Data Engineering Lead

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.

As a Data Engineering Consultant on our Operations Technology team, you will design, build, and manage scalable data infrastructure, automated pipelines, and AI-enabled data solutions that drive operational excellence across our enterprise. You will partner with business operations leaders, development teams, and other stake holders to transform operational data workflows using enterprise-approved AI platforms and modern cloud architectures. In this role, you will build intelligent data pipelines, streamline business process automations, and evaluate emerging technologies to ensure high availability, data integrity, and responsible deployment of AI solutions across daily business operations.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Build and maintain scalable ETL/ELT pipelines, operational data lakes, and feature stores supporting operational analytics and machine learning applications
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools and developer frameworks to streamline operations workflows, automate manual data tasks, and drive continuous process improvement
• Evaluate emerging trends and data technologies to inform solution architecture, pipeline optimization, and strategic operational innovation
• Implement automated data validation routines, operational quality checks, and performance monitoring to guarantee high system availability and data latency SLAs
• Perform root-cause analysis on data pipeline failures, model integration issues, and system bottlenecks to ensure operational resiliency and governance compliance
• Comply with all applicable Company policies, procedures, and business directives, changes including those relating to work location, team assignments, work schedules, and flexible work arrangements

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of professional experience in data engineering, operational analytics, and data platform development
• 2+ years of experience designing, deploying, and maintaining automated data pipelines in production
• 5+ years of experience writing complex SQL queries and managing relational, dimensional, or cloud data stores (Snowflake, Azure)
• 3+ years of hands-on programming experience using Python or Spark for data processing and workflow automation
• 1+ years of experience leveraging enterprise AI frameworks, libraries, or developer tools (e.g., GitHub copilot, Gen AI, etc) with an emphasis on responsible AI practices

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, Information Systems, or a related field
• Experience in healthcare operations, workflow automation, or operational metrics reporting
• Experience with big data processing tools (e.g., Apache Spark, Databricks)
• Proven track record of evaluating emerging AI and technology trends to drive operational efficiencies and business innovation

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.