Data Engineer

Data 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.

As a Data Engineer at Optum, you will have the opportunity to be a member of a focused team dedicated to helping make the health care system work better for everyone. Here, you will partner with talented engineers, analysts, architects, and product owners to design and deliver solutions that meet a wide range of health consumer and business needs.

As part of our team, your job is to show integrity, curiosity, and technical ownership while solving complex problems in the health care data and analytics space. You will provide technical expertise as an engineer on an agile development team in the design, development, and delivery of data platforms, APIs, cloud-based solutions, and full stack capabilities. You are expected to be an accomplished engineer able to write, understand, test, and support complex code and data pipelines. You will bring strong experience in data engineering, distributed processing, cloud platforms, and application development to design scalable and reliable solutions.

You will enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Collaborate with product owners, systems analysts, software engineers, architects, and business stakeholders to deliver against an agile roadmap.
• Design, develop, test, and maintain data-intensive applications using Snowflake, SQL, Java, Python, Spark/Databricks, and Azure cloud technologies.
• Build and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines to ingest, transform, validate, and publish data across enterprise platforms.
• Develop and support Spark and Databricks jobs for large-scale data processing and analytics workloads.
• Build, schedule, monitor, and troubleshoot data workflows using Airflow or similar orchestration tools.
• Develop and maintain APIs and backend services to support data access, integration, and downstream application needs.
• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges with an emphasis on responsible use of AI.
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement in engineering productivity and delivery quality.
• Evaluate emerging tech trends and AI capabilities to inform solution design and strategic innovation.
• Support basic UI-related needs where required, including integration with frontend components, validation of API responses, and collaboration with UI teams.
• Work with Kafka and Kafka Connect basics for streaming data ingestion, event-driven processing, and integration patterns.
• Collaborate with architects and engineers to evaluate functional and non-functional requirements and deliver secure, scalable, and high-quality solutions.
• Follow and improve DevOps, CI/CD, deployment, monitoring, and automation practices within the team.
• Build and maintain configuration management, automation tools, deployment strategies, and monitoring processes.
• Apply software engineering practices such as reliability engineering, deployment planning, fault-tolerant architecture, test automation, and production support.
• Collaborate on quality strategies that ensure data platforms and applications are correct, resilient, scalable, and secure.
• Support applications throughout the SDLC from design and development through production deployment and support.
• Participate in system analysis, design walkthroughs, code reviews, defect triage, and production issue resolution.
• Adhere to design and coding standards while continuously improving how the team builds and delivers software.

What are the reasons to consider working for UnitedHealth Group? Put it all together - competitive base pay, a full and comprehensive benefit program, performance rewards, and a management team who demonstrates their commitment to your success. Some of our offerings include:

• Paid Time Off which you start to accrue with your first pay period plus 8 Paid Holidays
• Medical Plan options along with participation in a Health Spending Account or a Health Saving account
• Dental, Vision, Life& AD&D Insurance along with Short-term disability and Long-Term Disability coverage
• 401(k) Savings Plan, Employee Stock Purchase Plan
• Education Reimbursement
• Employee Discounts
• Employee Assistance Program
• Employee Referral Bonus Program
• Voluntary Benefits (pet insurance, legal insurance, LTC Insurance, etc.)

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear directions 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 or equivalent related experience
• 4+ years of experience do you have with data engineering
• 4+ years of experience developing solutions hosted within public cloud providers such as Azure/AWS
• 3+ years of familiarity with Kafka and Kafka Connect fundamentals
• 3+ years of professional experience do you have used the Snowflake Data Platform
• 3+ years of professional experience using SQL
• 3+ years of experience using Databricks or PySpark
• 2+ years of experience in CI/CD and DevOps practices
• 2+ years of experience using code repositories and version control tools such as GitHub or GitLab
• 2+ years of Experience supporting Agile delivery methodologies
• 1+ years of experience with Airflow or similar workflow orchestration tools

Preferred Qualifications:

• Relevant cloud certifications, particularly Microsoft Azure certifications such as Azure Data Engineer Associate or Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Snowflake certification or strong hands-on Snowflake implementation experience
• Strong understanding of data modeling principles, including conceptual, logical, and physical models
• Comprehensive knowledge of data warehousing concepts, data lakehouse patterns, and data engineering best practices
• Experience with Kafka Connect source and sink connectors
• Experience with monitoring, logging, alerting, incident management, and ServiceNow or similar ticket tracking tools
• Experience with Docker, Kubernetes, or Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)
• Experience with test automation, data validation frameworks, and production support practices
• Excellent analytical skills and proven ability to work with delivery teams to think creatively and solve complex problems
• 1+ years of experience in Python development
• Experience with AI/ML concepts, including Large Language Models, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and enterprise AI productivity tools
• 2+ years of experience do you have designing or implementing Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions

*All Telecommuters 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 $72,800 to $130,000 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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