Lead Software Engineer

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

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

• Design and develop Azure cloud-native enterprise data solutions with emphasis on data integration, transformation, and governance
• Build solution designs and technical designs for data pipelines based on business and technical requirements
• Develop and standardize reusable plug-and-play components that can be orchestrated into:
  • data ingestion patterns (batch/streaming)
  • data flows across multiple zones (raw/curated/consumption as applicable)
  • data quality frameworks and validation rules
• Implement and maintain pipelines leveraging Databricks + ADLS, ensuring reliability, scalability, and maintainability
• Identify opportunities to enhance/streamline existing codebase for:
  • Automation
  • performance improvements
  • scalability and reliability
  • operational efficiency and reduced run-cost
• Support backlog execution by helping prioritize pipeline development, estimate effort, and create implementation roadmaps
• Lead a team of data engineers by providing technical direction, code reviews, and design guidance
• Provide QA, UAT, and implementation support, including deployment readiness, operational handoffs, and production troubleshooting
• Ensure adherence to engineering standards (documentation, logging/monitoring expectations, and CI/CD practices where applicable)

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

• Undergraduate degree in Computer Science or related field
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in Data Engineering / Data Warehousing development and operations
• 5+ years of experience working in Agile delivery models and collaborating with architects, analysts, and upstream/downstream application teams
• Hands on experience designing and building enterprise-grade ETL/ELT pipelines on modern data platforms
• Spark/Databricks development
• SQL-based transformations and performance tuning
• Streaming concepts and implementation patterns

Preferred Qualifications

• Healthcare domain experience (claims, clinical, eligibility, provider, member, HIPAA-aware handling
• Data Streaming (e.g., Spark Structured Streaming and streaming design patterns)
• Python / PySpark
• Azure (general platform knowledge)
• MongoDB

• 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 $112,700 to $193,200 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.