Lead Software Engineer - Remote

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 to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

At UnitedHealth Group, we build technology that reaches millions of people every day. Design consistency, accessibility, and speed to market matter at that scale. Our enterprise design system is a critical element that enables teams across UHC, Optum, and whitelabel products to deliver highquality, accessible digital experiences faster and with greater consistency.

We are seeking an engineering leader to lead the team responsible for our design system, guiding its technical direction, execution, and evolution as an enterprisestandard platform. In this role, you will partner closely with design, product, accessibility, and engineering leaders to ensure our design system remains a trusted, scalable foundation for both web and mobile experiences across the organization.

This is a handson leadership role for someone who enjoys building and leading highperforming teams, shaping platform strategy, and balancing nearterm delivery with longterm architectural health. You will be accountable for driving adoption, improving developer and designer experience, and evolving the system to meet the needs of a diverse and growing portfolio of products, all while upholding standards for quality, accessibility, and maintainability.

If you're energized by platform thinking, crossorganizational influence, and the opportunity to scale impact through shared systems rather than single products, this role offers a chance to shape how UHG designs and builds digital experiences at enterprise scale

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:

• Senior strategic thinker and technical leader for the Abyss design system team.
• Define and own the strategic vision for the UI design system, including a forward-looking roadmap that incorporates AI-powered design tooling, intelligent component generation, and adaptive theming capabilities
• Drive AI integration strategy across the design system-identifying opportunities to leverage generative AI for automated component scaffolding, design-to-code workflows, accessibility auditing, and intelligent documentation generation
• Establish and evangelize design system governance, including contribution models, versioning strategies, deprecation policies, and adoption metrics to ensure consistent usage across product teams
• Architect scalable, performant, and accessible component libraries that serve as the foundation for all UI development, ensuring adherence to WCAG standards, modern frontend best practices, and cross-platform compatibility
• Define technical standards and best practices for component development, including API design, theming architecture, testing strategies, and performance benchmarks
• Lead technical discovery and prototyping of emerging technologies (e.g., AI-assisted design tools, design tokens, headless UI patterns) to keep the design system at the cutting edge
• Manage, mentor, and grow a team of 5 direct reports, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning while ensuring career development and performance management
• Facilitate strong partnerships with Design, Product, and Engineering stakeholders to align the design system roadmap with organizational priorities and gather feedback for continuous improvement
• Drive adoption and developer experience, ensuring the design system is well-documented, easy to consume, and actively reduces friction for product teams-measuring success through adoption rates, developer satisfaction, and time-to-market improvements
• Communicate vision and progress to executive leadership, translating technical investments into business value and securing resources for strategic initiatives

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:

• Degree in Computer Science, HCI, or related field (or equivalent experience)
• 6+ years of experience in frontend/UI engineering, with deep expertise in modern frameworks (React, Vue, Angular, or similar)
• 2+ years of people management experience, leading and developing high-performing engineering teams
• 2+ years of a proven track record of building, scaling, and maintaining enterprise-grade design systems or component libraries
• Solid architectural skills, including experience with design tokens, theming systems, accessibility (WCAG), and cross-platform considerations
• Strategic mindset with the ability to define long-term technical vision and translate it into actionable roadmaps

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience integrating AI/ML capabilities into design or development workflows (e.g., generative UI, design-to-code tools, automated accessibility testing)
• Experience with open-source contribution models or inner-source governance for shared libraries
• Excellent communication skills, with experience influencing stakeholders across Design, Product, and Engineering at all levels
• Familiarity with design tooling ecosystems (Figma APIs, Storybook, Chromatic, etc.) and design-engineering collaboration workflows
• Background in developer experience (DX) optimization-documentation, onboarding, and adoption measurement

*All employees working remotely 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 $112,700 to $193,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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.