For those who want to invent the future of health care, here's your opportunity. We're going beyond basic care to health programs integrated across the entire continuum of care. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
The Sr. Manager, Software Engineering is both a technology and people leader, accountable for engineering operational excellence, system ownership, and delivery outcomes across 3-8 feature teams. Software Engineering applies disciplined engineering practices to the design, development, testing, deployment, and operation of software systems. Our leaders in this space are responsible for building quality into every outcome, ensuring teams take full ownership of the systems they build and the customer outcomes those systems enable.
This role exists to
- Drive accountability for the platforms, services, and customer experiences owned by the teams
- Ensure engineering excellence, predictability, and quality in delivery
- Foster solid ownership from every engineer for the code they write and the systems they operate
You will lead teams operating in a hybrid delivery model-planning work against fixed requirements and deadlines while executing through Agile principles. You will balance execution with mentorship, helping teams and leaders navigate digital and organizational transformation.
This role requires a leader who can set clear expectations, hold teams accountable, and remove obstacles-while empowering engineers to own outcomes end-to-end.
Key Leadership Expectations
- Company-level thought leader in engineering practices and delivery excellence
- Recognized functional subject matter expert
- Applies a broad business lens to technical decision-making
- Trusted advisor and resource to senior leadership
- Develops and applies forward-looking approaches aligned to emerging industry and technology trends
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.
Primary Responsibilities
- Partner with product, business, and technology leaders to understand business strategy, vision, and priorities
- Lead multiple engineering teams, driving accountability for delivery, quality, and system ownership
- Ensure teams are working on the highest-priority initiatives aligned to business outcomes
- Serve as the technical owner and decision maker for platforms, portals, and systems within your scope
- Partner with Product Owners, Architects, and teams to address vulnerabilities, incidents, and remediation efforts
- Implement and mature Agile and DevOps practices, including automation and continuous improvement
- Actively participate in product-area events (Daily Scrum, Refinement, Sprint Reviews, Retrospectives)
- Use data and metrics to improve predictability, quality, and operational performance
- Identify skill gaps within teams and align upskilling efforts to organizational priorities
- Conduct regular 1:1s and quarterly check-ins, reinforcing accountability, growth, and performance expectations
- Provide a high-quality onboarding experience covering team norms, systems, tools, and delivery practices
- Ensure adherence to and continuous improvement of SDLC standards and policies
- Partner with Scrum Masters and the Delivery Manager to drive team performance, ensuring continuous progress toward high-performing teams. This includes supporting both full-time and contracted resources and collaborating with Resource Partner (Vendor) Management on performance management as needed
- Stay current with modern technologies and enterprise systems; actively share knowledge with peers
- Mentor leaders and engineers in building solid business partnerships and leading through change
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 in computer science, Engineering, or related field or 6+ years of equivalent experience
- 4+ years leading multi-team engineering organizations
- 2+ years of experience working with cloud networking principles
- Hands-on experience with containerization and orchestration (Docker, Kubernetes)
- Hands-on experience building modern web applications and RESTful services
- Experience applying Domain-Driven Design (DDD) and Event-Driven Architecture (EDA)
- Experience with microservices architectures
- Experience working in Agile environments
- Experience defining and owning multi-year technology roadmaps
- Knowledge of networking and internet protocols
- Solid knowledge of integration technologies, middleware, and protocols
- Solid understanding of SOLID design principles
- Understanding of encryption, PKI, and OWASP security principles
- Familiarity with DevOps tooling and practices
- Proficiency in modern development languages (e.g., .NET, Angular)
- Deep expertise in Agile and DevOps methodologies
- Demonstrated ability to lead through other leaders
- Proven ability to build solid relationships with business leaders
- Proven success leading application modernization and rationalization initiatives
- Proven solid strategic thinking with an enterprise-level perspective
- Proven track record delivering large-scale, high-transaction digital platforms
- Proven solid application of architecture and engineering practices to drive measurable business value
- Proven ability to influence in a complex, matrixed, global environment
- Proven consistent execution excellence-setting clear goals and delivering results amid competing priorities
- Proven to foster a culture of ownership, accountability, transparency, and continuous improvement
- Proven exceptional collaboration, influence, problem-solving, and negotiation skills
- Ability to travel up to 10%
- United States Citizenship
- If you are offered this position, you will be required to provide extensive personal information to obtain and maintain a suitability or determination of eligibility for a Confidential/Secret or Top Secret security clearance as a condition of your employment
Preferred Qualifications
- Azure certifications
- 2+ years of full-stack development experience
- Demonstrated strength in 3+ of the following areas:
- Modern JavaScript frameworks (Angular, React, etc.)
- Container deployment and orchestration across environments
- CI/CD pipelines and test automation
- Advanced deployment strategies (Blue/Green, Canary, Rolling)
- Relational databases (MS SQL, PostgreSQL, etc.)
- REST-based API development
- Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
- Cloud-native development (Azure, AWS, GCP)
- Configuration management (Chef, Puppet, Ansible)
- FedRAMP and NIST SP 800-53 compliance
- Enterprise content and workflow platforms
- Government contracting experience
*All employees working remotely 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 $112,700 - $193,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
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.
OptumCare is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.
OptumCare is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.