Principal Data Engineer - Remote

UnitedHealth Group•Brentwood, TN

1d•$112,700 - $193,200•Remote

About The Position

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care’s most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives. Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. We are seeking an experienced Principal Data Engineer to lead the design, development, and modernization of enterprise-scale data platforms. This role requires deep expertise in Azure-based data ecosystems, cloud-native architecture, data engineering best practices, and emerging AI technologies. The ideal candidate will be a hands-on technical leader capable of driving complex data initiatives while mentoring teams and influencing architectural decisions across the organization. You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.

Requirements

10+ years of experience in data engineering and data architecture, with a proven track record of delivering enterprise-scale data solutions
10+ years of experience in data modeling, performance tuning, data governance, and data security
7+ years of experience designing large-scale enterprise data lakes, data warehouses, and analytics solutions
7+ years of experience implementing CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices for data platforms
5+ years of hands-on experience with modern cloud data platforms and engineering tools, including: Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure SQL, Snowflake Data Platform, Terraform and Infrastructure as Code, Python, SQL, and data engineering frameworks

Nice To Haves

Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Systems, or a related field
Experience developing and deploying AI-powered agents to improve engineering productivity
Experience with Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG), vector databases, and AI orchestration frameworks
Experience leading geographically distributed teams
Knowledge of Databricks, Spark, Azure OpenAI, and machine learning workflows

Responsibilities

Architect and implement scalable, secure, and high-performance data solutions on Microsoft Azure
Design and develop enterprise data pipelines using Azure Data Factory (ADF), Azure SQL, Azure Data Lake Storage (ADLS), Azure Functions, and related Azure services
Lead the design and optimization of data warehouse and analytics solutions using Snowflake
Establish data engineering standards, governance, and best practices for enterprise-wide adoption
Develop Infrastructure as Code (IaC) solutions using Terraform to automate cloud deployments and environment management
Drive modernization initiatives, including migration of legacy platforms to cloud-native architectures
Design, build, and integrate AI agents and intelligent automation solutions to accelerate data development, testing, documentation, and operational support
Collaborate with business stakeholders, architects, product owners, and engineering teams to translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions
Provide technical leadership, code reviews, mentorship, and guidance to distributed engineering teams
Ensure platform reliability, security, compliance, and cost optimization