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 diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

We are seeking a Lead Software Engineer to drive development and delivery of the next generation of scalable enterprise software and AI-powered applications in the Clinical AI domain. In this role, you will join a forward-thinking engineering team dedicated to building highly performant, secure, and automated solutions for AI 10.0 initiatives, including Touchless Prior Authorization. You will have the opportunity to work with modern technologies and cloud environments to integrate intelligent capabilities, automate workflows, and design robust architectures that solve complex business and healthcare challenges.

You will enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. and be rewarded and recognized for your performance as you take on meaningful and complex challenges in healthcare.

Primary Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end technical integration efforts for AI-enabled solutions, from opportunity discovery and architecture review through implementation, validation, launch, and operational handoff
• Collaborate cross-functionally with business, product, engineering, security, infrastructure, and operational partners to identify AI integration opportunities that improve automation, workflow intelligence, decision support, and delivery speed
• Translate business and operational needs into scalable technical requirements, ensuring solutions align with enterprise architecture standards, stakeholder goals, and responsible AI expectations
• Design and deliver advanced AI-enabled integration solutions, including intelligent orchestration and AI-assisted workflows
• Drive AI 10.0 initiatives by creating scalable, high-quality implementations that reduce manual effort, improve operational consistency, and accelerate delivery of critical automation work
• Assess internal and external solution options for fit within enterprise infrastructure, including compatibility, scalability, security, reliability, data handling, observability, supportability, and long-term maintainability
• Independently manage complex technical workstreams, proactively identifying dependencies, risks, blockers, governance needs, and decisions required to move initiatives from concept to production
• Coordinate technical validation activities, including proofs of concept, environment readiness, API testing, performance evaluation, security reviews, AI workflow assessment, and production readiness
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise standards for identity and access management, data privacy, compliance, resilience, monitoring, incident response, change management, auditability, and responsible AI use
• Mentor engineers and influence best practices for AI-enabled solution design, automation, AI-assisted engineering, sustainable platform integration, operational readiness, and continuous improvement

Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges with emphasis on responsible use of AI.

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 in science or technology, or equivalent experience
• 7+ years of experience in application architecture, AI/ML engineering, quality engineering, or platform engineering
• 5+ years of experience leading development/testing of with web, API, integration, or cloud-native solution development
• 5+ years of experience providing technical leadership to engineers, including mentoring, design review, delivery oversight, and best-practice adoption
• 4+ years of experience with CI/CD, DevOps tooling, release automation, and modern software delivery practices

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Information Technology or related field
• Strong understanding of Generative AI, responsible AI, AI governance, model integration patterns, and enterprise AI enablement practices, demonstrated through certifications
• Hands‑on experience building or enabling AI/ML‑powered engineering workflows, including use of AI to improve SDLC productivity and operations
• Strong technical foundation in cloud architecture (GCP, Azure), APIs, distributed systems, event‑driven architecture, security, identity, logging, observability, performance tuning, and production operations
• 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 $112,700 to $193,200 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 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.