Contract Software Engineer Optum Jobs in Illinois

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, and data 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. 

As a Software Engineer at Optum Technology, you will be dedicated to designing and building high-performance pharmacy digital microproduct experiences. In this role, you will focus on developing scalable GraphQL and RESTful APIs, as well as backend microservices that enable seamless, customer-centric digital interactions for pharmacy users. You will leverage enterprise-approved AI tools into your daily workflow to streamline engineering processes, automate code generation and testing tasks, and drive continuous improvement in solution delivery. Working within an Agile environment, you will collaborate closely with digital product managers, software architects, and engineering peers to deliver resilient, modern healthcare software. 

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

Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, test, deploy, and maintain scalable GraphQL and RESTful APIs and microservices for pharmacy digital microproduct applications
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement across the software development lifecycle
• Evaluate emerging trends to inform solution design, API architecture (GraphQL and REST), and strategic innovation
• Collaborate with digital product managers, UX designers, and cross-functional technical teams to deliver modern, resilient pharmacy user experiences
• Write clean, maintainable, and well-tested code adhering to enterprise software engineering standards, security protocols, and performance guidelines
• Participate in technical design reviews, API schema reviews, and peer code reviews to ensure system reliability and API performance
• Troubleshoot, debug, and optimize API query performance, microservice latency, and backend integrations in cloud environments
• Support Agile practices (Scrum/Kanban) including sprint planning, estimation, daily standups, and retrospectives 
• Leverage enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement  

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:

• 2 years of software development experience with modern backend programming languages (such as Node.js, TypeScript, Java, or Python)
• 1 years of professional software engineering experience across the full software development lifecycle (SDLC)
• 1 years of hands-on experience designing, developing, and maintaining GraphQL and/or RESTful APIs
• 1 years of experience working with microservice architecture and cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, or GCP)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline
• 1 years of experience leveraging developer productivity tools and approved AI coding assistants within daily engineering workflows
• Experience building digital microproducts or pharmacy/healthcare e-commerce platforms
• Experience with both GraphQL (federation, schema stitching) and RESTful API architectural patterns

*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 $72,800 to $130,000 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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