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 an experienced and visionary Director of Software Engineering to lead and scale our engineering organization. In this role, you will drive the development and delivery of high-impact software solutions, align engineering strategy with business objectives, and cultivate a high-performance team culture. You'll work closely with product, design, and executive leadership to shape the technology roadmap and ensure operational excellence.
Primary Responsibilities- Leadership & Strategy
- Lead multiple engineering teams across product lines or services
- Develop and execute engineering strategies aligned with company goals
- Define and track KPIs for engineering performance, quality, and velocity
- People Management
- Recruit, mentor, and grow engineering leaders and individual contributors
- Foster an inclusive, supportive, and high-accountability team culture
- Drive performance reviews, career growth planning, and succession management
- Technology Oversight
- Guide architectural decisions and ensure scalable, secure, and maintainable systems
- Establish best practices for software development, testing, and deployment
- Stay current with emerging technologies and assess relevance to business needs
- Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Partner with Product Management and Design to define priorities and deliver value
- Collaborate with other business units to understand needs and align on solutions
- Manage stakeholder communication and set clear expectations on timelines and deliverables
- Operational Excellence
- Drive continuous improvement in processes, tooling, and engineering culture
- Ensure high system reliability, performance, and compliance with relevant standards
- Oversee budgeting, resourcing, and vendor management for the engineering org
- 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
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field
- 10+ years of experience in software engineering, with 5+ years of experience in engineering leadership roles
- Experience leading managers and large, distributed teams
- Deep understanding of modern software architecture, cloud infrastructure, and agile methodologies
- Solid track record of delivering complex software products on a scale
- Proven excellent communication, leadership, and strategic thinking skills
Preferred Qualifications
- Experience in a high-growth, product-led company
- Background in (industry-specific tech, eg, fintech, healthtech, B2B SaaS)
- Familiarity with technologies such as (list tech stack, eg, React, Node.js, Kubernetes, AWS)
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.
