Sr. Data Engineer

Optum Data Management seeks a Senior Data Engineer to design, build, and operate scalable, metadata-driven data pipelines that underpin the Arkansas Medicaid Decision Support System. The role centers on delivering reliable ingestion, integration, and delivery of State Medicaid and CMS data, with a strong emphasis on data quality and collaboration with state partners. This position is based in Little Rock with a hybrid work setup and offers a competitive salary range aligned to the scope of enterprise data engineering responsibilities.

Overview

Location: Little Rock, AR; hybrid work arrangement. Salary: USD 91,700 - 163,700 per year.

Responsibilities

• Partner with product owners, business users, and stakeholders to translate data product and reporting needs into scalable, dependable engineering solutions, iterating throughout the delivery lifecycle.
• Design, build, and maintain end-to-end data pipelines across staging, integration, and consumption layers using Azure Data Factory, Snowflake SQL, and metadata-driven frameworks.
• Create and optimize high-performance SQL queries, views, and stored procedures to support analytics, reporting, and outbound data extracts, while guiding analytics teammates on efficient, cost-aware usage.
• Architect and support inbound and outbound data integration processes, including batch ingestion, automated extracts, and scheduled deliveries to internal users, state partners, and external agencies.
• Develop and monitor GoAnywhere workflows for inbound and outbound file transfers.
• Collaborate with internal stakeholders to understand business objectives, regulatory needs, and study requirements; identify appropriate technical solutions, integration patterns, and data models balancing performance, scalability, and maintainability.
• Serve as a technical subject matter expert and mentor, delivering training, design guidance, and code reviews on data engineering best practices, Snowflake optimization, and ADF pipeline design.
• Author and maintain detailed technical documentation, including data mappings, record layouts, file specifications, interface contracts, workflow diagrams, and runbooks for data loads and extracts.
• Continuously assess and enhance data quality, reconciliation controls, monitoring, and operational efficiency across analytic and decision-support data processes.
• Establish and maintain partnerships with customers, data senders, and data consumers, acting as a healthcare data domain expert.
• Collaborate with business and technical partners to support data acquisition initiatives, onboarding new data sources, building business justifications, and executing secure, compliant data transfers.
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly through documentation, presentations, and discussions with audiences ranging from technical teams to senior leadership.
• Foster a collaborative, inclusive environment that encourages knowledge sharing, continuous improvement, and professional development across the team.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory, security, and data governance obligations, including HIPAA and Medicaid requirements, plus controls related to external data sharing and file exchange.
• Demonstrate the ability to work independently, manage multiple priorities, and adapt to evolving business and technology requirements; diagnose pipeline failures, data anomalies, and performance bottlenecks.

Requirements

• 5+ years of hands-on data engineering experience focused on enterprise data warehousing and ETL architectures.
• 5+ years of ETL development experience designing and building pipelines and data flows using Azure Data Factory and/or Snowflake, including parameterized and metadata-driven designs.
• 3+ years of experience with Snowflake, including ingestion and extraction via stored procedures and using Snowflake native utilities.
• 3+ years of GitHub experience with code merges and cross-environment deployments using CI/CD pipelines.
• 2+ years of scripting experience (Batch, PowerShell, or similar) to support automation on the Azure platform.
• Experience processing structured and semi-structured data (e.g., fixed-width, delimited, JSON, XML).
• Working knowledge of healthcare data standards, including NCPDP vF6, HL7, and FHIR, with experience ingesting and transforming these formats.
• Reside in the Little Rock, AR area and be willing to work in a hybrid office environment at least three days per week.

Technologies

• Azure Data Factory
• Snowflake SQL
• Snowflake
• GoAnywhere MFT
• GitHub
• CI/CD pipelines
• Batch
• PowerShell
• Python
• Microsoft Purview
• Macula Automate
• Informatica Intelligent Cloud Services (IICS)
• REST
• RPC
• NCPDP vF6
• HL7
• FHIR

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefits package
• Incentive and recognition programs
• Equity stock purchase
• 401k contribution