Associate Software Engineer

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

You'll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, and operate secure cloud platform services and software that meet business requirements
• Ensure that technical solutions align with architectural principles, design patterns, and enterprise security requirements
• Demonstrate innovation, streamline processes, and reduce technical debt by standardizing patterns
• Automate repetitive tasks, monitor applications, simplify work practices, define metrics, and ensure the operational quality of applications
• Design, develop, and deploy Artificial Intelligence (AI) solutions in Python, including services that integrate Large Language Models (LLMs) and machine learning (ML) models into production applications
• Build and maintain agentic workflows using LangGraph (and related libraries) to orchestrate multi-step LLM interactions, tool use, state management, and human-in-the-loop review patterns
• Implement LLM integration patterns (e.g., tool/function calling, structured outputs, and retrieval) and prompt engineering practices to improve reliability, safety, and task performance
• Develop retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) capabilities, including document ingestion pipelines, embeddings/vector search, and grounding responses in approved enterprise data sources
• Establish evaluation and monitoring for AI features (offline and online), including automated tests, quality metrics, latency/cost tracking, and regression detection for prompts, models, and workflows
• Support model lifecycle and MLOps practices, including model selection, versioning, deployment automation, CI/CD integration, and secure management of secrets, keys, and model endpoints
• Apply responsible AI and data governance practices, including privacy-by-design, security controls, explainability where applicable, and mitigation of bias, hallucinations, and prompt-injection risks
• Manage security controls at the platform level to enable secure, efficient, and policy compliant operations
• Collaborate with multiple partner teams to communicate information security guidance and standards and reduce information security risks
• 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

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree or 4+ years of experience as a Software Engineer
• 2 + years of experience with:
  • Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML) development (model integration, evaluation, and deployment)
  • Large Language Model (LLM) integration (e.g., tool/function calling, structured outputs, prompt engineering, and retrieval-augmented generation)
  • LangGraph (or similar frameworks) for orchestrating multi-step LLM workflows and agentic patterns
  • Embeddings and vector search / vector databases to support AI features (e.g., RAG)
  • Python

*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 $60,200 to $107,400 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.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.

#RPO, #GREEN