As Silicon Valley retrenches, a tech talent shift accelerates

Priya Natarajan, a seasoned software engineer, was restless this year and looking for her next career move. She wanted two things: a job where her technical skills would be put to good use in a field that could make “a big impact on the world,” she said.

Natarajan, 36, chose health care. In July, she left Amazon, where she had been for nearly 14 years, to join Optum Labs, a research arm of UnitedHealth Group, a big insurer and health services provider. During the recruitment process, she became convinced that the company was committed to being a leader in using data and technology to improve health care.