Principal Architect - Remote

Job d:

Location:

Hartford, Connecticut, United States Salary: $112,700 - $193,200/year

Job Area:
Technology Company:
United Health Group Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives.

Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us in making healthcare work better for everyone through people-led, responsible AI while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

As part of the Optum Health Financial Tech team, the Architect will define and own the end-to-end architecture for AI-enabled and Generative AI solutions aligned with business outcomes, scalability, security, and enterprise compliance. In this role, you will design reference architectures for LLM-based systems (including prompt orchestration, Retrieval-Augmented Generation [RAG], and agent frameworks), evaluate foundation models and AI platforms, and integrate advanced AI capabilities into existing microservices and event-driven data platforms.

You will serve as the technical authority across cross-functional engineering teams to drive AI innovation, enforce Responsible AI principles, and deliver scalable, high-performance solution designs.

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 a minimum of four days per week.

Primary Responsibilities:

Define and own end-to-end architecture for AI-enabled and Generative AI solutions aligned with business outcomes, scalability, security, and enterprise compliance

Design reference architectures for LLM-based systems, including prompt orchestration, RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), agent frameworks, and model integration patterns

Evaluate and recommend AI platforms, foundation models, and tooling (e.g., Azure OpenAI, vector databases, model gateways) based on use-case fit and enterprise standards

Translate business and product requirements into scalable AI solution designs covering data ingestion, embeddings, model inference, orchestration, and enterprise integration

Architect AI-driven workflows that integrate seamlessly with existing microservices, data platforms, APIs, and event-driven systems (e.g., Kafka, Databricks)
Embed Responsible AI principles-including privacy, fairness, explainability, model risk management, prompt guardrails, and auditability-into solution designs

Provide hands-on architectural guidance, technical oversight, and performance tuning for complex AI implementations across onshore and offshore teams

Promote AI-assisted development practices using enterprise tools to enhance developer productivity, code quality, and test coverage

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:

8+ years of experience translating complex business requirements into scalable, secure, and high-performance software architectures6+ years of experience in software engineering with at least 3+ years in a Technical Architect or Solution Architect role6+ years of experience working with Java, Spring Boot, Microservices, Kafka, APIs, Azure Cloud, Databricks, and relational/non-relational databases (e.g., SQLMI)4+ years of experience with microservices, APIs, event-driven systems, and containerized deployments4+ years of experience leading design reviews, defining technical standards, and providing oversight across cross-functional teams2+ years of experience with Azure cloud services, including integrating Azure OpenAI into enterprise solutions1+ years of experience designing and implementing LLM-based solutions, including RAG, prompt orchestration, and agent-driven architectures

Preferred Qualifications:

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field

Hands-on experience with vector databases, model gateways, and fine-tuning foundation models

Experience in healthcare or financial technology domains

Experience leveraging AI-assisted developer productivity tools (e.g., Git Hub Copilot) and…