Defense Software Engineer 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 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. 

Aikyam is the most advanced "Identity as a Service" Platform within UnitedHealth Group that is aimed to provide a central and universal user identity for identifying and authenticating a user in the healthcare domain. It is built upon open standards like OAuth 2.0, OpenID Connect, SAML 2.0 Web SSO etc. It is a highly available, reliable and scalable service hosted in public cloud. We enjoy the trust of large customers in healthcare industry and government services with operations across United States of America.

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 for a minimum of four days per week.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Contribute to system design and implement approved architecture and design patterns to ensure scalable and efficient Identity Platform solutions
• Build and operate cloud-native, containerized identity services with strong focus on scalability, resiliency, and operational excellence
• Ensure all solutions comply with enterprise IT principles, security standards, and healthcare regulations (HIPAA, TEFCA, CMS Interoperability)
• Apply security controls directly within application code and service design through secure coding, threat modeling, and defense-in-depth practices
• Participate in intake discussions, solution design, and support estimation activities for identity platform enhancements
• Own the design and implementation of complex features from requirements through development, testing, deployment, and production support
• Collaborate with solution engineering, development teams, partners, and vendors to maintain a coherent and consistent approach to design, implementation, and integration
• Contribute to logging, monitoring, alerting, and operational dashboards to ensure reliability, performance, and security of identity services in production
• Provide hands-on technical guidance, including reference implementations, reusable design patterns, and best-practice guidelines
• Integrate AI and ML capabilities into identity workflows for adaptive authentication, fraud detection, and risk-based access control
• Design and implement AI-driven security analytics to detect anomalies, predict threats, and automate incident response in large-scale environments
• Research and adopt proactive AI-based security strategies, such as anomaly detection, threat modeling, and autonomous policy enforcement
• Incorporate conversational AI and NLU into identity platforms for guided user experiences, troubleshooting, and self-service authentication flows
• Adhere to established AI governance, security, and compliance standards
• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges with emphasis on responsible use of AI 

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:

• Bachelor's degree in CS or IT related field
• 6 years of hands-on technical experience in implementing secure enterprise applications using any one of cloud technologies like Azure, AWS or GCP
• 5 years of experience with programming languages, frameworks like Java and Springboot. Building RESTful Web Services and Microservices
• 5 years of experience with identity protocols (OAuth2, OIDC, SAML) 
• 5 years of experience with security data platforms (Splunk, ELK) for monitoring, troubleshooting and security analysis
• 4 years of hands-on experience with threat modeling, vulnerability remediation, and infrastructure/application security
• 3 years of experience with React for frontend development of user or admin-facing applications
• 3 years of experience with Identity federation, Single Sign-On, RBAC, ABAC, MFA, RBA
• 3 years of relevant experience in Identity & Access Management and Information and application Security
• 3 years of hands-on working experience with SailPoint, ForgeRock, Ping, Okta, OneLogin, Azure AD or similar IAM products

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience with security management of virtual machines, containers, and applications
• Knowledge of SANS Top 20 Critical Security Controls and OWASP Top 10 vulnerabilities 
• Working knowledge of Scripting languages (Python and PowerShell)
• Solid working knowledge of Web Application Firewalls, HTTP(s), TCP/UDP, SSL/TLS, Forward and reverse proxies, Load balancers
• Good understanding of the web application architectures, TCP/IP networking, cloud computing and data integrity and confidentiality including cryptographic techniques
• Familiarity with ML frameworks (TensorFlow, PyTorch) and AI services (Azure AI, AWS SageMaker) 
• Exposure to Site Reliability Engineering concepts and production support practices
• Interest or exposure to advanced identity risk and anomaly detection concepts
• Proven solid communication skills and presentation skills, mentoring skills, problem solving and analytical skills

*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 to $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.

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