Principal Architect

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.

Position Description:

The Principal Architect is a strategic leader within UHC Technology E&I, responsible for defining, designing, and delivering enterprise-scale solutions that align with business goals and technology strategy. This role demands deep expertise in architecture practices, cloud modernization, data strategy, and AI/ML integration. The architect will drive innovation, mentor peers, and influence enterprise-wide standards and patterns.

As a UHC Technology E&I Architect, the principal responsibility is to collaborate with organizations on new product initiatives, translating business needs into effective architecture and design. Drawing from prior solutions, reference architectures, and advanced expertise in Cloud, Data, and AI/ML, the Architect delivers scalable, secure enterprise solutions that balance project requirements with overall enterprise concerns.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Strategic Architecture and Problem Definition
  • Define complex business and technology problems with clarity and precision
  • Develop personas to represent customer impacts and align architecture with product roadmaps
  • Facilitate business or product strategy definition and link architecture outcomes to measurable value
  • Proactively identify patterns and root causes across initiatives and lines of business
• Architecture Practice and Decision Leadership
  • Set architectural vision and guardrails for product and capability teams
  • Lead end-to-end and strategic architecture planning across domains
  • Produce target and transition state architecture artifacts and reusable patterns
  • Make solution decisions across multiple domains and technologies, balancing enterprise standards with engineering realities
• Technology Acumen and AI/ML Integration
  • Apply advanced knowledge of cloud platforms (Azure, GCP, AWS) and deployment patterns
  • Drive modernization efforts including migration to cloud-native and open-source technologies
  • Integrate AI/ML into solution design, identifying opportunities for automation, predictive analytics, and intelligent decisioning
  • Demonstrate expertise in data architecture and AI/ML model deployment
• Mentorship and Influence
  • Mentor junior architects and engineers through coaching, onboarding, and feedback
  • Lead architecture community initiatives and contribute to engineering culture
  • Support interviewing and talent development processes
• Operational Excellence and Product Impact
  • Maintain health dashboards (PLM, TCO, Capability Assessment) and drive decisions to reduce cost and technical debt
  • Evaluate service areas for automation and continuous improvement
  • Develop technical business cases for modernization and AI/ML adoption
• Communication and Stakeholder Engagement
  • Communicate architecture decisions and trade-offs to senior leadership and ARBs
  • Tailor messaging for business and technical audiences across organizational levels
  • Present strategic recommendations through white papers, presentations, and workshops
• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.
• 15+ years in IT Architecture, including:
  • 11+ years in architecture, software engineering, or data management.
  • 7+ years in solution architecture and systems integration.
  • 5+ years in enterprise architecture with emphasis on cloud, data, and AI/ML.
• Experience with big data technologies (e.g., pySpark, Kafka, Snowflake, Databricks).
• Expertise in AI/ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn) and production deployment.
• Solid understanding of microservices, Kubernetes, DevSecFinOps, and agile methodologies.
• Proven ability to influence senior stakeholders and drive cross-functional outcomes.

Preferred Qualifications:

• TOGAF, SAFe Agilist, or LeSS certification
• Deep knowledge of healthcare industry and regulatory environment
• Proven excellent written and verbal communication skills, is organized, have good time management skills
• Proven solid presentation and documentation skills for both executive and technical audiences
• Demonstrated adaptability, critical thinking, and strategic foresight

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.