Principal Site Reliability Engineer - Telecommute

Combine two of the fastest-growing fields on the planet with a culture of performance, collaboration and opportunity and this is what you get. Leading edge technology in an industry that's improving the lives of millions. Here, innovation isn't about another gadget, it's about making health care data available wherever and whenever people need it, safely and reliably. There's no room for error. Join us and start doing your life's best work.(sm)

This role will be providing leadership to the Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) program at Optum. The ideal candidate has multiple years of experience with SRE, is a self-starter, innovative, has Pi-shaped skills set, and is not afraid to challenge the status quo. Successful candidates have a proven ability to network, influence without direct authority, and quickly build relationships to work cross-functionally to achieve a desired result.

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

Primary Responsibilities:

• Serve as a subject matter expert to internal stakeholders on all aspects of the Site Reliability Engineering discipline, driving reliability into systems across the enterprise


• Mentor other Site Reliability Engineers (SREs), focusing on methods to drive reliability and influence design, architecture, and operations


• Has extensive knowledge of many technologies and applies that knowledge to drive enterprise direction


• Lead the adoption of appropriate emerging technology in system designs, evolving enterprise architecture standards within Optum.


• Execute and guide execution of specific tasks through various application work streams to drive best-in-class operational support


• Utilize scripting & development skills to reduce operational man-hours and reduce time to restore for incidents. This should include implementing practices that support Agile and Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) principles


• Communicate status of various projects to SRE leadership and enterprise stakeholders


• Provide leadership, guidance, and personal development to SREs throughout the organization


• Leads fast restoration of priority one and two war rooms


• Leads reliability and hardening tests, including table-top exercises and live tests, for multi-platform applications


• Drive results through increasing reliability of applications and failover capabilities


• Guide reliability via Enterprise Transformation, influencing teams as they work towards maintaining industry leading reliability targets


• Create complex architecture design models that describe enterprise solutions that both conform to enterprise standards and advocates for modern technology and best practices


• Lead change and innovation by pursuing opportunities to adopt new technologies and drive adoption to enhance business outcomes


• Drive and manage high-quality execution across organizational lines


• Demonstrate integrity and ethical behavior by complying with applicable laws, regulations and policies and requiring the same from others


• Leverage diversity and inclusion to bring in the right talent, drive employee engagement and foster teamwork and collaboration


• Grow and maintain knowledge of and leverage cutting edge IT industry/marketplace technologies and trends to support highly-available distributed systems, and the transformation of legacy systems

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

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of professional IT experience, with steadily increasing responsibilities


• 4+ years of experience designing and building highly distributed, reliable systems


• 4+ years of experience as a Site Reliability Engineer


• 2+ years of experience leading teams and/or managing IT Project timelines and deliverables


• Experience planning and supporting high availability and geographically redundant applications in production


• Experience with DevOps methodologies and enabling automation within development teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Undergraduate Degree or 7+ years of relevant work experience


• Health Care industry experience


• Software Engineering experience with Ruby, Python, Java and/or .Net

To protect the health and safety of our workforce, patients and communities we serve, UnitedHealth Group and its affiliate companies require all employees to disclose COVID-19 vaccination status prior to beginning employment. In addition, some roles and locations require full COVID-19 vaccination, including boosters, as an essential job function. UnitedHealth Group adheres to all federal, state and local COVID-19 vaccination regulations as well as all client COVID-19 vaccination requirements and will obtain the necessary information from candidates prior to employment to ensure compliance. Candidates must be able to perform all essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation. Failure to meet the vaccination requirement may result in rescission of an employment offer or termination of employment.

Technology Careers with Optum. Information and technology have amazing power to transform the health care industry and improve people's lives. This is where it's happening. This is where you'll help solve the problems that have never been solved. We're freeing information so it can be used safely and securely wherever it's needed. We're creating the very best ideas that can most easily be put into action to help our clients improve the quality of care and lower costs for millions. This is where the best and the brightest work together to make positive change a reality. This is the place to do your life's best work.(sm)

*All Telecommuters will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.

Colorado, Connecticut or Nevada Residents Only: The salary range for Colorado/Connecticut/Nevada residents is $113,500 to $218,100. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, UnitedHealth Group offers 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 UnitedHealth Group, you’ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug - free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.

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