Data Engineering Lead - Postgres SQL, Snowflake, Performance Tuning

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.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable data pipelines using SQL, Python, and Snowflake
• Develop high-performance data transformations and ETL/ELT processes, ensuring data accuracy and integrity
• Write complex SQL queries for large-scale data processing, aggregation, and reporting needs
• Optimize data workflows through query tuning, indexing strategies, and performance engineering
• Manage and enhance Snowflake data warehouse solutions, including schema design and data organization
• Work with Postgres and MySQL databases for data integration, migration, and operational support
• Collaborate with product and business teams to translate requirements into clean, reliable data models
• Ensure data quality through validation frameworks, reconciliation, and monitoring
• Build reusable components and automation to reduce operational overhead and improve efficiency
• Contribute to data platform design decisions, focusing on scalability, reliability, and maintainability
• Troubleshoot production data issues and ensure timely resolution with minimal impact
• Mentor junior engineers and promote best practices in SQL development, coding standards, and data engineering
• Communicate clearly with technical and non-technical stakeholders regarding data design and delivery
• Work in an agile environment across multiple teams and priorities
• 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 or equivalent experience
• 4+ years of experience in data engineering or software engineering with a strong data focus
• Hands-on experience with Snowflake (data modeling, performance tuning, warehouse management)
• Solid development experience in Python for data processing and pipeline orchestration
• Experience working with Postgres and/or MySQL databases
• Experience with large-scale data processing and performance optimization
• Experience working in Azure cloud environments
• Experience working in Agile/Scrum environments
• Experience building data platforms in Snowflake + Azure ecosystem
• Experience with data pipeline orchestration tools (e.g., Airflow, Azure Data Factory)
• Exposure to healthcare or medical management data domains
• Familiarity with data governance, data security, and access controls
• Advanced expertise in SQL (data transformation, query optimization, performance tuning)
• Solid understanding of data warehousing concepts, dimensional modeling, and data lifecycle management
• Knowledge of data validation, data quality frameworks, and reconciliation techniques
• Proven solid analytical, problem-solving, and debugging skills

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.