What is a DevOps Engineer at The Cigna Group?

As a DevOps Engineer at The Cigna Group, you play a pivotal role in bridging the gap between software development and clinical operations. In a global health services organization, the "systems" you manage are more than just servers; they are the backbone of patient care, pharmacy benefit management, and insurance processing. Your work ensures that critical health data is accessible, secure, and resilient, directly impacting millions of customers who rely on The Cigna Group for their well-being.

The complexity of our environment stems from the need to balance rapid innovation with stringent healthcare regulations like HIPAA. You will be tasked with building and maintaining highly scalable infrastructure that supports everything from provider portals to complex data analytics engines. This role is not just about keeping the lights on; it is about driving a culture of automation and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) that allows our engineering teams to deploy with confidence and speed.

You will find yourself at the intersection of strategic architecture and hands-on execution. Whether you are optimizing AWS cloud spend, hardening Linux environments, or architecting CI/CD pipelines, your influence is felt across the entire product lifecycle. For a dedicated engineer, this is an opportunity to solve high-stakes technical challenges while contributing to a mission-driven organization that prioritizes the health and vitality of those we serve.

Common Interview Questions

Expect questions that range from specific technical hurdles to broad behavioral reflections. The goal is to see how you apply your knowledge to real-world constraints.

Technical & Domain Knowledge

This category tests your fundamental understanding of the tools and systems you will use daily.

• Explain the boot process of a Linux system.
• How does a VPC peering connection work, and what are its limitations?
• Describe the difference between a process and a thread in Linux.
• How would you secure an S3 bucket that contains sensitive patient data?
• What is the purpose of an Inodes in a file system, and what happens when you run out of them?

Scripting & Problem Solving

These questions evaluate your ability to automate tasks and think through logic.

• Write a Bash script to find all files larger than 100MB and move them to an archive directory.
• How would you automate the rotation of IAM access keys across a large organization?
• Given a failing health check on an ALB, walk through your steps to diagnose the issue.
• Write a script to monitor a specific service and restart it if it goes down, while logging the event.

Behavioral & Leadership

We want to know how you work with others and handle the pressures of the role.

• Describe a time you disagreed with a developer's architectural choice. How did you resolve it?
• Tell me about a time you took the lead on a project without being asked.
• How do you stay current with the rapidly evolving DevOps landscape?
• Describe a situation where you had to balance a quick fix with a long-term solution.

Getting Ready for Your Interviews

Preparing for an interview at The Cigna Group requires a dual focus on deep technical proficiency and the ability to articulate your impact. We look for engineers who don't just follow runbooks but understand the underlying mechanics of the systems they manage. Your preparation should reflect a balance of hands-on coding, architectural thinking, and a clear understanding of the DevOps philosophy.

Role-Related Knowledge – We evaluate your mastery of Linux internals and AWS ecosystem services. You should be prepared to discuss not just how to use a tool, but how it works under the hood and why it was the right choice for a specific problem.

Problem-Solving Ability – Interviewers look for a structured approach to troubleshooting and systems design. You will be expected to break down complex outages or deployment failures into manageable components and propose long-term architectural fixes rather than temporary patches.

Leadership and Ownership – Even in individual contributor roles, we value "leadership at all levels." This means taking ownership of the production environment, influencing peers toward better practices, and demonstrating a proactive mindset in identifying risks before they become incidents.

Cultural Alignment – The Cigna Group values collaboration and empathy. You should be ready to demonstrate how you navigate ambiguity and work effectively with cross-functional teams, including developers, security analysts, and product owners.

Interview Process Overview

The interview process for a DevOps Engineer at The Cigna Group is designed to be rigorous yet transparent, ensuring a mutual fit for both your technical skills and our team culture. You can expect a process that moves from foundational assessments to deep-dive technical discussions, often spanning three to four stages depending on the specific team and seniority level.

The journey typically begins with an initial screening or an online assessment that focuses on core competencies like Bash scripting, general aptitude, and objective technical questions. Following this, you will engage in one or more technical rounds. These rounds are known for their depth; expect to be challenged on your knowledge of Linux systems and AWS architecture. The final stages often include a focus on behavioral traits and leadership, where we assess how your professional values align with our mission.

This timeline illustrates the typical progression from the initial online assessment through the final technical and leadership evaluations. While the pace can vary, most candidates complete the process within a few weeks. You should use this structure to pace your preparation, focusing first on coding and fundamentals before moving into complex system design and behavioral storytelling.

Deep Dive into Evaluation Areas

Linux Systems and Scripting

At The Cigna Group, Linux is the foundation of our infrastructure. We expect candidates to possess more than a passing familiarity with the command line; you should understand process management, file systems, and networking at a granular level. Strong performance in this area is characterized by the ability to automate complex tasks using Bash or Python and a deep understanding of system performance tuning.

Be ready to go over:

• Process Management – Understanding signals, job control, and how the kernel manages resources.
• File System Architecture – Knowledge of permissions, mount points, and troubleshooting I/O bottlenecks.
• Networking Fundamentals – Deep dive into TCP/IP, DNS, and how to debug connectivity issues within a VPC.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How would you identify a memory leak in a running process without restarting the service?"
• "Write a script to parse a large log file and extract specific error patterns while maintaining high performance."
• "Explain the difference between hard links and soft links and when you would use each in a production environment."

AWS and Cloud Architecture

Our cloud footprint is vast and requires careful orchestration. We look for engineers who can design secure, cost-effective, and highly available systems on AWS. You will be evaluated on your ability to leverage managed services while maintaining a clear understanding of the shared responsibility model, especially regarding security and data privacy.

