Associate Data Engineer

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 Associate Data Engineer to design, build, and manage the data foundations that power enterprise finance analytics, automation, and AI solutions. This role will partner closely with finance stakeholders, AI engineers, and governance teams to deliver trusted, scalable, and secure data products that drive business value.

You will enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Identify and evaluate data sources, systems of record, reference data, documents, and operational data required to support finance solutions
• Assess data quality, completeness, lineage, sensitivity, and accessibility
• Design and build data pipelines, transformations, semantic layers, retrieval indexes, and reusable data products
• Partner with AI Engineers on RAG architectures, embeddings, vector databases, grounding strategies, and data refresh processes
• Collaborate with security, privacy, compliance, and data governance teams to ensure appropriate data handling and controls
• Develop synthetic, masked, or de-identified datasets for development and testing purposes
• Implement data quality monitoring, validation controls, lineage documentation, and exception-handling processes
• Support experimentation, control-group testing, and value measurement through reliable baseline and treatment datasets
• Prepare data assets, documentation, and operational processes for long-term ownership and support

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear directions on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• 1+ years of experience in data engineering, data platforms, or related technical roles
• 1+ years of experience in SQL, APIs, ETL/ELT development, data integration, and batch/streaming architectures
• 1+ years of experience with cloud-based data platforms and large-scale data pipelines
• 1+years of experience in enterprise data security, privacy, access controls, and compliance requirements

Preferred Qualifications:

• Strong understanding of data modeling, data quality, metadata management, lineage, and governance practices
• Familiarity with AI data patterns, including embeddings, vector databases, document chunking, semantic retrieval, and feature preparation
• Experience supporting finance domains such as FP&A, accounting, tax, treasury, or financial reporting
• Experience enabling AI, machine learning, or generative AI solutions in an enterprise environment
• Familiarity with modern data governance, observability, and cataloging tools

Soft Skills:

• Strong problem-solving, communication, and stakeholder management skills
• Ability to move quickly while maintaining trust, governance, quality, and repeatability

*All Telecommuters 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 $60,200 - $107,400 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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.

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