Senior Cloud Database Administrator - DBA - Remote

Optum Insight is improving the flow of health data and information to create a more connected system. We remove friction and drive alignment between care providers and payers, and ultimately consumers. Our deep expertise in the industry and innovative technology empower us to help organizations reduce costs while improving risk management, quality and revenue growth. Ready to help us deliver results that improve lives? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.  

The Senior Cloud Database Administrator (DBA) will be a key technical resource during the solution implementation and migrations of cloud-centric database platforms. The primary role of the Senior Cloud DBA is to take the design and technical specifications and implement, configure, secure, monitor, and optimize database services to meet business requirements. The technical domain of the Senior Cloud DBA includes database architecture and administration, installation and upgrades, performance tuning and troubleshooting, backup/restore and high availability/disaster recovery (HA/DR), access controls, automation, and support of system/integration testing.

We are looking for a passionate professional preferably with more than 3+ years of experience in cloud implementations. This individual should be self-driven with an ownership mindset and self-motivated to continuously learn and invest in personal development as well as keep abreast of leading-edge cloud and data management technologies in the industry.

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:

• Provide technical leadership in database platform engineering and administration for modernization of legacy databases to cloud database services (AWS/Azure) including migrations, upgrades, and operational readiness
• Self-driven, ownership mindset to navigate ambiguity, identify options to resolve constraints, mitigate implementation risks and define solutions to implementation challenges with minimal supervision
• As part of the data management solution, implement appropriate data access and security patterns in alignment with appropriate regulatory and compliance standards such as HIPAA, PHI, PII, locational data restrictions, contractual, etc.
• Build partnership and rapport with client technical resources by demonstrating solid written and verbal communication, presentation, analytical and interpersonal skills
• Ability to work closely with Business Analysts and SMEs to understand business requirements
• Ability to work in a matrixed team environment with distributed responsibility across different teams
• Create Process Flows using diagraming tools like Visio and OmniGraffle
• Perform database health checks and diagnostics, including capacity planning, storage management, and proactive monitoring of availability, latency, and query performance
• Define database standards and patterns for schema design, indexing, partitioning, and object lifecycle management to support analytics and operational workloads
• Implement and maintain database backup/restore strategies, retention policies, and recovery procedures, including routine validation of restores
• Implement and administer high availability and disaster recovery (HA/DR) capabilities (e.g., replication, clustering, multi-region strategies) and support failover testing
• Automate database provisioning, configuration, patching, and operational tasks using scripting and infrastructure-as-code where appropriate
• Proactive and diligent in identifying and communicating scope, design, development issues and recommending potential solutions
• Conduct database unit and operational testing (e.g., connectivity, security, backup/restore, HA/DR, performance); participate in system and integration testing; identify and remedy solution defects

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 related area
• 5+ years of experience administering and supporting enterprise database platforms, including performance tuning, security, backup/restore, and operational support
• 3+ years of experience with database administration concepts such as installation/configuration, patching/upgrades, access controls, auditing, encryption, and performance optimization across one or more RDBMS platforms (e.g., SQL Server, PostgreSQL, Oracle, MySQL) and/or cloud-managed database services
• 3+ years of implementation experience with enterprise data and cloud initiatives such as cloud-managed database services and/or cloud-native data platforms on Azure, AWS, and/or Google Cloud, including HA/DR, backup/restore, monitoring, and security configurations
• 3+ years of experience working as part of database administration and/or platform teams, including offshore teams, through a product life cycle - requirements, design, build, testing, deployment and production support
• Configuration Management using GitHub and/or other version control tools 
• Solid SQL skills and experience with scripting/automation using one or more languages such as Python, PowerShell, Bash, or similar
• Proficiency in software delivery experience using Agile including CI/CD and DevOps with constituent applications such as Jira, Rally, Aha, GitHub, Selenium, etc.
• Proven excellent understanding of database design and administration concepts including SQL, indexing, statistics, query optimization, schema management, and operational patterns for reliability, scalability, and performance
• Demonstrated ability to meet tight deadlines, follow development standards and effectively raise critical issues with the client
• Demonstrated excellent oral and written communication skills 
• Based on the business needs and permissible travel conditions, 50% - 70% travel could be expected

Preferred Qualifications:

• Cloud database administration certification 
• 3+ years of experience designing and implementing healthcare data and information management solutions and familiarity with healthcare payer/provider data with respect to Membership, Enrollment, Claims (Medical, Pharmacy etc.) and Clinical data 
• Experience administering cloud-managed database services (e.g., Azure SQL/MI, Azure Database for PostgreSQL, Amazon RDS/Aurora) including maintenance windows, scaling, monitoring, and cost/performance optimization
• Experience with database monitoring and observability tooling (native cloud monitoring and/or third-party tools) and building actionable alerting and runbooks
• Experience with infrastructure-as-code and automation for database provisioning and configuration (e.g., Terraform, ARM/Bicep/CloudFormation) and CI/CD patterns for database changes
• Experience implementing database security controls such as encryption (at rest/in transit), key management, auditing, and least-privilege access patterns in regulated environments
• Experience designing and executing database HA/DR strategies (replication, clustering, multi-zone/region) and running resilience and failover testing
• Experience planning and executing database migrations and upgrades (on-prem to cloud and cloud-to-cloud), including cutover planning, validation, and rollback strategies
• Knowledge of HL7 and EDI transactions and related formats including FHIR APIs
• Understanding of cloud and platform architecture patterns that impact database operations such as containerization, microservices, and event-driven systems, including their implications for data persistence, resiliency, and performance

*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 $91,700 to $163,700 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.