Engineering Leadership Series - Justin Johnson

Today we have a great guest in the Engineering Leadership Interview Series. Justin Johnson from Ansel Health joins us to discuss his past, present and future. Justin shares some great insight on what sparked his interest in software engineering, the problems Ansel Health is tackling, as well as some sound advice for his younger self.

Enjoy the interview and give Justin a follow.

Biography

Justin Johnson is an accomplished software engineer and technology leader with extensive industry experience. He has held key technology management roles at prominent organizations such as Lowes.com, Bank of America, Trilogy Education (acquired by 2U), Avise, FranklinCovey, and most recently Ansel Health. Throughout his career, Justin has successfully led diverse teams ranging in size from 5 to 120 members, encompassing software engineers, QA, UX, product managers, and more. Known for his exceptional leadership, he consistently receives high ratings in employee feedback summaries, earning a reputation as a manager people love to work for. His leadership and expertise have been instrumental in driving innovation and delivering high-impact technology solutions.

More Information

https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinjohnson82/
https://www.joinansel.com/

The Interview

1. Tell us the high level summary of your story. What sparked your interest in software engineering?

I can remember being in 4th grade and being allowed to ‘tinker’ with the classroom’s Apple IIe computer. There was a wirebound book by the computer that had pages and pages of BASIC that you could type in and run - and just hope you didn’t mis-type. The programs were very basic, nothing fancy, but I was able to figure out how to make the screen countdown from 10 - 0 and then print “BLAST OFF.” That moment of figuring out how the code worked got me hooked.

Fast forward a few years, and I’m about to attend college as a History major with goals to be a History teacher - or maybe even a professor someday, however something just didn’t feel right. I’ve always loved studying History (and still do), but it didn’t feel like what I was supposed to be doing. After some reflection, I decided to switch majors to Computer Science, and I was hooked.

2. What was your favourite job? Why was that job so good?

I’ve had a few favorites - I was an adjunct professor of Web Development (through Trilogy Education), where I taught a class of adults looking for a career change. We covered topics like React, Node, etc. and it was an absolute blast. From there, I went to Trilogy’s corporate team, leading their engineering department. Trilogy was a startup, on an exponential growth curve and was shortly thereafter acquired by 2U. That ride – or “rocket ship,” as we used to call it – was some of the most professional fun I think I’ve had

Two others tend to stand out. My very first developer job at an agency, where I did design and development. I was the crazy person that suggested we use <divs> elements and CSS for layout instead of <tables>. That experience was incredibly fun and a place where I really felt I honed my skills.

Lastly, there was a job I had in college where I worked in a warehouse and spent my entire shift driving a forklift. Nothing particularly special about it, except that driving a forklift can be pretty fun when you’re a college student.

3. Ansel Health offers a supplemental health insurance plan designed to alleviate the financial burden of unexpected medical expenses. What problem are you solving for customers that the market was missing?

I would say the problem we’re trying to solve is pretty much summed up in our mission statement: “We’re on a mission to build a world where health hardships don’t cause financial burdens.” Many Americans are one big bill away from some type of financial crisis, and unfortunately, medical costs often become that tipping point. That’s where Ansel comes in. Unlike traditional insurance, Ansel pays out based upon the diagnosis rather than treatment. We cover (and pay out on) more than 13,000 conditions, and as soon as they’re diagnosed, members can file a claim in minutes via our online member portal or mobile app with info they have on hand.

Once approved, they’ll get paid in hours, not weeks, allowing members to focus on recovery and getting back to their lives.

4. You’ve been with Ansel Health for roughly 10 months. How did you get hired there?

It's a true testament to the power of networking. Over the years, I've made an effort to stay in touch with several key people from my career. When I decided it was time to make a career change, I reached out to a few folks in my network. Thankfully one of them responded with: “I’ve heard that Veer (Ansel’s CEO) is looking for a VP of Engineering - want me to make an introduction?” That got my foot in the door for a role that I didn’t even know existed. A few rounds of interviews later, I joined the team.

5. What is your team building at Ansel Health?

We’re building tools and services to support our members and strategic partners. Broadly, this includes several user interfaces: one for members to submit claims, another for partners to manage their accounts, and a few others. All our UIs here are all built in React, with a Golang API layer supporting them. We also build iOS and Android apps for our members to use. We do all of this in a multi-tenant environment designed with HIPAA compliance and our SOC 2 certification in mind.

