The Principal Data Scientist will design and implement advanced AI/ML systems lead development of large-scale machine learning solutions and drive AI innovation in healthcare while mentoring other data scientists.

Requisition Number: 2362793
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.
Transform Healthcare Through AI Innovation at Optum
Optum is a global organization delivering care powered by data and technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. At Optum.ai we are not just witnessing the AI transformation in healthcare-we are leading it. Our mission is clear: to simplify healthcare with AI turning insight into action at a scale few organizations in the world can match.
As part of the Optum.ai team you'll work at the intersection of cutting-edge artificial intelligence and real-world healthcare impact. From reducing administrative burden for providers to anticipating patient needs and improving access to quality care your work will help solve some of healthcare's most complex challenges-and directly improve health outcomes for millions of people.
You'll collaborate with world-class talent across data science engineering product and healthcare domains backed by the reach and stability of Optum and UnitedHealth Group. Here responsible innovation matters. So do comprehensive benefits meaningful career growth and the opportunity to make a tangible difference-advancing health equity and creating a simpler more connected healthcare experience for everyone.
This is more than a job. It's a chance to shape the future of healthcare through the transformative power of AI.
Optum AI is UnitedHealth Group's enterprise AI team. We are AI/ML scientists and engineers with deep expertise in AI/ML engineering for healthcare. We develop AI/ML solutions for the highest impact opportunities across UnitedHealth Group businesses including UnitedHealthcare Optum Financial Optum Health Optum Insight and Optum Rx. In addition to transforming the healthcare journey through responsible AI/ML innovation our charter also includes developing and supporting an enterprise AI/ML development platform.
As a Principal Data Scientist you will serve as a senior individual contributor responsible for designing and delivering advanced AI/ML and Generative AI systems that address complex healthcare and operational challenges. You will lead the development of large-scale machine learning solutions architect GenAI and agent-based systems and drive technical innovation across high-impact AI initiatives. This role requires deep hands-on expertise in machine learning LLM systems distributed AI architectures and production-grade ML platforms.
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:

• Lead development of advanced AI/ML systems using techniques such as deep learning representation learning time-series modeling survival analysis and probabilistic modeling to solve complex healthcare problems
• Develop Generative AI and LLM-powered solutions including retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) pipelines domain-adapted LLMs and AI copilots for enterprise workflows
• Architect scalable AI and ML systems including feature engineering pipelines feature stores model training workflows model serving infrastructure monitoring systems and automated retraining pipelines
• Build agentic AI and autonomous workflows using agent frameworks agentic skills MCP integrations and agent-to-agent (A2A) communication patterns
• Advance model evaluation reliability and monitoring strategies including offline metrics LLM benchmarking safety testing hallucination mitigation and drift detection
• Drive responsible AI practices including explainability interpretability bias detection fairness evaluation and governance aligned with enterprise and regulatory standards
• Serve as a senior technical authority in AI/ML by mentoring data scientists and reviewing complex modeling approaches and architectures
• Collaborate with engineering platform and product teams to operationalize scalable AI/ML and GenAI systems within enterprise platforms

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 experience in machine learning artificial intelligence or applied data science with 7+ years of designing and deploying production machine learning systems
• 8+ years of experience in Python-based machine learning development using frameworks such as PyTorch TensorFlow or equivalent along with solid SQL skills
• 5+ years of experience deploying production ML systems including model serving monitoring ML lifecycle management and collaboration with engineering teams
• 3+ years of experience developing Generative AI or LLM-based applications including prompt engineering RAG pipelines LLM evaluation and safety guardrails
• 1+ years of experience building or evaluating agentic AI systems including AI agents agentic skills Model Context Protocol (MCP) agent-to-agent (A2A) interaction patterns or autonomous workflows

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience working with distributed ML systems and large-scale data platforms such as Spark Databricks Ray or Kubernetes-based ML systems
• Experience deploying AI solutions on cloud platforms such as AWS Azure or GCP
• Experience working with healthcare datasets and standards such as claims EHR ICD CPT SNOMED FHIR or HL7
• External contributions such as publications patents or open-source projects in machine learning or generative AI

*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 $112700 to $193200 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.
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