Quality 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 diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

You will enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Own end-to-end test strategy across UI, API, services, data, and AI-enabled features
• Define quality gates (entry/exit criteria) and drive risk-based test planning for complex, multi-service releases
• Lead shift-left practices by partnering early with product/engineering to embed testability into architecture and design
• Design, build, and maintain automated test suites (unit, integration, API, UI, contract, regression) integrated into CI/CD pipelines
• Create and manage test data, environments, mocks/stubs, and service virtualization to enable reliable testing
• Execute exploratory testing on high-risk areas and validate non-functional requirements (performance, security, reliability, accessibility)
• Monitor and improve quality metrics (defect leakage, coverage, flakiness, escape rates) and drive continuous improvement actions
• Triage defects, perform root-cause analysis with engineering, and verify fixes through regression and targeted automation
• Ensure release readiness by coordinating test execution, validating cross-service integrations, and reporting quality status to stakeholders
• Champion best practices for coding standards, testability, observability, and "quality ownership" across the team

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear directions 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 equivalent practical experience
• 3+ years (or appropriate level) of experience in Quality Engineering, SDET, or software testing for web applications and APIs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of SDLC/STLC, defect lifecycle, and test strategy (risk-based testing, shift-left, quality gates)
• Hands-on experience testing UI and APIs (REST/JSON), including integration and end-to-end testing across services
• Experience with test automation using at least one modern language/toolset (e.g., Java, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, C#) and frameworks (e.g., 
• Playwright/Cypress/Selenium, REST Assured/Postman)
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines (e.g., GitHub Actions, Jenkins, Azure DevOps) and integrating automated tests into pipelines
• Ability to analyze logs, troubleshoot issues, and partner with engineers on root-cause analysis
• Strong communication skills and ability to document test plans, quality status, and release readiness
• Experience testing microservices and distributed systems (contract testing, service virtualization, event-driven flows
• Exposure to data validation (SQL, ETL testing, data quality checks) and test data management
• Knowledge of performance testing (e.g., JMeter, k6) and basic security testing concepts (OWASP)
• Cloud and container experience (AWS/Azure/GCP, Docker, Kubernetes)
• Experience with observability tools (Splunk, Datadog, New Relic, Grafana) to support monitoring and testability
• Experience validating AI-enabled features (model behavior checks, prompt/response evaluation, bias/quality metrics, regression testing for LLM changes)
• Domain experience in payments, financial services, or regulated environments

*All Telecommuters 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 $72,800 to $130,000 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records. 

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.

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