6. I noticed that you’ve implemented AI-generated code within your codebases. How has that transition been and are there any unique and interesting technical challenges that come along with that?

Thankfully - my engineering teams are fully embracing AI as a companion in their day to day development activities. Some of them were using tools like Copilot, ChatGPT, or IntelliJ’s AI assistant prior to my coming on board - but I formalized the ‘use of an AI coding assistant is required’ - The challenge here comes with ‘how do you measure that?’ - Unless I’m looking over someone’s shoulder - how am I going to know if they’re using the assistant? Luckily I was introduced to a gentleman named Matt Van Itallie - who founded Sema - which is a company building tools for engineering leaders to better understand their engineering teams and software development lifecycle. Their software can actually track the percentage of code in your codebase that is AI generated - so that was my ‘golden ticket’ for measurement. We’ve set an OKR for a target of what percentage of our code we want to be AI generated - if we’re tracking towards that number - the team has to be using AI - challenge solved.

7. How do you approach leadership? What makes someone a good engineering leader? Are there certain things you try to do and certain things you try to avoid?

I generally focus on a servant leadership approach. My goal is to equip my team and remove as many obstacles in their path so that they can focus on what they do best: building great software. I believe a good leader puts their team first while still being able to make the tough decisions. As leaders, we won’t always be making the most popular decisions, but it’s important to approach them with compassion and thoughtfulness.

I strive to avoid projecting myself as “best engineering leader” or “the best developer.” My focus is on ensuring that my team is the best - not me. I also make it a point to address negative feedback privately, in one-on-one settings, rather than in public.

Additionally, I aim to both listen to and learn from the team as much as I can. Everyone is bringing their own experiences, perspectives and viewpoints to solve a problem, so it only makes sense to learn as much as I can from them.

8. How do you typically hire talented engineers and how do you approach building a strong team?

For the longest time, internal hiring discussions centered around the concept of "culture fit" - essentially, does this person fit into the role and the existing team dynamic? In recent years, however, that perspective has shifted toward "culture add," and I’m a big fan of this approach. The idea is to ask: What can this new person bring to our culture, team, or company? I’m always looking for people who can bring more value to the team - whether it’s deeper knowledge in a language we use, expertise in a technology we don’t yet leverage, or simply a fresh way of thinking. The backend benefit here is that if I tend to bring in people that are just a little bit ahead of the existing team in a few areas - it can inspire the existing team to raise their own skillset a bit.

9. What are you reading / learning about right now?

Smart Brevity is a good book that I’m working through right now - it’s about how to say more by saying less. By the length of this interview you can tell I’m not done with the book yet!

On the technical learning side, I’m really getting into R for data analysis and analytics. It’s a fun, yet simple language to work with.

Outside of technology, I recently moved to a large rural property so I’m learning about taking care of animals (chickens and ducks right now) and planting schedules for orchards and fields.

10. What do you think are the secrets to being successful and what advice would you give to your younger self?

I’m not sure there is a secret - I think it boils down to hard work and a bit of luck. I can say that being at the right company at the right time has definitely helped my career and put me in situations I never thought I’d be in. Never stop learning - that’s one of the best things I could share with you, make it a goal to learn something new everyday - even if it’s a small thing.

To my younger self - I think I’d share that the payout is not if, but when. Your hard work will pay off one day - probably not the day you think it will - but it will pay off in the long run

11. When you’re 80 looking back, what do you want to have accomplished in your life?

I hope I’ve made a difference by helping people. At Trilogy, I knew that I was directly empowering people to help themselves by learning new skills. Here at Ansel, I’m helping people who are going through tough times medically not go through tough times financially. So when I’m 80, if I’ve had a track record of helping people then I’ll consider my career a success.

12. What are you excited about right now? Could be in the world of tech, personally or professionally within your company? Are there any other companies or technologies that you are excited about?

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention AI and how exciting it is and the incredible technology and opportunities it’s unlocking. From an Ansel perspective, I’m excited to be here at this time. We're in a growth stage and it’s looking like it’s going to be a wild, but amazing ride.

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