Senior Software Engineer

Requisition Number: 2349298
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.
Optum Insight partners with payers, providers, governments and life sciences companies to simplify and enhance clinical, administrative and financial processes through software-enabled services and analytics, while advancing value-based care. Our differentiated products, technology insights, clinical expertise and analytics support the entire health system - ultimately delivering better experiences for consumers.
Optum Insight Technology and Engineering is a critical function in Optum Insight driving the innovation and value we provide our customers and partners. This team focuses on products, solutions, platform / enabling capability development, product development lifecycle, engineering excellence and connectivity to Optum Technology.
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 for a minimum of four days per week.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Platform & APIs (AI-First Java/Spring on Azure)
  • Design, develop, and deploy scalable AI-infused services using Java/Spring Boot on Azure App Services and API Management, embedding LLM, NLP, and predictive capabilities (RAG, classification, summarization, anomaly detection)
  • Integrate ML/NLP and predictive analytics into existing systems using event-driven architectures, vector search, caching, and idempotent REST APIs documented with OpenAPI/Swagger
  • Ensure performance and reliability at scale including TPS capacity planning, P95/P99 latency targets, rate limiting, resilience patterns (retry, circuit breaker), pagination/versioning, and success/error analytics (HTTP 2xx/5xx)
• Data, Streaming & Storage (AI-Aware)
  • Design and optimize MySQL schemas; leverage Redis for low-latency features, feature flags, and inference caching; use Snowflake for analytics and feature pipelines; Kafka for event sourcing, schema registry, and model feedback loops
  • Partner with data engineering teams to produce AI features through feature stores, batch/stream ingestion, automated data quality checks, and model monitoring/drift detection
• DevOps, MLOps & SRE (AI-Augmented)
  • Build and maintain enterprise-grade AI platforms on Azure using Functions, AKS, and Workflows with Docker, including ingress, autoscaling, health probes, and secret management
  • Implement CI/CD and Infrastructure-as-Code using GitHub Actions, trunk-based development, semantic versioning, Terraform modules/workspaces, and policy-as-code with blue/green and canary deployments
  • Optimize AI model and pipeline performance including batch vs real-time execution, GPU/CPU right-sizing, token/throughput budgeting, cost controls, and vector index tuning
  • Establish observability using Splunk and Azure Monitor/App Insights with SLOs, error budgets, dashboards, on-call runbooks, and post-mortems
  • Monitor deployed AI systems for accuracy, reliability, drift, and business impact using feedback loops, A/B testing, and SLA-aligned alerts
• Security, Compliance & AI Governance
  • Ensure secure, ethical, and compliant AI solutions through data minimization, PII/PHI handling, prompt/response safety, auditability, and model risk reviews
  • Implement cloud security best practices including Azure Key Vault, Managed Identities, network isolation (VNet/Private Endpoints), OAuth2/OIDC, TLS, static code analysis, and container image scanning
• Architecture, Collaboration & Leadership
  • Collaborate with stakeholders to translate business needs into AI-driven technical solutions with measurable outcomes across quality, cost, and delivery speed
  • Lead experimentation and prototyping of emerging AI technologies and convert successful POCs into hardened, observable production services
  • Document architectures, workflows, and best practices; mentor engineers in AI-first design and modern DevSecOps practices
• Tools & Developer Productivity (AI in the Loop)
  • Use AI copilots and assistants such as GitHub Copilot and M365 Copilot responsibly to accelerate development, testing, documentation, and operations
  • Leverage AI and automation tools including AccelQ, StoryCraft, Dialogflow CX, Hubot, JAX, RapidAI Processing Platform, Tesseract OCR, Azure AI/Azure OpenAI, and other compliant cloud AI services
  • Work with a modern tool chain including GitHub, JetBrains IDEs, Docker, Sonar, AKS, Redis, MySQL, Snowflake, Kafka, and Splunk, using templates and golden paths to boost productivity

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:

• 5+ years of experience designing and implementing Java/Spring Boot applications
• 5+ years of experience working with diverse data stores including relational, non-relational, JSON, and columnar databases
• 4+ years of Agile delivery experience using tools such as Rally or JIRA
• 2+ years of DevOps automation experience including Infrastructure-as-Code with Terraform
• 1+ years of hands-on experience with Azure AI services and resources such as AKS, App Services, and MLOps platforms
• 1+ years of solid experience building, updating and maintaining high-throughput RESTful APIs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering or equivalent practical experience
• Experience collaborating with Dev/Ops teams in Agile onshore/offshore delivery models
• Experience with healthcare industry standards such as HL7, FHIR, or SMART
• Proven excellent communication skills with the ability to tell clear data and capability stories and articulate value to customers

*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 $91,700 to $163,700 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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