Principal Architect - Remote

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives. Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. Optum is seeking a visionary Digital AI architect for our Contract Center Transformation. The successful candidate will play a critical role in transforming our voice and digital experiences to conversational experiences, through multiple engagement channels (including web, app, chat, voice, and search), with a particular emphasis on transforming how consumers engage in the US health care system. In this role you will help make UnitedHealth Group's consumer obsessed digital vision come to life by using AI to deliver our next generation Conversational Experiences. Define and lead the strategic vision, architecture, and implementation of AI contact solutions across our consumer-facing digital experiences. Partner closely with business and product teams to identify and prioritize strategic opportunities for leveraging AI within web, mobile, chat messaging, voice messaging, and search channels. Oversee the development of scalable, secure, and innovative AI solutions designed to enhance consumer engagement and deliver personalized, intuitive self-service experiences that transform our current digital experiences into conversational experiences. You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week. Primary Responsibilities: Own digital chat/messaging architecture on Amazon Connect across web and mobile experiences, with support for asynchronous customer conversations and modern digital channels as required by the business Design and implement chat contact flows that deliver consistent, brand-aligned customer experiences: intent capture, authentication/verification, routing, queue handling, and bot-to-agent handoff Build chatbot-assisted digital experiences in Amazon Connect chat flows, including intent/slot design, fulfillment, and robust fallback/escalation patterns Implement rich digital interactions to reduce friction, enable self-service, improve resolution, and increase containment in chat Enable an effective human agent chat experience: configure and optimize agent workflows in agent workspace/CCP, and integrate customer context (CRM/cases/knowledge) to reduce handling time and improve resolution quality Define integration patterns between Amazon Connect and enterprise platforms (CRM, identity, customer profile/data services) Establish observability and conversation analytics for chat: logging/tracing, dashboards, transcript access, and improvement loops using conversational analytics (chat sentiment, categorization, summaries/search) Lead security, privacy, and compliance-by-design for digital channels (PII handling, encryption, access controls, retention/redaction policies where applicable) Act as a senior individual contributor leader: drive design reviews, publish reference patterns/standards, mentor engineers, and influence stakeholders across Product, Engineering, and Contact Center Operations Assess new AWS Connect capabilities and lead internal collaboration to determine technical and business value You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in. Required Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering (or equivalent practical experience) 5+ years of experience in solution architecture and/or software engineering for digital customer experience, messaging, chat, or contact-center platforms 3+ years hands‑on experience implementing Amazon Connect digital/chat solutions in production (chat flows, routing, agent workflows), or equivalent CCaaS experience plus demonstrable Amazon Connect depth 3+ years of experience building or integrating customer chat experiences into web/mobile applications using platform APIs/SDKs and secure authentication/session patterns (including knowledge of Connect chat session initiation and participant connectivity concepts) 3+ years of experience implementing conversational AI for chat (Amazon Lex or equivalent), including conversation design, fulfillment, and escalation to human agents 3+ years of experience improving agent chat workflows (agent workspace/CCP) and integrating agent tooling with CRM/cases/knowledge to improve resolution and reduce rework Experience with AI in engineering workflows (standards, guardrails, reusable prompts/patterns, evaluation/quality checks) and using it to accelerate modernization roadmaps and improve developer productivity without compromising quality Solid AWS fundamentals (IAM, Lambda, CloudWatch, API patterns) and solid integration skills (REST/event‑driven, data contracts, error handling) Demonstrated ability to lead through influence: produce architecture artifacts, run technical workshops, and communicate clearly with technical and non‑technical stakeholders Operational mindset: monitoring/alerting, incident support, root cause analysis, and change safety for customer‑facing digital channels Preferred Qualifications: AWS Certifications (Solutions Architect, DevOps Engineer, Developer, or specialty equivalents) Experience with Contact Lens for chat analytics, including transcript search, categorization, and integration patterns for consuming analytics outputs at scale (e.g., streaming/near‑real‑time pipelines) Experience designing asynchronous messaging behaviors and multi‑step conversations (resume conversations, handle long gaps, maintain context across devices/channels) Experience with Infrastructure‑as‑Code and CI/CD (Terraform/CloudFormation/CDK, automated testing/validation of flows and integrations) Experience partnering with UX/content/conversation designers to improve chat usability, tone, and containment without harming resolution outcomes Ability to architect cross‑channel experiences that minimize customer effort, building consistent UX and operational workflows across chat, human‑assisted chat, and voice, with unified routing, reporting, and quality insights *All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group's Telecommuter Policy Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you'll find a far‑reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $134,600 to $230,800 annually based on full‑time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable. Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants. At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone-of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income-deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes - an enterprise priority reflected in our mission. UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. UnitedHealth Group is a drug‑free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment. #J-18808-Ljbffr