Principal Software Engineer

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.

We are looking for a highly skilled Principal Software Engineer with strong hands-on expertise in Java Full Stack technologies to design, develop, and scale high-performance, cloud-native healthcare applications. This role requires deep technical expertise, strong ownership of product development, and the ability to solve complex production issues while guiding engineering teams. The role also requires awareness and practical exposure to AI/ML-driven development practices.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and maintain scalable, high-performance full stack applications using Java and modern frameworks  
• Provide hands-on coding and actively contribute to critical components and complex features  
• Analyze and debug production issues, perform root cause analysis, and drive timely resolution  
• Support production systems, ensure application stability, and improve reliability and performance  
• Understand existing applications and propose improvements for scalability, maintainability, and performance
• Drive system design and architecture discussions; ensure adherence to design principles and best practices  
• Guide team members on technical issues, troubleshooting, and implementation approaches  
• Perform code reviews and ensure adherence to coding standards, testing practices, and quality guidelines  
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams including product, QA, DevOps, and architecture  
• Contribute to continuous improvement through adoption of DevOps, CI/CD, and automation practices  
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools (e.g., code generation, test automation) to improve engineering productivity  
• Understand and integrate AI/ML capabilities (APIs/models) into applications where applicable  
• Evaluate opportunities to use AI for automation, monitoring, and intelligent decisioning within the platform  
• 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:

• 12+ years of experience in software engineering with strong hands-on development experience  
• Hands-on experience with cloud platforms (AWS / Azure / GCP) and cloud-native development  
• Full Stack experience with Angular or React  
• Solid experience in troubleshooting production issues and application support  
• Experience with SQL / NoSQL databases and performance optimization  
• Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and modern engineering tools  
• Solid understanding of distributed systems, REST APIs, and system design  
• Proven solid expertise in Java, Spring Boot, and Microservices architecture  
• Proven solid problem-solving and debugging skills    
• Proven solid hands-on technical ownership with ability to lead by example
• Proven guide and support team members on complex technical challenges
• Proven drive improvements in system design, performance, and reliability
• Proven balance development, production support, and continuous improvement initiatives
• Proven encourage adoption of AI-driven engineering practices within the team

Preferred Qualifications:

• Undergraduate degree or equivalent experience
• Experience in Healthcare domain (payer/provider)  
• Experience with large-scale product development and customer-facing applications  
• Basic understanding of AI/ML concepts such as model usage, APIs, prompt-based systems, or GenAI integrations
• Proven exposure to containerization and orchestration tools (Docker, Kubernetes)  

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.