Principal Data Engineer- Remote or Hybrid in MN or DC

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.  

Grow your career with an exciting opportunity with Optum, where you will be a part of creating software solutions that help to change lives - millions of lives. As a Data Engineer at Optum, you will have the opportunity to be a member of a focused team dedicated to helping to make the health care system work better for everyone. Here, you will partner with some of the smartest people you have ever worked with to design solutions to meet a wide range of health consumer needs.

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:

• Partner closely with product owners, system analysts, and engineering teams to deliver data solutions aligned with an Agile roadmap
• Collaborate with data architects and platform engineers to translate functional and non-functional requirements into scalable, high-quality data architecture
• Serve as a technical leader and key point of contact for scrum teams, guiding and influencing solutions across teams and mentoring junior engineers
• Design, build, test, and operate data-intensive systems, including streaming and batch pipelines using technologies such as Databricks, Kafka, Snowflake, and cloud-native storage solutions
• Develop and maintain ETL/ELT pipelines, data transformations, and orchestration workflows using Python, SQL, and distributed processing frameworks
• Implement and continuously improve CI/CD, DevOps, and DataOps practices to enable reliable, automated deployments of data pipelines and analytics workloads
• Build and maintain configuration management, infrastructure automation, deployment strategies, and monitoring/observability tools for data platforms
• Apply software and data engineering best practices, including reliability engineering, fault-tolerant architecture, performance tuning, and automated testing
• Participate in incident management processes, root cause analysis, and remediation using tools such as ServiceNow
• Define and execute data quality, governance, security, and resilience strategies to ensure trusted and compliant data products
• Support data solutions throughout the entire SDLC, from design and development through production deployment and operational support
• Participate in design reviews, architecture discussions, code reviews, defect triage, and performance optimization efforts
• Adhere to established data modeling, coding, and platform standards, while continuously improving how data solutions are built and delivered

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:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of experience designing and implementing cloud-based data solutions (Azure, Google, or Amazon)
• 5+ years of experience with modern data and platform technologies, including (or equivalent): Azure Databricks, Apache Kafka (or equivalent streaming platforms), Snowflake, GitHub and GitHub Actions
• 2+ years of experience with hands-on Python and/or Scala for data engineering workloads
• Solid proficiency in SQL for data querying and transformation, along with a solid understanding of version control, CI/CD pipelines, and automated deployment practices for data platforms
• Proven ability to collaborate effectively within Agile, distributed, and onshore/offshore teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Relevant cloud certifications, particularly Microsoft Azure certifications such as Azure Data Engineer Associate or Azure Solutions Architect Expert
• Experience within the healthcare industry
• Firsthand experience with specific AI techniques and frameworks, such as Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), or autonomous agents
• Working knowledge of RESTful APIs and data integration patterns
• Thorough understanding of data modeling techniques (conceptual, logical, and physical) and deep knowledge of data warehousing architectures and best practices
• Proven excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to think creatively and deliver innovative data solutions in collaboration with delivery teams

*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. 

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