Software Engineer - Backend Developer

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.

Design, development, testing, deployment, monitoring, and maintenance of software solutions that support business and customer outcomes. This role applies coding skills to defined capabilities with limited guidance, builds an understanding of system architecture and upstream/downstream dependencies, and supports quality, reliability, security, and maintainability in every deliverable.

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, develop, debug, test, deploy, and maintain assigned software capabilities, features, APIs, services, scripts, or application components
• Write clean, secure, reusable, and maintainable code that aligns with team standards, engineering practices, and quality expectations
• Apply an automation-first mindset by improving repeatable development, testing, deployment, monitoring, and support tasks
• Participate in Agile delivery activities including backlog refinement, estimation, sprint planning, demos, reviews, and retrospectives
• Collaborate with product owners, business partners, quality engineers, architects, and peer engineers to translate requirements into working solutions
• Develop an understanding of application architecture, cost/complexity tradeoffs, and dependencies across upstream and downstream systems
• Instrument delivered features using standard logging, monitoring, alerting, and diagnostic practices so issues can be detected and resolved early
• Support production readiness by contributing to CI/CD pipelines, automated tests, deployment validation, incident analysis, and post-release improvements
• Troubleshoot defects, performance bottlenecks, data issues, and operational problems; recommend corrective actions with guidance from senior engineers
• Continuously learn modern engineering practices, cloud, DevOps, security, AI-enabled development methods, and emerging tools relevant to the team's technology stack
• 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 degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Information Technology, Engineering, or equivalent practical experience
• Typically 2+ years of relevant professional software engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated capability
• Hands-on experience with at least one modern programming language such as Java, Python, C#, JavaScript/TypeScript, or similar
• Experience developing or supporting web applications, APIs, backend services, batch jobs, cloud-native services, or enterprise application components
• Working knowledge of software development fundamentals including data structures, algorithms, object-oriented design, debugging, unit testing, and version control
• Awareness of CI/CD practices, automated testing, code quality tools, observability, secure coding, and production support expectations
• Ability to analyze problems, learn unfamiliar systems, communicate clearly, and deliver assigned work with quality and accountability

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Experience with monitoring or diagnostics tools such as Splunk, Grafana, Prometheus, Dynatrace, or similar
• Exposure to microservices, REST APIs, event-driven architecture, containers, Kubernetes/OpenShift, or platform engineering concepts
• Working knowledge of relational or NoSQL databases and basic data modeling principles
• Exposure to healthcare, claims, compliance, security, or regulated enterprise environments
• Proven interest in using AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve design, coding, testing, documentation, and delivery productivity

Core Competencies

• Engineering Execution: Delivers assigned features with quality, maintainability, and attention to technical standards
• Problem Solving: Uses data, logs, debugging techniques, and structured analysis to resolve issues and improve solutions
• Quality Mindset: Builds quality into code through reviews, testing, automation, and attention to reliability and security
• Collaboration: Works effectively with cross-functional partners and communicates progress, risks, and dependencies clearly
• Learning Agility: Stays current with modern engineering practices, tools, and emerging technologies relevant to the role
• Customer Focus: Understands customer and business outcomes and contributes to solutions that improve user experience and operational effectiveness

Work Model and Expectations

This role operates in a collaborative Agile environment and may require participation in production support, release validations, incident response, and cross-time-zone coordination based on business needs The engineer is expected to follow enterprise standards for security, compliance, documentation, code quality, and operational readinesse required to pass a drug test before beginning employment

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.