Data Engineer Remote Contract Jobs in Minnesota (NOW HIRING)

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.   

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

Primary Responsibilities:

• Collaborate closely with product owners, business users, and stakeholders to translate data product and reporting requirements into scalable, reliable data engineering solutions, incorporating feedback iteratively throughout the delivery lifecycle
• Design, develop, and maintain end to end data pipelines across staging, integration, and consumption layers, leveraging Azure Data Factory, DBT, Snowflake SQL, and metadata driven frameworks
• Develop and optimize high performance SQL queries, views, and stored procedures to support analytics, reporting, and provide guidance to analytics team members on effective and cost-efficient usage
• Architect, Develop and support data integration processes including batch file ingestion and automated extracts
• Partner with internal stakeholders to understand business objectives, study requirements, and identify appropriate technical solutions, integration patterns, and data models that balance performance, scalability, and maintainability
• Serve as a technical subject matter expert and mentor, providing training, design guidance, and code reviews for associates on data engineering best practices, Snowflake optimization, and ADF/DBT pipeline design
• Author and maintain detailed technical documentation, including data mappings, record layouts, file specifications, interface contracts, workflow diagrams, and operational runbooks for data loads and extracts
• Continuously evaluate and improve data quality, monitoring, and operational efficiencies
• Collaborate with business and technical partners to support data acquisition initiatives, including onboarding new data sources, developing business justifications, and executing secure, compliant data transfers
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly through written documentation, presentations, and discussions with audiences ranging from technical teams to senior leadership
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive environment that promotes knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and professional development across the team
• Demonstrated ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and adapt to evolving business and technology requirements
• Demonstrated analytical and troubleshooting skills, with the ability to diagnose pipeline failures, data anomalies, and performance bottlenecks

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: 

• High School Diploma/GED OR equivalent experience 
• 8 years of hands-on data engineering experience, with an emphasis on enterprise data warehousing and ETL architecture
• 8 years of ETL development experience designing and building pipelines, dataflows using Azure Data Factory and/or Snowflake, including parameterized and metadata driven designs
• 8 years of experience using Snowflake database including creating data ingestion and extraction through stored procedures and leveraging Snowflake native utilities 
• 8 years of experience with GitHub version control systems including code merges and cross environment deployments using CD/CI pipelines 
• 8 years of Python experience, particularly for data processing, orchestration, or validation workflows
• 8 years of experience designing or consuming APIs and service based integrations (REST) within Snowflake or ADF based workflows
• 5 years of scripting experience (Batch, PowerShell, or similar) to support automation and operational tasks specifically on Azure platform 
• Experience processing both structured and semi structured data (e.g., fixed width files, delimited files, JSON, XML)

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Handson expertise in Power BI, including:
  • DAX
  • Semantic model design

  • Performance tuning

• Handson expertise in React

• .Net development experience

*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 $91,700 - $163,700 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.

#RPO #GREEN