Job Description

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.
We are seeking a highly skilled and proactive Data Engineer with 7+ years of experience in designing and building scalable data solutions across cloud platforms. This role demands deep expertise in Databricks, data pipeline architecture, and hands-on leadership in engineering teams. The ideal candidate will be instrumental in driving the development of robust data pipelines, mentoring junior engineers, and coordinating cross-functional efforts to deliver high-quality data products in the healthcare domain.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and optimization of data pipelines using Databricks (PySpark, SQL) across Azure and GCP environments
• Architect and manage Snowflake and BigQuery data warehouse solutions for performance, scalability, and cost-efficiency
• Collaborate closely with stakeholders to understand data requirements and translate them into technical solutions
• Perform advanced data analysis on healthcare datasets (claims, EMR, HL7, FHIR) to support strategic decision-making
• Drive hands-on coordination of engineering tasks, ensuring timely delivery and quality standards
• Mentor and guide junior data engineers, fostering best practices in coding, testing, and documentation
• Implement and maintain data governance, lineage, and security using tools like Unity Catalog, Terraform, and GitLab CI/CD
• Ensure compliance with healthcare data regulations (HIPAA, HITRUST) and internal security policies
• Contribute to the evolution of data engineering standards, reusable frameworks, and automation strategies
• 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 regard 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:

• Skills & Experience:

• 7+ years of experience in data engineering, with a solid focus on cloud-native data pipelines
• Expert-level proficiency in Databricks, PySpark, SQL, and data orchestration
• Proven experience with Snowflake, BigQuery, and healthcare data formats (FHIR, HL7, claims, EMR)
• Hands-on experience with CI/CD, DevOps for data, and infrastructure-as-code
• Solid understanding of Azure and GCP cloud services including Data Factory, Synapse, Cloud Composer, and Google Cloud Storage
• Proven excellent communication and leadership skills, with a track record of mentoring and team coordination

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field
• Certifications in Databricks, Snowflake, or GCP
• Experience with orchestration tools like Airflow, dbt, or Cloud Composer
• Experience working with healthcare payers, providers, or analytics teams

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.

Skills Required