Lead Software Engineer

Optum; Dublin; Hybrid; EUR 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid work model

Diversity & inclusion focus

Career development opportunities

Job summary

Optum, part of UnitedHealth Group, is seeking a Lead Software Engineer to provide technical leadership across a portfolio of modernized enterprise applications. You will guide architectural direction, ensure secure, scalable software, and mentor teams across AI-enabled development practices.

The role operates in a hybrid model in Ireland, split between Dublin/Letterkenny offices and remote work, with strong emphasis on collaboration with product, security, and infrastructure teams.

Qualifications

• Extensive software engineering background with lead/principal level experience.
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools and governance for AI-enabled coding/architecture.
• Strong understanding of AI-generated code risks and how to mitigate them.
• Ability to mentor engineers across levels and uphold engineering standards.

Responsibilities

• Provide overall technical leadership across a portfolio of enterprise applications.
• Define and steer architectural direction and technical vision.
• Guide teams in sound design, implementation, and secure, scalable solutions.
• Ensure reliability, security, and maintainability of systems and services.
• Promote consistency across applications, services, and integrations.
• Review designs and manage cross-team dependencies and risks.
• Support delivery planning and technical trade-offs; grow team capability.

Skills

AI tooling

TypeScript

Frontend development

Backend development

API design

Cloud platforms

Security best practices

Mentoring

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a technical field

Tools

Cloud-native tools

Job description

Improve the lives of others while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Job Description - Lead Software Engineer (2391798)

Lead Software Engineer - 2391798

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.

We are seeking a highly experienced technical lead to provide overall engineering leadership for a portfolio of modernized enterprise applications. This individual will guide technical direction, maintain architectural integrity, and help development teams deliver secure, scalable, maintainable, and production-ready software. The role requires a hands‑on leader who can operate across application, API, data, integration, and cloud concerns while working effectively with engineering teams, product leaders, architects, security teams, and other stakeholders.

The team has end to end ownership of the full SDLC. It consists of Infrastructure engineers, full stack web developers, backend developers, data engineers and UX engineers. We build web application in the domain of Data Analytics for the Chief Data and Analytics Office which are used across the enterprise.

Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin or Letterkenny office and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide overall technical leadership across the application portfolio
• Establish and maintain the technical vision and architectural direction
• Guide teams in making sound design and implementation decisions
• Ensure solutions meet enterprise expectations for security, scalability, reliability, and maintainability
• Promote consistency across applications, services, integrations, and shared components
• Review significant technical designs and high‑risk changes
• Identify and help resolve cross‑team technical dependencies and risks
• Support delivery planning and help teams make appropriate technical trade‑offs
• Define and reinforce engineering standards and development practices
• Improve automated testing, continuous integration, and release confidence
• Guide technical debt management and modernization priorities
• Support production‑readiness, performance, observability, and operational planning
• Mentor engineers and strengthen technical capability across the team
• Partner with product, architecture, security, infrastructure, and business stakeholders
• Encourage effective and responsible use of AI‑assisted development tools
• Ensure technical decisions and important system knowledge are appropriately documented
• Act as a senior escalation point for complex technical issues
• Remain sufficiently hands‑on to validate patterns, review critical code, and assist with difficult engineering problems

You will 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 providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• Proven significant professional software engineering experience, including experience serving in lead, principal, or equivalent technical leadership roles
• Proven experience utilizing AI‑assisted development tools and establishing standards and governance for AI‑enabled coding, testing, documentation, code review, and architectural decision‑making
• Demonstrated solid understanding of the strengths and limitations of AI‑generated code, including hallucinations, security risks, inconsistent coding patterns, and technical debt considerations
• Proven experience enabling developers at multiple levels to effectively utilize AI tools while maintaining appropriate human ownership, accountability, and engineering quality standards
• Demonstrated experience designing, building, and supporting complex enterprise applications
• Demonstrated solid knowledge of modern frontend, backend, API, and distributed systems architecture
• Proven solid experience with TypeScript, modern web frameworks, server‑side application frameworks, and API development
• Proven experience leading modernization, migration, platform rebuild, or application transformation initiatives
• Demonstrated solid understanding of scalability, reliability, performance, observability, security, and operational readiness principles
• Proven experience utilizing cloud‑native development practices, automated delivery pipelines, and modern software engineering methodologies
• Proven ability to evaluate technical trade‑offs and make pragmatic architectural decisions
• Proven experience establishing and maintaining engineering standards, design patterns, and quality controls
• Demonstrated solid understanding of automated testing practices across unit, integration, contract, and end‑to‑end testing levels
• Proven experience integrating applications with enterprise identity services, data platforms, and external systems
• Proven ability to review complex implementations and identify architectural, security, performance, and maintainability risks
• Demonstrated solid written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to explain technical decisions to senior stakeholders
• Proven experience mentoring junior, mid‑level, and senior engineers
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively within AI‑enabled development environments while establishing appropriate controls for AI‑assisted engineering practices

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven experience leading development activities across multiple related applications or services
• Proven experience working with data‑intensive applications and cloud‑hosted data platforms
• Proven experience with microservices, modular monoliths, or distributed application architectures
• Proven experience implementing API contracts and compatibility controls across independently deployed systems
• Proven experience within healthcare, financial services, regulated industries, or similarly complex enterprise environments
• Proven experience balancing modernization objectives with legacy system integration and incremental migration strategies
• Proven experience measuring engineering effectiveness through delivery, quality, reliability, maintainability, and operational performance outcomes

Please note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country to which you are making an application. Proof will be required to support your application.

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: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug‑free workplace. © 2026 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.

UnitedHealth Group is committed to working with and providing reasonable accommodations to individuals with physical and mental disabilities. If you need special assistance or accommodation for any part of the application process, please call 1-866-566-8715 to be connected to Recruitment Services. Recruitment Services hours of operation are 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. CT, Monday through Friday.

UnitedHealth Group is a registered service mark of UnitedHealth Group, Inc. The UnitedHealth Group name with the dimensional logo, as well as the dimensional logo alone, are both service marks for the UnitedHealth Group, Inc.

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.