Principal Architect

Requisition Number: 2381000
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.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Define and champion the enterprise-wide architecture vision and technology strategy for Contact Centre AI, Agentic AI, and conversational experience platforms
• Lead the design of large-scale, multi-channel AI ecosystems spanning voice, chat, messaging, search, digital channels, and human-assisted experiences
• Establish architectural principles, reference architectures, governance standards, and best practices that enable consistent and scalable AI adoption across the organization
• Drive the evolution of Agentic AI platforms, multi-agent orchestration frameworks, enterprise memory architectures, tool integration patterns, and autonomous workflow capabilities
• Evaluate emerging technologies, industry trends, standards, protocols, and vendor solutions, influencing enterprise technology investment and adoption decisions
• Partner with executive leadership to align AI platform strategy with organizational priorities, business outcomes, operating models, and long-term transformation objectives
• Provide technical leadership for complex enterprise initiatives, resolving cross-domain architectural challenges involving scalability, reliability, security, compliance, and operational excellence
• Define enterprise guardrails and Responsible AI frameworks covering governance, safety, privacy, observability, evaluation, and regulatory compliance
• Drive architecture reviews and technology governance forums, ensuring strategic alignment and architectural consistency across portfolios
• Establish platform engineering, automation, observability, resiliency, and performance strategies to support enterprise-scale AI workloads
• Influence and mentor architects, distinguished engineers, and senior technical leaders while fostering a culture of innovation, engineering excellence, and continual learning
• Represent the organization in industry forums, strategic partnerships, innovation initiatives, and technology communities to advance organizational thought leadership

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 or Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Engineering, or a related field
• 8+ years of experience defining enterprise architecture strategy and leading large-scale digital and AI transformation initiatives
• 6+ years of extensive experience architecting and delivering enterprise-grade conversational AI, Voice AI, and Agentic AI platforms at scale
• 4+ years of deep expertise in Agentic AI frameworks and architectures, including exposure to LangGraph, Google ADK, AutoGen, CrewAI, Semantic Kernel, or equivalent ecosystems
• Proven understanding of emerging agent interoperability and coordination standards, including MCP, A2A, ACP, ANP, and related protocols

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven experience establishing governance frameworks for AI safety, security, privacy, observability, model evaluation, and compliance
• Deep understanding of distributed systems, event-driven architectures, real-time communication technologies, and microservices-based platforms

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 $134,600 - $230,800 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
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.