Sr Dir Software Engineering - 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.

You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

Engineering Leadership & Delivery Excellence

• Provide enterprise engineering leadership for the OCPN platform, overseeing 10-12 cross‑functional teams across Software Engineering, QA, DevOps, and Site Reliability Engineering
• Own end‑to‑end accountability for delivery of client enhancements, regulatory mandates, new product capabilities, and strategic modernization initiatives
• Establish, enforce, and continuously evolve engineering standards, SDLC governance, and quality frameworks to ensure reliability, maintainability, security, and audit readiness
• Drive predictable, metrics‑based execution using delivery, quality, reliability, and cost efficiency indicators (e.g., velocity, defect trends, availability, DORA metrics)
• Partner with Product Management and Architecture to define and execute multi‑year platform roadmaps aligned to business strategy and enterprise technology direction
• Set technical direction and ensure adoption of modern engineering practices including cloud‑native architectures, CI/CD automation, API‑first design, and scalable platform patterns
• Build organizational engineering capability by continuously improving tools, practices, and technical standards across the platform

Platform Operations & Reliability

• Own production stability, availability, and operational health for the OCPN platform across all client implementations
• Lead enterprise‑grade incident management, root‑cause analysis, and continuous improvement initiatives to reduce MTTR and prevent recurrence
• Ensure platform compliance with PCI, SOC, HIPAA (as applicable), and enterprise security standards for sensitive financial and healthcare payment data
• Champion best practices in observability, monitoring, capacity planning, and operational readiness
• Drive high‑availability, resiliency, and disaster recovery strategies aligned with Optum enterprise resilience requirements
• Maintain solid operational governance and transparency around risk posture and remediation plans
  

Modernization & Technology Strategy

• Lead transformation of legacy systems through cloud migration, architectural modernization, and platform re‑architecture initiatives
• Drive adoption of automation‑first engineering practices to improve developer productivity, operational efficiency, and delivery speed
• Sponsor and govern the use of AI/ML‑enabled engineering tools to enhance productivity, quality assurance, risk detection, and delivery forecasting
• Partner with Enterprise Architecture to ensure alignment with Optum technology standards, security frameworks, and long‑term digital strategy
• Balance modernization execution with production stability and regulatory delivery commitments
  

People Leadership & Organizational Development

• Build, develop, and retain high‑performing engineering leaders, managers, and senior technical talent
• Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, continuous learning, and operational ownership.
• Lead workforce planning, talent acquisition, performance management, and succession planning
• Drive organizational maturity across Agile execution, DevSecOps, and platform ownership models
• Establish scalable leadership structures and operating models to support platform growth and increasing complexity

Executive & Cross‑Functional Engagement

• Partner with Business, Product, Operations, Security, Compliance, and Finance leaders to align engineering outcomes with enterprise objectives
• Communicate delivery health, risk posture, operational performance, and modernization progress to executive stakeholders
• Represent OCPN Engineering in strategic planning forums, governance councils, and enterprise transformation initiatives
• Ensure transparent risk management, proactive mitigation planning, and informed executive decision‑making

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:

• 12+ years of progressive software engineering experience, including 5+ years in senior people leadership roles managing managers
• Demonstrated ownership of a platform modernization and transformation, large scale integration with a externally hosted SaaS platform, accountable end to end from architecture through production
• Demonstrated experience modernizing or scaling a transaction heavy platform that could not meet business growth, performance, or reliability needs
• Proven direct leadership of 15-25 engineers, including 3-4 direct manager reports within a multi-layer organization
• Proven end to end platform accountability for reliability, stability, availability, observability and operational health of mission critical systems
• Demonstrated hands on technical leadership capability-able to direct teams on architectural and technical decisions and operate credibly with senior engineers
• Experience integrating internal platforms with third party SaaS vendors, serving as the technical and execution bridge between systems
• Proven deep understanding of secure SDLC and DevSecOps practices, with experience operating in regulated environments (e.g., PCI, SOC, HIPAA)
• Experience leading cross‑functional delivery across Product, Architecture, Operations, and Security, serving as the primary engineering counterpart for senior business stakeholders on platform roadmap, delivery milestones, and operational outcomes
• Ability to represent the platform in senior leadership forums, including architecture reviews and executive updates; occasional travel for leadership meetings
• Demonstrated scaled engineering leadership capability by hiring, developing, and retaining managers and senior engineers, including ownership of succession planning, performance management, and leadership readiness

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience with commercial payment networks or financial transaction platforms
• Leadership of platform integration teams responsible for external data exchange, validation, and vendor testing
• Demonstrated background in SaaS to enterprise integration models, including shared responsibility vendor operating models
• Experience leading distributed or hybrid teams across multiple locations
• Accountability for platform modernization initiatives replacing or augmenting legacy systems
• Demonstrated familiarity with high availability, high correctness platforms where uptime and data integrity are critical

*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 $159,300 to $273,200 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.