Principal Site Reliability Engineer - MN or AZ

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.

This Principal Site Reliability Engineer is a senior individual contributor role responsible for defining and driving reliability strategy across complex, large-scale digital platforms. The role partners closely with engineering, security, and technology operations leaders to embed resilience, stability, and operational excellence into systems from design through production. While not a people manager, this role provides technical leadership and strategic influence, guiding priorities, shaping standards, and advising senior stakeholders to improve availability, performance, and risk posture across the enterprise.

If you are located in MN or AZ, you will have the flexibility to work remotely*, as well as work in the office as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Leadership and Strategy
  • Develop and execute a comprehensive strategy for SRE and TechOps aligned with organizational goals, with a focus on improving stability, security, and supportability of all digital properties
  • Provide technical leadership, mentorship, and strategic guidance to engineers and partner teams
  • Collaborate with cross-functional leaders and engineering teams to integrate best practices into all aspects of products and platforms, with 'baking in' resilience from design to deployment
  • Guide teams on priorities, mentor individual contributors, and report to CIOs on critical paths, mitigation plans, and strategic initiatives
• Site Reliability Engineering (SRE)
  • Oversee teams to map and proactively secure and harden end-to-end customer journeys across all business units
  • Analyze and model dependencies (applications, APIs, infrastructure) and run threat models for various risks, including natural disasters, cyberattacks, and software failures
  • Develop and enforce reliability standards, including Service Level Agreements (SLAs), Service Level Indicators (SLIs), and Service Level Objectives (SLOs), utilizing these key metrics to continuously improve system reliability and performance and prioritize work
  • Implement automation to reduce manual tasks, enhance operational efficiency, and design resilience features such as automated failovers, geo-redundancy, circuit breakers, and automated rollbacks
  • Ensure minimal downtime and optimal performance of systems through proactive risk threat modeling and mitigation
• Technology Operations (TechOps)
  • Ensure the stability, scalability, and resilience of the technology infrastructure, including hardware, software, and network operations
  • Develop and maintain robust processes for infrastructure provisioning, configuration, and maintenance
  • Promote a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, optimizing processes and accelerating technology delivery

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 Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• 15+ years of experience in software engineering, site reliability engineering, and technology operations
• Solid knowledge of infrastructure management, system monitoring, incident response, software engineering principles, and security frameworks at scale.
  Demonstrated history of remediating technology infrastructure issues at the root cause
• Proven exceptional leadership, communication, and collaboration skills, with the ability to translate complex technical issues into clear, concise, and impactful communications for C-suite and executive leadership
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced, dynamic environment and effectively manage multiple high-priority situations simultaneously

Preferred Qualifications:

• Solid vendor relationship management experience
• Experience with operational and security tools and technologies (e.g., monitoring systems, automation tools, SIEM, IDS/IPS)
• Proven track record of developing and implementing successful strategies in a global digital consumer environment

*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 $134,600 to $230,800 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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.