Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics

Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics- Dublin, Letterkenny

UnitedHealth Group is a health care and well-being company that’s dedicated to improving the health outcomes of millions around the world. We are comprised of two distinct and complementary businesses, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, working to build a better health system for all. Here, your contributions matter as they will help transform health care for years to come. Make an impact with a diverse team that shares your passion for helping others. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

In healthcare, evolution doesn’t just happen. It takes innovation, imagination, and a passion for solving problems in new and better ways. And innovation is taking place at a lightning-fast pace every day at Optum.  

As the fastest growing part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, we’re expanding our team in Ireland and creating excellent opportunities for those who want greater purpose and more impact in their work. We’ll provide investment, support, and resources to advance your career. You’ll provide the talent, ambition, and drive.

About the Role:

As part of the fastest-growing segment of UnitedHealth Group, we’re expanding our team in Ireland. We offer the investment, support, and resources to grow your career, while you bring the talent, ambition, and drive.

As a Principal Data Scientist on the UnitedHealthcare Network & Payment Integrity Analytics team, you’ll play a key role in applying advanced analytics to lower the cost of healthcare for our members. You’ll lead high-impact projects, collaborate with senior stakeholders, and help drive innovation across provider networks and claims data platforms.

Primary Responsibilities of the Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics:

• Code daily to build and deploy impactful data science solutions, taking full ownership of projects, delivering measurable improvements in healthcare cost, quality, and access.

• Lead by example as a hands-on technical expert, writing production-grade code and contributing directly to the development of big data systems, pipelines, tools and models.

• Collaborate closely with business and technical leadership, acting as a strategic thought partner to shape the roadmap for provider networks, claims data, and member experience.

• Triage AI and ML opportunities, define business requirements, and lead development of solutions aligned with strategic goals

• Mentor and elevate the data science team, conducting code reviews, setting technical standards, and fostering a culture of curiosity, rigor, and continuous learning.

• Translate complex healthcare data into actionable insights.

• Proactively surface emerging risks and opportunities, using anomaly detection, fraud analytics, and pattern recognition to inform strategic interventions.

• Contribute to the evolution of data science infrastructure.

• Represent the data science function in executive forums, clearly communicating technical insights and their strategic implications to influence decisions and investments.

• Develop your understanding of healthcare and the U.S. healthcare system, ensuring that solutions are context-aware and impactful.

You will 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 providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications of the Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics:

• Undergraduate degree in a quantitative field such as mathematics, statistics, computer science, actuarial science, engineering, or related discipline or equivalent experience

• Deep expertise in SQL and Python/R with a strong track record of building data science solutions

• Demonstrated ability to solve complex technical problems through hands-on coding and model development

• Proven experience applying data science to real-world business challenges, driving measurable impact

Preferred Qualifications of the Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics:

• Master’s degree, PhD in a quantitative field or relevant professional qualification.

Soft skills of the Principal Data Scientist – Network & PI Analytics:

• Strong communication skills, with the ability to explain technical concepts to diverse audiences and influence decision-making

• Leadership in collaborative, cross-functional settings, including mentoring and setting technical direction

 Please note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country to which you are making an application. Proof will be required to support your application.

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 marginalised 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: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug-free workplace. © 2023 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.

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