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 they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Optum AI is chartered to drive value on high impact enterprise AI problems, democratize AI through the enterprise ML platform, accelerate the adoption of Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen AI) and drive Responsible AI. Projecting to deliver $8.4B of benefit value over the next 5 years through these efforts as well as reduce risk through safe, accurate, and unbiased AI, this is a key focus of the enterprise.

Join our OptumAI Team, as a Principal AI/M Software Engineer, which works on solving complex data analytics and AI/ML problems, including clinical event prediction, document review automation, user communication experience analysis and automation, recommendations, search problems, and others. We are an innovation-driven team that leverages Machine Learning (ML) to optimize and re-risk healthcare and digital experiences. On this team, you would work with brilliant data scientists and engineers to build end-to-end solutions to meet product needs. We are also very passionate about our engineering excellence and pride ourselves of releasing solid solutions to production. We leverage state-of-the-art machine learning and strive for high-accuracy and low latency solutions.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Apply advanced statistical and predictive modeling techniques to optimize healthcare and digital experiences
• Propose innovative ways to look at problems using data mining, statistical analysis, and machine learning
• Seek out new data sources and verify integrity of data to fill gaps and improve models
• Collaborate effectively with internal clients, transforming their needs into analytics, predictive modeling, and business intelligence use cases
• Communicate findings, verbally and visually, to business partners and clients
• Provide tracking and monitoring of model performance and recommend ongoing improvements to methods and algorithms
• Lead and mentor junior data scientists and engineers
• Commit to ethical AI development

You’ll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• MS degree in computer science, applied mathematics, (bio) statistics, applied statistics, economics, or similar quantitative fields of study with 5+ years of relevant work experience or BS degree with 8+ years of relevant work experience
• Proven track record in analytics and ML modeling using traditional and deep learning techniques in industry and/or academia
• Thorough understanding of machine learning and statistical fundamentals
• Proficiency in python and state-of-the-art traditional and deep learning ML frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, pytorch, tensorflow, pyspark)
• Expertise in managing the entire ML system development process, including deployment and maintenance aspects

Preferred Qualification:

• Ph.D. degree in computer science, applied mathematics, (bio) statistics, applied statistics, economics, or similar quantitative fields of study with 3+ years of relevant work experience
• Experience in at least 2 of the following areas: LLM-based conversational AI and healthcare process automation, LLM preference alignment, fraud detection (supervised, semi-supervised, anomaly detection), NLP for search engines (named entity recognition, intent classification, question answering, spelling correction, autocompletion), automatic speech recognition, machine translation, and cold-start recommendations, with a focus on problem-solving and innovation in a dynamic environment
• Proven solid analytical and problem-solving skills
• Proven ability to translate business needs and requirements into technical solutions

*All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, or Washington Residents Only: The salary range for this role is $122,100 to $234,700 annually. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. UnitedHealth Group complies with all minimum wage laws as applicable. In addition to your salary, UnitedHealth Group offers benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with UnitedHealth Group, you’ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives.

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.

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.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.