Lead AI/ML Engineer (Data Science)

What the role needs

• Own the end-to-end AI/ML technical roadmap, defining architectural direction, choosing optimal technologies, and establishing engineering and coding standards for the team's portfolio
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement across the development lifecycle, optimizing team productivity and operational efficiency
• Evaluate emerging trends and technologies (such as Agentic AI, foundation models, fine-tuning, and enterprise AI tooling) to inform high-quality solution design and strategic innovation
• Drive MLOps maturity across development pipelines, overseeing model versioning, CI/CD for ML, retraining automation, drift detection, and production monitoring
• Ensure compliance and ethical governance by aligning solutions with enterprise policies, Responsible AI principles, and data privacy regulations (HIPAA/PHI handling)
• Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 5-10 direct/indirect AI/ML engineers, setting clear goals, conducting regular 1:1s, and fostering a high-performance, self-managed culture
• Own and conduct robust technical reviews (architecture, design, and code reviews) to enforce rigorous standards, security posture, and pythonic best practices
• 10+ years of software development experience with a strong engineering and architecture foundation
• 2+ years of hands-on experience in AI/ML project implementation (full lifecycle from ideation, data analysis, model development through production deployment)
• Hands-on experience with NLP (text processing, embeddings, transformers, NER, text classification, or conversational AI)
• Working experience with GenAI (RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, LLM integration, fine-tuning techniques like LoRA, and enterprise deployment)
• Experience or strong working knowledge of Agentic AI development (agentic workflows, tool orchestration, multi-agent systems, or planning frameworks)

From the employer

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives. Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. This is a high-impact technical leadership role within the Optum Tech AI Transformation team, supporting key enterprise initiatives such as the Real-Time AI Underwriting platform. You will own the technical direction and people leadership for a squad of AI/ML engineers, driving strategic engineering efforts. Beyond building, you will lead, mentor, govern, and ensure that everything your team delivers meets the highest standards of quality, compliance, and Responsible AI. You'll serve as a bridge between engineering execution and leadership vision, ensuring AI investments translate into measurable, production-grade business outcomes. You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week. Primary Responsibilities: • Design, develop, and deploy production-grade AI-powered solutions-spanning classical ML, Generative AI (LLMs, RAG, Graph RAG), and multi-agent orchestration frameworks-to address complex business challenges with emphasis on responsible and secure AI practices • Own the end-to-end AI/ML technical roadmap, defining architectural direction, choosing optimal technologies, and establishing engineering and coding standards for the team's portfolio • Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement across the development lifecycle, optimizing team productivity and operational efficiency • Evaluate emerging trends and technologies (such as Agentic AI, foundation models, fine-tuning, and enterprise AI tooling) to inform high-quality solution design and strategic innovation • Drive MLOps maturity across development pipelines, overseeing model versioning, CI/CD for ML, retraining automation, drift detection, and production monitoring • Ensure compliance and ethical governance by aligning solutions with enterprise policies, Responsible AI principles, and data privacy regulations (HIPAA/PHI handling) • Lead, mentor, and develop a team of 5-10 direct/indirect AI/ML engineers, setting clear goals, conducting regular 1:1s, and fostering a high-performance, self-managed culture • Own and conduct robust technical reviews (architecture, design, and code reviews) to enforce rigorous standards, security posture, and pythonic best practices 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: • 10+ years of software development experience with a strong engineering and architecture foundation • 2+ years of hands-on experience in AI/ML project implementation (full lifecycle from ideation, data analysis, model development through production deployment) • Hands-on experience with NLP (text processing, embeddings, transformers, NER, text classification, or conversational AI) • Working experience with GenAI (RAG pipelines, prompt engineering, LLM integration, fine-tuning techniques like LoRA, and enterprise deployment) • Experience or strong working knowledge of Agentic AI development (agentic workflows, tool orchestration, multi-agent systems, or planning frameworks) • Very solid Python programming skills with deep proficiency in production-grade coding, code reviews, and enforcing standards • Driver's license and access to reliable transportation Preferred Qualifications: • Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related field (or equivalent professional experience) • Experience with MLOps tooling (MLflow, Weights & Biases, Kubeflow, etc.) for experiment tracking, model registry, and automation • Familiarity with Responsible AI frameworks (bias detection, fairness metrics, model explainability like SHAP/LIME, and adversarial red-teaming) • Knowledge of Graph RAG, knowledge graphs, and ontology-based reasoning systems *All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group's Telecommuter Policy. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer 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 us, you'll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $145,500 - $249,500 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable. 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. UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations. UnitedHealth Group is a drug - free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment. #optumtechpj