Our Company 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, and data 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. Position Summary As a Lead Software Engineer on our team, you will lead forward-deployed engineering pods in architecting, building, and deploying scalable production systems integrated with advanced AI capabilities (such as RAG pipelines, agents, and summarization workflows). You will partner directly with business and operational stakeholders to translate complex workflow challenges into robust technical designs while setting technical direction, conducting code reviews, and mentoring engineers. If you are passionate about driving process transformation through modern cloud-native software and AI integration, this role offers an exciting opportunity to build systems that make a lasting impact. You’ll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.
Primary Responsibilities:
- Lead and mentor forward-deployed engineering pods, setting technical direction and maintaining hands-on involvement in architecture, code review, and system design
- Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions and production systems that integrate LLM components (RAG pipelines, agents, summarization, and model-serving) to address complex enterprise challenges
- Own the complete software development lifecycle - including design, implementation, testing, CI/CD, deployment, and monitoring - for AI-enabled applications
- Partner with business and operational stakeholders to translate ambiguous workflow problems into well-architected technical designs and delivery plans
- Drive process transformation by building software that redesigns enterprise workflows around AI-augmented capabilities
- Evaluate emerging technology trends and make sound build-vs-buy decisions for AI tooling within enterprise architecture
- Ensure production systems satisfy enterprise standards for reliability, security, scalability, performance, and cost efficiency
- Serve as a technical escalation point across engineering pods, unblocking engineers on architecture, deployment, and delivery challenges
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:
- 7+ years of professional software engineering experience shipping production-grade systems at scale
- 5+ years of Python or another modern programming language, with solid fundamentals in automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and code reviews
- 3+ years of experience leading engineering teams or technical projects in a lead or principal capacity
- 2+ years of demonstrated experience integrating ML or LLM services into production applications (such as LLM APIs, vector databases, or orchestration frameworks)
- 2+ years of hands-on experience with cloud platforms and modern deployment practices
Preferred Qualifications:
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field
- Hands-on experience with Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure and services
- Experience in forward-deployed engineering, startup, or technical consulting environments
- Familiarity with responsible AI framework implementation and enterprise governance standards
- Proven track record of evaluating and selecting build-versus-buy AI tooling components within complex system architectures
- Proven experience partnering directly with business stakeholders to scope and deliver solutions in fast-paced or ambiguous environments
- Demonstrated ability to communicate technical progress, risks, and architectural tradeoffs to executive and senior leadership
*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 $112,700 to $193,200 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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