Lead Cloud Engineer - AI Ops - Remote

Optum; Minnetonka (MN); Hybrid; USD 113,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Incentive and recognition programs

Equity stock purchase

401k contribution

Job summary

Optum is seeking a Lead AI Ops Cloud Engineer to design, build, and scale modern AI Ops solutions across payer and provider transformations. This hands-on leadership role requires guiding globally distributed teams and delivering enterprise-grade reliability, security, and responsible AI practices.

You’ll work remotely from anywhere in the U.S., with on-site four days a week for Minneapolis or Washington, D.C., area hires to collaborate in person as needed.

Qualifications

• 8+ years of software engineering and SRE experience in a public cloud environment (GCP, AWS, Azure).
• 3+ years hands-on Python and Terraform development.
• 2+ years delivering AI/ML or Generative AI solutions in production.
• 2+ years managing Kubernetes environments (EKS, AKS, GKE, or self-hosted).
• Available to work rotating 24x7 primary and secondary on-call shifts.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end design and implementation of AI Ops solutions with emphasis on responsible AI practices.
• Improve SRE practices; lead incident response; ensure high availability, scalability, and performance of cloud environments.
• Automate Infrastructure & Operations using Terraform and GitHub Actions.

Skills

SRE leadership

Python

Terraform

Kubernetes

On-call shift management

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

GitHub Actions

Job description

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.

The Optum Insight Engineering team is seeking a Lead AI Ops Cloud Engineer with Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) experience to design, build, and scale modern AI Ops solutions across payer and provider transformation initiatives. This is a hands‑on technical leadership role requiring deep involvement in architecture and engineering while leading globally distributed teams. The role focuses on delivering, Agentic AI, and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions with enterprise‑grade reliability, security, and responsible AI practices.

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

• Lead end-to-end design and implementation of AI Ops solutions from concept through production with an emphasis on responsible AI practices
• Contribute to the improvement of our SRE practices; Lead incident response; Ensure high availability, scalability, and performance of cloud environments
• Automate Infrastructure & Operations: Develop Infrastructure as Code using Terraform & GitHub Actions while adhering to best practices
• Define and own solution architecture for RAG pipelines, agentic workflows, tool calling, orchestration, and conversational context management
• Design, develop, and deploy AI‑powered solutions to address complex business challenges across enterprise scale using RAG based solutions
• Work closely with development and SRE teams to improve system design, advocate for reliability, and mentor fellow engineers
• Design, code, test, and operate software using Python & Node.js
• Leverage enterprise‑approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous operational efficiency

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

• 8+ years of overall software engineering and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) experience in a public cloud environment (GCP, AWS, Azure)
• 3+ years of demonstrated hands‑on experience with Python and Terraform based development
• 2+ years delivering AI/ML or Generative AI solutions in production
• 2+ years of experience managing Kubernetes environments (EKS, AKS, GKE, or self‑hosted)
• Available to work rotating 24x7 primary and secondary on‑call shifts

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field (or 8+ years of equivalent software engineering experience in lieu of degree)
• Hands‑on experience with cloud infrastructure automation, observability tools, and SRE best practices for AI workloads
• Experience leading globally distributed technical teams
• Experience with vector search and enterprise search solutions
• Proven experience building Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, Agentic AI, or multi‑step AI workflows
• Proven experience building evaluation and monitoring frameworks for AI quality
• CI/CD (GitHub Actions preferred) & Infrastructure as Code experience with Terraform
• Proven effective communication skills with ability to explain complex technical concepts to diverse stakeholders
• 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
• 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.

UnitedHealth Group 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.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug‑free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.