Implementation Associate

Join us as we work to create a thriving ecosystem that delivers accessible, high-quality, and sustainable healthcare for all.

Position Summary: The Implementation Associate builds, tests, delivers, maintains, and supports healthcare integrations for athenahealth clients.

The role manages a high-volume portfolio of new interface builds and modifications to existing interfaces; coordinates technical, functional, and quality requirements; resolves connectivity and electronic data interchange issues; and communicates project status, risks, and timelines to clients, vendors, and internal stakeholders.

The Associate applies advanced knowledge of athenahealth and other healthcare products, analytical problem-solving, and cross-functional collaboration to improve delivery efficiency and expand athenahealth’s interoperability network.

The ideal candidate can also support people management and team coordination.

This position reports to the Operations Manager in Chennai, India.

About the Team: The Implementation team supports client interoperability by delivering reliable interfaces and improving the workflows used to implement and maintain them.

The team works closely with interface vendors, clients, and athenahealth’s US-based Onboarding Managers, Customer Success Managers (CSMs), Program Managers (IPMs), Customer Support Center (CSC), Product, and Development teams.

Team members operate across geographies and manage competing priorities in a collaborative, Agile, and Lean-oriented environment.

Success requires proactive communication, careful listening, sound judgment, attention to detail, and the ability to translate business problems and use cases into practical technical solutions or workarounds.

The team combines a shared commitment to improving healthcare with technical expertise across integration components, including HL7, networking protocols, VPN, SSH, SFTP, and XML.

Team members apply data-driven analysis and structured problem-solving to deliver effective outcomes.

Knowledge of hospital or ambulatory workflows and healthcare information systems further strengthens the team’s ability to develop practical, client-focused solutions.

Essential Job Responsibilities: Build, test, deliver, maintain, and support integrations for new and existing client interfaces.

Manage a high volume of projects and tasks with competing priorities, maintaining clear ownership, accurate documentation, and timely delivery.

Partner with the Interface Development team to customize integrations and incorporate technical, functional, and quality-assurance requirements.

Communicate integration status, risks, dependencies, and timelines to clients, vendors, and athenahealth stakeholders.

Analyze and resolve issues involving connectivity, electronic data interchange, HL7 messaging, and related integration components.

Collaborate with Customer Success Managers, Program Managers, Product, Development, Customer Support Center teams, and other partners to ensure successful ambulatory interface engineering engagements and implementations.

Engage clients and external stakeholders to define business problems and use cases, evaluate the advantages and limitations of available approaches, and develop appropriate technical solutions or workarounds.

Identify workflow deficiencies and operational breakdowns, then contribute to solutions that improve outcomes, efficiency, and quality.

Maintain effective working relationships with interface vendors, clients, and geographically distributed internal teams.

Additional Job Responsibilities: Lead or contribute to cross-functional initiatives, operational projects, and process-reengineering efforts that advance organizational capabilities.

Optimize workflows to reduce waste and improve consistency.

Continually assess team operations and processes and recommend measurable improvements.

Support the training, onboarding, and mentoring of new hires.

Support the Operations Manager with responsibilities, including communicating team performance and operational risks.

Monitor and contribute to team performance and metrics, including routine review of daily, weekly, and monthly production and quality reports.

Perform other duties assigned by the Operations Manager to optimize and expand operational support.

Expected Education & Experience: Bachelor’s or master’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Science, Statistics, Management, or another quantitative field. 8+ years’ of overall experience in Technical Support, Operations, IT/ITES, healthcare, or a related field.

Two to three years of project management experience, including technical projects with significant cross-functional interdependencies.

Strong written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to engage effectively with geographically dispersed teams in India and the United States.

Demonstrated ability to explain technical issues, resolve problems, and apply logical, analytical, and data-driven decision-making.

Advanced Microsoft Excel proficiency and a commitment to continually developing technical skills.

Ability to manage multiple priorities, collaborate effectively, and deliver results in an Agile and Lean-oriented environment.

Capability in people management and team leadership, including supporting the manager with delegated supervisory responsibilities and performance updates.

Availability to work during US business hours, from 5:30 PM to 2:30 AM IST.

Preferred: Healthcare domain experience, including interfaces and integration engines; knowledge of HL7 standards, patient safety, HIPAA, EMR systems, and hospital or ambulatory workflows; basic SQL knowledge; and a project management certification.

About athenahealth Our vision: In an industry that becomes more complex by the day, we stand for simplicity.

We offer IT solutions and expert services that eliminate the daily hurdles preventing healthcare providers from focusing entirely on their patients — powered by our vision to create a thriving ecosystem that delive