Be ready to go over:

• Core Services – Expertise in EC2, S3, Lambda, and RDS.
• IAM and Security – Crafting least-privilege policies and managing cross-account access.
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC) – Using tools like Terraform or CloudFormation to maintain environment consistency.

Advanced concepts (less common):

• Multi-region failover strategies
• Direct Connect and hybrid cloud integration
• AWS Organizations and Service Control Policies (SCPs)

Site Reliability and Observability

A successful DevOps Engineer at The Cigna Group treats operations as a software problem. You will be tested on your ability to implement monitoring, logging, and alerting that provide actionable insights. We value candidates who understand the "Golden Signals" of monitoring and can design systems that self-heal or provide clear paths for manual intervention during an incident.

Example questions or scenarios:

• "How do you determine the appropriate threshold for an alert to avoid 'alert fatigue'?"
• "Describe a time you managed a major production outage. What was your process for root cause analysis?"
• "How would you implement a blue-green deployment strategy for a mission-critical application?"

Key Responsibilities

Your day-to-day as a DevOps Engineer involves managing the lifecycle of our cloud-native platforms. You will be responsible for the health and performance of the infrastructure that powers our healthcare applications. This includes automating the provisioning of resources, managing container orchestration platforms like Kubernetes, and ensuring that security patches are applied without disrupting service availability.

Collaboration is a core component of this role. You will work closely with application developers to optimize their code for the cloud, helping them understand how their architectural choices impact scalability and cost. You will also partner with security teams to integrate automated compliance checks into the CI/CD pipeline, ensuring that every deployment meets our high standards for data protection.

Typical projects might include migrating legacy workloads to serverless architectures, implementing centralized logging solutions across multiple business units, or developing internal tools that empower developers to self-serve their infrastructure needs. You are expected to be a champion for modern engineering practices, constantly looking for ways to reduce toil and improve the developer experience.

Role Requirements & Qualifications

We are looking for experienced engineers who have a proven track record of managing production environments at scale. A strong candidate for The Cigna Group combines technical "hard skills" with the communication "soft skills" necessary to lead through influence.

• Technical Skills – Proficiency in Linux/Unix administration is non-negotiable. You should have extensive experience with AWS, Terraform, and at least one scripting language (Bash, Python, or Go). Experience with containerization (Docker, ECS, EKS) is highly preferred.
• Experience Level – Typically, we look for 3–5+ years in a DevOps, SRE, or Systems Engineering role. Experience in highly regulated industries (finance, healthcare, or government) is a significant advantage.
• Soft Skills – You must be able to communicate complex technical concepts to non-technical stakeholders. A "growth mindset" and the ability to remain calm under pressure during production incidents are essential.

Must-have skills:

• Advanced Bash scripting and automation.
• Deep understanding of AWS networking and security.
• Experience managing production CI/CD pipelines.

Nice-to-have skills:

• AWS Certified DevOps Engineer or Solutions Architect Professional.
• Experience with Ansible or Chef for configuration management.
• Knowledge of healthcare data standards and compliance frameworks.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How difficult are the technical rounds? A: Candidates often describe the technical rounds as "difficult" or "in-depth." You should expect to be questioned on the "why" behind your answers, not just the "what." Shallow knowledge will be quickly identified.

Q: Is there a heavy focus on coding? A: Yes, particularly in the initial stages. You should be very comfortable with Bash coding and objective questions regarding systems logic. While you don't need to be a software developer, your scripting skills must be production-ready.

Q: What is the work culture like for DevOps Engineers? A: The culture is collaborative and mission-oriented. Because The Cigna Group is a large organization, you will interact with many different teams, requiring strong communication skills and a patient, professional demeanor.

Q: How long does the hiring process take? A: Typically, the process from initial screen to offer takes 3 to 5 weeks. We aim for a "straightforward" experience, but the coordination of multiple technical rounds can take time.

Other General Tips

• Master the Fundamentals: Don't get distracted by the newest "shiny" tools. At The Cigna Group, we value a rock-solid understanding of Linux and AWS basics over a surface-level knowledge of every tool on the CNCF landscape.
• Focus on Security: Given our industry, security is never an afterthought. In every answer you give, consider the security implications. Mentioning encryption, IAM roles, and compliance will set you apart.

• Be Vocal During Coding: When working through Bash or scripting problems, explain your thought process. Even if you struggle with a specific syntax, showing that you understand the logic and the "DevOps way" of solving the problem is crucial.
• Showcase Leadership: Even if the role doesn't have "Lead" in the title, we look for leadership skills. Talk about times you mentored others, improved a process for the whole team, or took ownership of a critical system.

Summary & Next Steps

A DevOps Engineer position at The Cigna Group is a high-impact role that offers the chance to work on complex, large-scale systems that matter. By focusing your preparation on Linux internals, AWS architecture, and a proactive approach to problem-solving, you can demonstrate the technical and professional maturity we look for.

The most successful candidates are those who can bridge the gap between deep technical execution and strategic business value. As you prepare, remember to frame your experiences in terms of the impact you had on reliability, security, and team efficiency. For more detailed insights into specific interview patterns and additional practice resources, you can explore further on Dataford.

The compensation for this role is competitive and reflects the high level of expertise required. When evaluating the salary data, consider your specific location and years of experience, as these are primary drivers of the final offer. At The Cigna Group, we also provide a comprehensive benefits package that supports your total well-being, aligning with our mission as a healthcare leader.