Sr. Site Reliability Engineer (Azure / GCP, Terraform, Python) — UnitedHealth Group (Optum) · Hyderabad

About the role

Senior SRE for UnitedHealth Group / Optum's healthcare-scale platforms in Hyderabad — build reliable Azure / GCP infrastructure with Terraform and Python, run AKS / GKE clusters, and drive SLO-led reliability engineering.

About this role and the team at UnitedHealth Group (Optum). Senior SRE for UnitedHealth Group / Optum's healthcare-scale platforms in Hyderabad — build reliable Azure / GCP infrastructure with Terraform and Python, run AKS / GKE clusters, and drive SLO-led reliability engineering. This listing on cloudsoftsol.com is curated for engineers in India who are actively interviewing for senior cloud, DevOps and SRE roles. If you are seeking a multi-year career platform rather than a stop-gap, this listing rewards depth — read the responsibilities and requirements below carefully and tailor your application to the specifics. We do not charge candidates a fee for placement assistance; companies sponsor our involvement.

Responsibilities

Build and maintain reliable cloud platforms using Terraform for infrastructure-as-code on Azure and GCP, supporting healthcare-scale systems where uptime directly affects patients and providers. Manage Kubernetes clusters (AKS and / or GKE): cluster lifecycle and upgrades, autoscaling, Workload Identity for least-privilege IAM, ingress, and platform add-ons via Helm. Implement observability, alerting and automated remediation — define and track SLIs / SLOs, instrument services with Prometheus / Grafana and cloud-native monitoring, and reduce toil through self-healing automation. Integrate Python scripting for custom reliability tooling, CI/CD optimisation, and infrastructure management; conduct blameless post-mortems and codify learnings into runbooks. Ensure compliance, security and cost governance in a regulated healthcare environment — secrets management, encryption, audit trails (HIPAA-aware), and FinOps reporting. Collaborate cross-functionally to deliver resilient microservices and disaster-recovery strategies, including multi-region failover and tested restore procedures.

Requirements & qualifications

5+ years of SRE / DevOps / Platform Engineering experience with a strong reliability mindset. Terraform expertise on Azure and / or GCP — reusable modules, remote state, plan reviews. Production Kubernetes experience (AKS or GKE preferred). Strong Python for automation tooling and CI/CD; comfortable with Bash. Hands-on observability (Prometheus, Grafana, cloud-native monitoring) and incident-response tooling. SLI / SLO definition, error budgets, and post-incident review discipline. Experience in regulated or large-scale environments (healthcare, BFSI) is a strong plus; HIPAA awareness valued. Bachelor's in CS / IT or equivalent. Azure / GCP and CKA certifications a plus.

Why this role in 2026

Optum (the technology and health-services arm of UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune-5 company) runs one of the largest healthcare-technology engineering centres in Hyderabad. Reliability and compliance are first-class priorities here, which makes it an excellent environment to deepen genuine SRE skills — SLOs, error budgets, multi-cloud Terraform and disaster recovery — inside a stable, well-funded organisation.

Application tips

Apply directly on the UnitedHealth Group careers site (link below). Optum runs a structured process — tailor your CV to highlight Azure / GCP Terraform scope, AKS / GKE production ownership, and specific reliability outcomes (e.g. 'raised availability from 99.5% to 99.95%, cut MTTR by 40%'). Mention any healthcare / HIPAA or other regulated-environment exposure prominently.

Interview preparation

Expect a recruiter screen, a technical screen on Azure / GCP + Kubernetes fundamentals, a hands-on round (Terraform module + a Python automation exercise), an SRE system-design round (design an SLO framework, alerting and automated remediation for a multi-region service), and a behavioural / values round. Practice STAR stories on incidents you owned end to end and toil you eliminated.

Career growth

Path inside Optum: Senior SRE → Lead / Principal SRE → SRE Manager or Platform Architect. Lateral moves into the data-platform, security-engineering or cloud-architecture organisations are well established, and the Fortune-5 stability makes long-tenure career-building realistic.