Python Backend Developer Remote Jobs in Lakeville, MN

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 startCaring. Connecting. Growing together.

A Quality Engineer focused on automation at Optum spends most days designing, building, and maintaining automated tests and test frameworks that ensure software products meet reliability and performance standards. They collaborate closely with other Optum developers and product managers to understand requirements, translate them into automated test cases, and integrate those tests into continuous integration and delivery pipelines. Daily work includes writing and refactoring test scripts, reviewing test results, investigating failures to distinguish defects from test issues, and improving test coverage and efficiency. They also monitor build health, help define quality metrics, and proactively enhance automation tools and processes to reduce manual testing effort and enable faster, more confident releases.

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

Primary Responsibilities:

Quality Engineering & Testing:

• Analyze and break down software requirements and technical specifications to design and execute comprehensive test strategies and software development
• Write, execute, and maintain manual and automated test cases
• Test applications and drive resolution of defects by collaborating closely with development teams
• Establish and maintain test cases, test suites, and test data
• Create and maintain test cases and test execution results in Rally
• Develop, maintain, and execute automated test scripts using industry-standard frameworks such as Playwright, Cucumber, Selenium, or similar tools
• Perform REST API testing and validate backend services
• Review automated test code to ensure adherence to coding standards and best practices
• Continuously improve test automation frameworks, processes, and coverage
• Stay current with industry trends, tools, and best practices in test automation and quality engineering Software Development
• Design, develop, and enhance application features, services, and components using Java, TypeScript, Python, or C#
• Write clean, maintainable, and testable code following engineering best practices
• Contribute to unit testing, integration testing, and test-driven development (TDD/BDD) practices
• Participate in code reviews and provide feedback to ensure code quality and reliability
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to deliver high-quality software in an agile environment
• Support CI/CD pipelines using tools such as GitHub Actions and integrate automated testing into build and deployment workflows Collaboration & Agile Practices
• Actively participate in walkthroughs, inspections, sprint planning, reviews, and retrospectives
• Collaborate with business users, system analysts, designers, and engineers to refine requirements and technical designs
• Plan, document, evaluate, and track testing and development results to ensure defect-free system applications
• Communicate effectively regarding defects, enhancements, risks, and technical decisions
• Follow Agile/Scrum standards and engineering best practices
• 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:

• 5 years of experience in Software Testing/Quality Engineering, with strong expertise in End-to-End (E2E), System Integration Testing (SIT), Regression Testing, and UAT support
• 4 years of experience in Performance and Load Testing using tools such as JMeter, LoadRunner, NeoLoad, or k6
• 3 years of hands-on experience in Test Automation using Selenium, Playwright, Cypress, or similar automation frameworks
• 2 years of experience in API and Backend Testing using any of Postman, REST Assured, Swagger/OpenAPI, and SQL-based data validation 
• 2 years of experience working in Agile/Scrum environments using any of Azure DevOps, Jira, and CI/CD pipelines, with ownership of test planning, execution, defect management, and release validation
• 2 years of experience collaborating with cross-functional teams and stakeholders, with the ability to independently lead testing activities and coordinate quality assurance across multiple applications

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading testing efforts for medium-to-large projects or acting as a QA/Test Lead
• Experience with Azure Cloud platforms and cloud-native applications
• Knowledge of Snowflake, ETL, data warehouse, or data platform testing
• Experience testing event-driven and microservices architectures
• Exposure to security, accessibility, and performance engineering best practices
• Experience creating and maintaining automated test frameworks
• Familiarity with monitoring and observability tools such as Azure Application Insights, Splunk, Dynatrace, or Grafana

*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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