Lead Software Engineer - Remote

UnitedHealth Group•Minneapolis, MN

23h•Remote

About The Position

This role will lead primary development activities across Optum Technology, ensuring delivery of high-quality, scalable solutions supporting AI-driven voice, IVR, and conversational platforms. The role requires a solid focus on customer needs, product roadmap alignment, and continuous innovation, while embedding quality into every phase of the development lifecycle. The Lead Software Engineer will serve as a technical leader and subject matter expert, driving strategy, execution, and innovation across AI/ML-enabled platforms, with emphasis on AWS-based conversational systems.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field (or equivalent experience)
10+ years of software engineering experience, including lead-level responsibilities
5+ years of experience designing and implementing cloud-native applications (AWS preferred)
3+ years of experience with: Amazon Connect and/or Amazon Lex (V2), AWS Lamba, API Gateway
2+ years of experience delivering AI / ML or conversational platform solutions in production environments
Experience implementing automation, testing frameworks, and quality engineering practices

Nice To Haves

Experience in healthcare technology or regulated environments
Experience with CI/CD pipelines, DevOps practices, and observability tools
Experience supporting enterprise AI transformation initiatives (e.g., AI 10.0)
Exposure to voice platforms, IVR systems, and speech recognition technologies
Familiarity with data-driven evaluation of AI/ML systems
Proven advanced problem solving and analytical thinking
Proven solid communication and stakeholder influence
Proven ability to operate in a matrixed, enterprise environment
Demonstrated innovation mindset with focus on continuous improvement
Passion for emerging technologies and AI-driven solutions

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end execution across design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance of AI-based software systems
Provide technical leadership across engineering teams to ensure delivery of high-quality, scalable, and reliable code
Review the work of others, provide guidance, mentorship, and technical oversight
Serve as a subject matter expert and trusted advisor on complex engineering challenges
Develop innovative approaches and influence future technology capabilities and architecture direction
Lead end-to-end execution of AI/ML and conversational platform programs, from requirements through production and post-launch optimization
Drive delivery of voice, IVR, and chatbot solutions using: Amazon Connect, Amazon Lex (V2)
Partner with AI/ML teams to support: NLP pipelines, LLM integrations (Amazon Bedrock, OpenAI, or similar), Prompt engineering strategies
Translate complex AI/ML concepts into actionable deliverables and clear leadership updates
Architect and coordinate backend services leveraging: AWS Lambda, API Gateway, DynamoDB, Event-driven architectures
Drive design and implementation of scalable, fault-tolerant cloud-based systems
Ensure solutions meet performance, reliability, and scalability standards
Drive program plans across multiple engineering teams, managing: Dependencies, Risks, Milestones, Technical trade-offs
Forecast and plan resource requirements across workstreams
Lead or support functional teams, projects, or enterprise initiatives
Ensure operational readiness for production systems, including monitoring, support, and optimization
Embed quality-first thinking across the software development lifecycle
Define and enforce quality gates across: Functional performance, Reliability, AI/ML model accuracy
Drive testing strategies for conversational AI, including: Intent accuracy, Dialog flow validation, Edge case handling, Regression testing
Partner with QE teams to implement: Automated testing frameworks, Synthetic traffic generation, Replay-based validation (golden datasets)
Use data-driven insights to continuously improve customer experience and system quality
Evaluate and implement new tools, techniques, and engineering strategies
Drive automation of common tasks and development of reusable utilities
Authorize deviations from standards when necessary and recommend improvements
Contribute to standards, methods, tooling, and best practices
Influence enterprise direction for AI, cloud, and engineering innovation
Anticipate customer needs and proactively develop solutions
Serve as a key resource for complex and critical issues
Perform advanced conceptual analysis and problem-solving
Review and improve work delivered by others
Provide clarity and guidance on highly complex topics
Motivate, mentor, and inspire engineering teams
Influence stakeholders and drive alignment across organizations