

• MS and/or PhD degree in computer science or software engineering, or related field

• Experienced at technical interface and oversight for external suppliers in a large multinational organization

• Knowledge of commercial apps in the FHIR environment such as HL7 Argonaut, SMART on FHIR, and Apple\'s FHIR health care Initiatives

The base pay for this position is $128,000.00 – $256,000.00. In specific locations, the pay range may vary from the range posted.