Sr Manager, Software Engineering - AI / Conversational Platforms - Hybrid (Minneapolis, Charlotte, Austin )

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives. Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Software engineering at Optum Technology applies disciplined engineering principles to architect, build, and operate scalable, high-impact software systems.

The Senior Manager, Software Engineering will lead multiple engineering teams responsible for delivering enterprise-grade AI-driven voice, IVR, and conversational platform capabilities. This role combines technical leadership, organizational leadership, and execution ownership, ensuring alignment with product strategy, customer outcomes, and enterprise architecture.

This leader will drive end-to-end delivery, organizational maturity, and innovation across AWS-based conversational platforms, while embedding a solid quality engineering (QE) mindset, operational excellence, and AI/ML rigor into all aspects of delivery. 

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:

Engineering Leadership & Organizational Management

• Lead and scale multiple engineering teams, driving delivery across complex, cross-functional initiatives
• Establish engineering strategy aligned with Optum Technology and AI 10.0 objectives
• Provide organizational leadership, including hiring, talent development, performance management, and succession planning
• Set clear engineering standards, drive accountability, and foster a culture of ownership and continuous improvement
• Serve as a senior technical leader and escalation point for complex system and architectural challenges
• Influence enterprise engineering practices, platform strategy, and long-term architectural direction
  

AI / Conversational Platform Leadership

• Own delivery of enterprise conversational AI platforms supporting voice, IVR, and chatbot experiences
• Drive adoption and scaling of technologies including:
  • Amazon Connect
  • Amazon Lex (V2)
• Partner with AI/ML teams to operationalize:
  • NLP pipelines
  • LLM integrations (Amazon Bedrock, OpenAI, or similar)
  • Prompt engineering and evaluation strategies
• Ensure production-grade AI systems with measurable outcomes across:
  • Accuracy
  • Reliability
  • Customer experience

Cloud Architecture & Platform Engineering

• Oversee architecture and delivery of cloud-native systems leveraging:
• AWS Lambda
• API Gateway
• DynamoDB
• Event-driven architectures
• Ensure systems are scalable, resilient, secure, and cost-efficient
• Drive platform standardization, reuse, and alignment with enterprise cloud strategy
• Partner with enterprise architecture teams to govern design decisions and technical trade-offs

Program Delivery & Cross-Functional Execution

• Own delivery across multiple concurrent programs and workstreams
• Drive planning and execution across:
  • Dependencies
  • Risks and mitigation strategies
  • Milestones and roadmap alignment
• Collaborate with product, architecture, QE, and operations teams to ensure end-to-end delivery
• Establish and track success metrics tied to product adoption, performance, and business outcomes
• Ensure production readiness, operational support models, and continuous optimization

Quality Engineering & AI System Validation

• Embed a quality-first engineering culture across all teams
• Define and enforce enterprise quality standards across:
  • Functional performance
  • Reliability and scalability
  • AI/ML model effectiveness
• Champion advanced testing strategies for conversational AI:
  • Intent accuracy and NLU validation
  • Dialog and conversation flow testing
  • Edge case and failure scenario handling
  • Regression and continuous validation pipelines
• Partner with QE to implement:
  • Automated test frameworks
  • Synthetic traffic and simulation
  • Golden dataset and replay-based validation models
• Use telemetry and data insights to continuously enhance system performance and user experience

Innovation, Standards & Operational Excellence

• Drive innovation across AI, cloud, and conversational technologies
• Evaluate and introduce new tools, frameworks, and engineering methodologies
• Promote reuse through shared services, frameworks, and automation
• Contribute to enterprise standards, best practices, and engineering governance
• Lead initiatives to improve developer productivity, system reliability, and operational efficiency
  

Core Leadership Expectations

• Operate as an enterprise leader influencing strategy, execution, and outcomes
• Anticipate customer needs and proactively drive innovative solutions
• Lead through ambiguity and complexity with solid decision-making
• Build and develop high-performing, diverse engineering teams
• Drive alignment across multiple stakeholders and organizations
• Communicate effectively with senior leadership and executive stakeholders
• Deliver measurable impact across technology, product, and business dimensions 

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, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 12+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in engineering management or leadership roles
• 5+ years of experience leading multiple teams delivering large-scale, distributed systems
• 5+ years of experience designing and delivering cloud-native applications (AWS preferred)
• 3+ years of experience delivering AI/ML or conversational platforms in production environments
• 2+ years of experience with AWS technologies including Amazon Connect, Lex (V2), Lambda, and API Gateway
• Experience building and scaling engineering teams and delivery organizations
• Experience with quality engineering, testing strategies, and production operations
• Reside in Chicago, Minneapolis, Charlotte, Santa Ana, Austin (role is hybrid / onsite)

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Experience in healthcare technology or regulated environments
• Deep understanding of voice platforms, IVR systems, and speech technologies
• Experience with LLMs, GenAI systems, and evaluation frameworks
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps, and observability platforms
• Experience leading enterprise-scale AI transformation initiatives (e.g., AI 10.0)
• Solid strategic thinking and organizational leadership skills
• Demonstrated ability to influence at executive levels
• Experience operating in large, matrixed enterprise environments
• Passion for innovation and continuous improvement in AI-driven systems

*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 $112,700 to $193,200 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.