Lead Software Engineer

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.

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:

• Provides technical leadership through architecture design, solution development, and contribution to reusable enterprise-wide components and frameworks
• Designs scalable, secure, and maintainable solutions aligned with business objectives, enterprise standards, and organizational strategy
• Solves complex business and technical challenges while driving engineering excellence, coding standards, and best practices
• Influences technology roadmaps, architectural decisions, and priorities across multiple teams and products
• Mentors engineers through code reviews, design reviews, technical coaching, knowledge sharing, and problem-solving guidance
• Owns and drives code quality by leading pull request reviews, enforcing engineering standards, and promoting reusable design patterns
• Establishes and enhances CI/CD pipelines, automation, testing, observability, and operational processes to improve efficiency and reliability
• Leads operational excellence initiatives, including resiliency improvements, incident retrospectives, backlog management, and monitoring strategies
• Champions security best practices, vulnerability remediation, compliance automation, and secure software development across teams
• Drives Agile delivery by defining epics, stories, acceptance criteria, and productivity improvements to accelerate value delivery
• Partners with stakeholders to ensure technical solutions address customer needs, improve user outcomes, and enable innovation
• Supports talent growth through recruiting, interviewing, candidate evaluations, and development of assessment standards and job profiles
• Maintains hands-on technical engagement through regular coding contributions (2-3 times per week) while guiding strategic engineering direction
• Identifies opportunities to reduce total cost of ownership, improve reuse, and increase platform scalability, performance, and sustainability

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 or 8+ years of equivalent experience
• 8+ years of full Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC) experience
• Experience leveraging AI-assisted development tools (e.g., GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Codex, AI-powered code review and testing tools) to improve productivity, code quality, troubleshooting, documentation, and delivery efficiency
• Solid understanding of AI-enabled engineering practices, including prompt engineering, automated code generation, test case generation, code analysis, and responsible use of AI in software development
• Ability to work in the U.S. without sponsorship
• Technical Skills
  • 1+ years of Facets development experience in one or more areas including Billing, Invoicing, Eligibility & Enrollment, Claims Processing, Claims Pricing, Finance, Utilization Management, or Provider modules
  • 1+ years of Tivoli (TWS) job scheduling experience
  • Full Stack Engineer with experience supporting Java Spring Boot-based APIs, microservices development, and deployment on cloud platforms such as Kubernetes and OpenShift
  • Solid Oracle SQL expertise and flexibility to work across multiple technology stacks based on project needs, including ETL development and front-end application development
  • Hands-on experience with CI/CD pipelines, Docker containers, Jenkins, and automated build/deployment processes
  • Experience with decision/rules engines such as Drools
  • Experience with emerging technologies including Kafka Streaming and cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, Kubernetes, Docker, and OpenShift
  • Experience in system integrations using RESTful APIs (JSON) and batch interfaces
  • Experience utilizing AI-assisted testing and quality engineering tools to accelerate test creation, defect analysis, and automation coverage
  • Familiarity with JUnit and NUnit testing frameworks
  • Proficiency with test automation and behavior-driven development tools such as:
    • Cucumber
    • Gherkin
• Professional Skills
  • Experience working in a virtual/distributed team environment
  • Experience working in Agile environments
  • Knowledge of CI/CD practices, DevSecOps, and modern software engineering standards
  • Demonstrated solid analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to work effectively in collaborative teams
  • Demonstrated slid communication and interpersonal skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Agile/Lean methodologies
• Experience applying AI and automation solutions to improve software delivery, operational efficiency, and developer productivity
• Experience working in a virtual team environment
• Experience evaluating, adopting, and scaling AI-driven engineering capabilities across the software development lifecycle 
• Exposure to and understanding of Facets configuration
• Healthcare industry experience with exposure to EDI and HIPAA transactions
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office tools (Word, Excel, Outlook, Visio)
• Demonstrated solid analytical and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated solid communication and interpersonal skills
• AI Competencies
  • Experience using Generative AI tools for code generation, documentation, unit testing, and troubleshooting
  • Demonstrated ability to validate, secure, and govern AI-generated outputs in accordance with enterprise standards and responsible AI practices
  • Demonstrated ability to identify opportunities for AI-driven automation and productivity improvements within engineering workflows

*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 - $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.