Lead AI/ML Engineer

Lead AI/ML Engineer- Dublin & Letterkenny, Ireland

Optum is a global organisation 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 resources 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. 
 
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 the investment, support, and resources to advance your career. You’ll provide the talent, ambition, and drive. 
 

As a Lead AI/ML Engineer at Optum, you will leverage cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies to transform and optimize healthcare operations. Your work will focus on designing, developing, and deploying AI/ML models and systems that address real-world challenges. You will collaborate closely with product, data, and engineering teams to deliver scalable, reliable, and maintainable AI/ML solutions, ensuring continuous improvement and measurable business impact. 

Schedule: This is a full-time position with standard working hours of Monday – Friday, 9am – 5pm.

 Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin or Letterkenny office and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model.

 Primary Responsibilities of the Lead AI/ML Engineer:

• Analyze business problems and identify opportunities for AI/ML-driven solutions. 

• Design, develop, and deploy predictive and prescriptive models to support decision-making. 

• Build end-to-end AI/ML pipelines, including:

  • Data ingestion and preprocessing 

  • Feature engineering 

  • Model training, validation, and deployment 

     

• Productionize models as scalable APIs or microservices using AI/ML Ops best practices (CI/CD, containerization, orchestration). 

• Monitor model performance in production, detect drift, retrain models, and manage the full model lifecycle. 

• Optimize models for latency, throughput, and cost efficiency. 

• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to integrate AI/ML solutions into business processes. 

• Stay current with emerging trends in AI, machine learning, and cloud technologies. 

• Ensure ethical AI practices, including fairness, explainability, privacy, and compliance with relevant regulations. 

 You will be rewarded and recognised 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 Lead AI/ML Engineer:

• Bachelor’s degree (or higher) in Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related field or equivalent experience

• Proven experience in analyzing business challenges and designing AI/ML-driven solutions

• Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python, Java, or PySpark

• Hands-on experience with predictive and prescriptive modelling, Generative AI, or related technologies

• Familiarity with cloud platforms and services (AWS, GCP, or Azure)

 Preferred Qualifications of the Lead AI/ML Engineer:

• Experience with observability and monitoring tools for AI/ML systems

• Background in DevOps or data engineering

• Ability to design innovative AI solutions for complex problems

 Soft Skills of the Lead AI/ML Engineer:

• Fast learner with a self-driven mindset

• Strong problem-solving and analytical thinking abilities 

• Excellent communication skills to explain technical decisions to non-technical stakeholders

• Collaborative team player with a bias toward action and continuous learning

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. © 2025 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.

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