When you ask Zach Urso what drew him to Norstella, his answer is simple: impact. As a full stack software engineer on Panalgo’s application development team, Urso has always sought work that makes a tangible difference in people’s lives.
Before joining Norstella in May 2024, he worked in med-tech, building tools to support hospital communication and surgical data. That experience cemented his desire to use his technical skills for something meaningful.
“It’s often difficult as a software engineer to connect the dots between what you’re building and how it affects people in the real world,” Urso says. “With healthcare and pharma, the connection is direct: You know your work is helping patients get access to life-saving therapies.”
A day in the life
On paper, Urso’s role is straightforward: application development. In practice, however, it’s a dynamic blend of coding, problem-solving, and constant collaboration. His days are filled with writing and reviewing code, tackling technical challenges, and making design decisions. He works across teams coordinating with product managers, UI/UX designers, and other developers to ensure everything comes together seamlessly.
No two days are exactly alike, he says. Some involve deep technical focus, while others are spent troubleshooting issues, hopping on calls with colleagues across time zones, or guiding teammates through design decisions.
Although officially an individual contributor, Urso has stepped into more leadership responsibilities this year.
“I don’t manage direct reports, but I’m the technical lead on Ella, which means I’m essentially running a team for this project,” he says. “It’s been a big step in my career.”
Building Ella
Ella is not just Zach’s current and largest assignment, it’s also his proudest accomplishment to date. “Ella”—its name derived from parent company Norstella—is a new AI-powered chat assistant that aims to transform how clients interact with complex data systems.
At its core, Urso says that Ella simplifies the process of building projects in Norstella’s Instant Health Data (IHD) application. Instead of navigating intricate interfaces, users can simply type a request, such as ‘find patients with diabetes treated with X therapy between 2020 and 2023’ and Ella guides them through the process in plain language. Within minutes, the assistant generates a project complete with dashboards, charts, and analytics.
“Ella makes our tools more accessible,” Urso says. “Veteran users already know how to build these projects, but for new clients, it can be daunting. Ella lowers the barrier, helping them quickly get to the insights they need.”
The project is a collaborative effort across Norstella. Urso and his colleagues at Panalgo focus on the product build, while the Data Science team develops the AI service and the NXP team contributes the shared front-end components. Together, the teams have pushed Ella from concept to beta release in under a year.
“From the beginning, it was clear this was a high-priority initiative,” Urso says. “We iterated quickly, releasing versions in April and August. Right now, we’re in beta testing, and the hope is to bring Ella to customers by the end of the year.”
Living a company principle
When asked which of Norstella’s core principles resonates most, Urso doesn’t hesitate: Integrity, Truth, Reality.
“That’s a personal principle for me,” he says. “If we can’t ground ourselves in reality and be honest with one another, we’re setting ourselves up for failure. I’d rather say a project will take two months and deliver on time than overpromise and disappoint. Transparency and consistency keep everyone aligned.”
This focus on honesty carries into his leadership on Ella, where clear expectations and communication are critical to keeping his fast-moving, global team on track.
Out of office
Outside of work, Urso is an avid tabletop gamer, with a collection of nearly 100 board games ranging from simple card games to heavy strategy titles. He and his partner, Meg, often spend evenings playing together, and he’s hosted a Dungeons & Dragons game with friends online every Saturday at 6pm for the last 10 years.
“We’ve been playing the same game for over a decade now,” he says. “It’s something I look forward to every week—it’s interactive storytelling and spending time with people I care about.”
Looking ahead
As Urso reflects on his time at Norstella so far, he’s grateful for the opportunities to learn and grow in a challenging, supportive environment. His advice to new employees? Stay proactive.
“There’s always a lot happening here, and it can feel chaotic at times,” he says. “But if you lean in, there are tremendous opportunities to learn, gain experience, and build your career.”