Principal Data Engineer

Requisition Number: 2346760
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 inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Database Platform Support Engineer to support and operate SQL Server and MongoDB Atlas platforms in cloud-based production environments. In this role, you will provide hands-on production support, ensure day-to-day operational stability, and play a critical role in maintaining the performance, reliability, and scalability of business-critical database systems.
This is a customer-impacting role that requires deep technical expertise, strong troubleshooting skills, and the ability to operate effectively in a 24×7 production support environment, including participation in on-call rotations.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Provide L1-L3 production support for SQL Server and MongoDB Atlas environments
• Perform daily operational support, including monitoring, alert triage, incident response, and root cause analysis
• Participate in on-call rotations to support 24×7 production workloads
• Troubleshoot and optimize SQL Server performance, including query tuning, indexing, blocking, deadlocks, and HA/DR configurations
• Diagnose MongoDB Atlas performance and availability issues, including replication, sharding, and connectivity
• Proactively identify risks and performance bottlenecks before they impact production
• Lead or contribute to post-incident reviews and implement long-term corrective and preventative actions
• Ensure database platforms meet defined availability, performance, and recovery objectives
• Support databases running in cloud environments (Azure, AWS, and/or GCP)
• Configure and support MongoDB Atlas networking and security, including Private Endpoints, IP access controls, encryption, and IAM
• Build and maintain Infrastructure as Code (IaC) using Terraform
• Partner with application and platform teams on onboarding, migrations, and production readiness
• Work with vendor support teams and internal engineering teams on escalations and complex issues
• Communicate clearly with stakeholders during incidents, outages, and planned changes
• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or equivalent practical experience
• 10+ years of experience supporting enterprise databases in live production environments
• Experience supporting mission-critical, customer-facing platforms and large-scale enterprise SQL Server and MongoDB Atlas environments
• Solid, hands-on experience supporting MongoDB Atlas in production
• Multi-cloud experience across Azure, AWS, and GCP
• Experience using Terraform for infrastructure provisioning and automation
• Solid understanding of security, encryption, backups, disaster recovery, and compliance
• Proficiency in at least one scripting or programming language (e.g., Python, PowerShell, Shell)
• Familiarity with GitHub, including GitHub Actions and Kubernetes -based application platforms
• Proven solid hands-on expertise in SQL Server production support
• Proven ability to troubleshoot high-severity production issues under pressure
• Proven exposure to CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
• Proven excellent debugging, troubleshooting, communication, and presentation skills
• Demonstrated self-motivation, strong ownership mindset, and positive attitude

Preferred Qualification:

• MongoDB Atlas or SQL Server certification

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.