Lead Full Stack Engineer - Data Structures and Algorithms

Requisition Number: 2386847
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.
About the Role
We are looking for a talented Senior Software Development to design, build, and scale web applications, APIs, and distributed systems across hybrid on-premises and Azure cloud environments. You will work closely with Product, Architecture, QA, and DevOps teams to deliver high-quality software and drive modernization initiatives.
We're seeking engineers with solid computer science fundamentals, system design expertise, and a product mindset. The ideal candidate is AI-literate, passionate about solving complex problems, and thrives in a fast-paced engineering environment.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain scalable web applications and backend services
• Translate business and product requirements into robust technical solutions and system designs
• Build and support distributed systems, REST APIs, microservices, and event-driven architectures
• Develop and maintain real-time data processing solutions using Kafka or similar messaging platforms
• Own features end-to-end across the software development lifecycle
• Modernize and enhance existing enterprise applications across on-premises and Azure environments
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver reliable and high-quality software
• Drive engineering excellence through code reviews, automated testing, monitoring, and observability
• Troubleshoot production issues, perform root cause analysis, and implement long-term fixes
• Identify opportunities to leverage AI technologies and automation to improve products and engineering productivity
• Participate in on-call support for business-critical applications
• Collaborate with vendor for vendor managed solutions
• 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:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
• 5+ years of software engineering experience in a product-based company or technology-driven organization
• Solid fundamentals in Data Structures, Algorithms, Object-Oriented Design, and Software Engineering principles
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages such as Java
• Experience building scalable web applications, distributed systems, and microservices
• Experience designing high-volume REST APIs and integrating enterprise applications
• Solid understanding of system design concepts including scalability, caching, messaging, Kafka, resiliency, fault tolerance, and performance optimization
• Hands-on experience with Kafka, Event Hubs, RabbitMQ, or similar messaging/streaming technologies
• Experience with relational and NoSQL databases
• Experience working with on-premises, cloud, or hybrid architectures
• Experience with Azure and application modernization/migration initiatives
• Experience with CI/CD tools such as GitHub Actions, Jenkins, or Azure DevOps
• Experience with Docker and Kubernetes
• Proven solid debugging, problem-solving, and communication skills

AI Requirements

• Experience building or integrating AI-powered solutions, AI agents, LLM applications, RAG systems, or workflow automation is highly desirable
• Comfortable using AI-assisted development tools such as GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, or similar tools
• Ability to effectively leverage AI to improve engineering productivity and product capabilities

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.