Senior Software Engineer Lead - React, Python, Cloud, Gen AI

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.

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, build, deploy, and support secure cloud-based applications and services that meet business and customer requirements
• Develop and maintain both front-end and back-end components of modern web applications using React, TypeScript, Python, SQL, and related technologies
• Build scalable APIs, integrations, and data-driven applications using modern engineering practices
• Leverage AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity, code quality, testing, documentation, and delivery velocity
• Support the integration of AI capabilities, including LLMs, Generative AI services, AI agents, and intelligent automation features, into existing and new business applications
• Contribute to the development, integration, testing, deployment, and support of AI-enabled solutions, including Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), intelligent search, conversational experiences, and workflow automation capabilities
• Assist with the implementation and operationalization of agentic AI solutions, including prompt engineering, tool integration, vector search, and orchestration frameworks under the guidance of senior technical leaders
• Collaborate with product owners, business stakeholders, architects, and engineering teams to deliver scalable end-to-end solutions supporting reporting, analytics, dashboarding, and business process automation initiatives
• Participate in all phases of the software development lifecycle, including requirements analysis, solution design, development, testing, deployment, and production support
• Apply Agile and Lean development practices to deliver features and enhancements within established timelines and quality standards
• Participate in code reviews, technical design discussions, and continuous improvement activities to promote engineering excellence and software quality
• Build and support cloud-native solutions utilizing Azure services, including Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Azure Functions, Service Bus, and related platform capabilities
• Support CI/CD automation, Infrastructure as Code initiatives, containerized deployments, and DevOps practices utilizing GitHub, Docker, Kubernetes, and Terraform
• Troubleshoot application, integration, and performance issues, identify root causes, and implement sustainable solutions
• Monitor and support production applications while meeting operational, reliability, and service-level objectives
• Collaborate effectively with cross-functional and global teams to deliver business value and technical solutions
• Continuously learn and apply emerging AI, cloud, and software engineering technologies to improve team effectiveness and accelerate solution delivery
• Comply with all applicable Company policies, procedures, and business directives, changes including those relating to work location, team assignments, work schedules, and flexible work arrangements

Required Qualifications

• Graduate degree or equivalent experience
• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or related field
• 7+ years of experience with Agile/Lean software development practices
• 4+ years of experience with cloud environments and architecture, preferably Azure
• Experience automating CI/CD pipelines and working with source control systems such as Git and GitHub
• Hands-on experience with JavaScript, TypeScript, React, SQL databases, and modern web application development
• Hands-on experience designing, developing, and deploying applications that integrate Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI services, AI agents, or intelligent automation capabilities
• Solid experience developing applications and services using Python and modern API development practices
• Experience building and supporting scalable, secure enterprise-grade applications using modern architecture patterns, microservices, and service-oriented architectures
• Experience working with Docker, Kubernetes, and cloud-native application deployment practices
• Experience building infrastructure using Infrastructure as Code, preferably Terraform
• Experience consuming and integrating AI platform capabilities such as Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Search, Azure Functions, and related Azure services
• Experience participating in code reviews, technical design discussions, and engineering best practices
• Familiarity with AI application patterns such as Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), prompt engineering, vector databases, semantic search, conversational AI, or knowledge-grounded AI solutions
• Familiarity with agent orchestration frameworks such as Semantic Kernel, LangChain, AutoGen, or similar technologies
• Familiarity with Modular Agent Design: Leverage standards like Model Context Protocol (MCP) to define reusable, secure, and composable tool interfaces
• Demonstrated use of AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity, software quality, testing, documentation, and development velocity
• Demonstrated ability to contribute to the development, deployment, and support of agentic AI solutions under the guidance of senior technical leaders
• Demonstrated solid verbal and written communication skills with the ability to collaborate effectively across cross-functional and global teams

Preferred Qualifications

Azure Developer, Azure AI Engineer, or related certifications

Experience building AI-powered copilots, dashboarding solutions, analytics platforms, reporting systems, intelligent search solutions, or workflow automation tools

Experience integrating AI capabilities into existing enterprise applications and business processes

Experience with Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Semantic Kernel, LangChain, LlamaIndex, or similar AI frameworks

Experience implementing Responsible AI, AI governance, and security practices

Experience in healthcare, analytics, reporting, or other highly regulated industries

Familiarity with multi-agent architectures, function calling, and tool orchestration patterns

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.