AI or ML Lead – IT Operations – Hybrid in MN or DC or Remote elsewhere

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.

We’re seeking a visionary AI/ML Lead to drive innovation in IT Operations through intelligent automation, predictive analytics, and agentic AI. This role will lead the design and deployment of scalable machine learning systems that enhance observability, accelerate incident response, and enable self-healing infrastructure across the enterprise.

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:

• AI/ML Technical Leadership: Lead the design and delivery of enterprise scale AI/ML capabilities for IT operations, including predictive analytics, intelligent automation, and autonomous remediation
• Data & Platform Engineering: Architect and oversee robust, scalable data pipelines ingesting structured and unstructured data from observability and ITSM platforms (e.g., Splunk, Dynatrace, ServiceNow, logs, metrics, traces)
• Feature Engineering & Model Enablement: Define and govern high quality feature frameworks supporting anomaly detection, predictive alerting, capacity forecasting, and operational intelligence use cases
• Model Operationalization: Partner with data scientists and platform teams to operationalize ML models, ensuring production readiness across performance, scalability, reliability, and maintainability
• AI Driven Automation: Integrate ML and AI insights into orchestration and automation platforms (e.g., Jenkins, Interlink) to enable closed loop, self healing operational workflows
• Agentic AI Systems: Design and guide the implementation of agentic AI solutions capable of reasoning, planning, and executing actions across IT operations, including incident triage, root cause analysis, and resolution
• MLOps & Governance: Establish and enforce MLOps standards, model lifecycle management, and data governance practices aligned with enterprise security, privacy, and compliance requirements
• Cloud & Infrastructure Enablement: Leverage cloud native and hybrid architectures to support real time analytics, scalable model inference, and resilient AI platforms
• Cross Functional Collaboration: Collaborate with engineering, operations, security, and business stakeholders to define requirements, document architectures, and contribute reusable patterns for AI driven operations
• Responsible AI: Translate emerging AI research into production ready capabilities while embedding ethical AI principles, including fairness, transparency, explainability, and accountability, throughout the lifecycle

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:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field and equivalent advanced practical experience or higher in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field (or equivalent practical experience)
• 6+ years of experience building and deploying AI/ML solutions in enterprise production environments
• 5+ years of experience applying ML to IT operations, infrastructure, reliability engineering, or observability domains
• 5+ years of experience in Python and SQL, with hands on experience using distributed data processing frameworks such as Spark
• 5+ years of experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP), including hybrid and cloud native architectures
• 5+ years of experience implementing MLOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, model monitoring, and lifecycle management
• 3+ years of experience with NLP, Large Language Models (LLMs), Generative AI, and modern AI frameworks
• 2+ years of experience with containerization and orchestration technologies such as Docker and Kubernetes
• 2+ years of experience leading complex technical initiatives and influence architecture and platform decisions across teams

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience designing and deploying agentic or autonomous AI systems in operational contexts
• Experience leading AI/ML initiatives, mentoring engineers or data scientists, and setting technical direction
• Experience in healthcare, regulated industries, or large scale enterprise platforms
• Proven experience working in agile, product driven environments delivering scalable, high impact solutions
• Solid understanding of IT operations concepts, including incident management, CMDB, monitoring, alerting, and reliability engineering
• Familiarity with Responsible AI and governance frameworks, including fairness, transparency, and explainability
• Proven solid technical communication skills, including the ability to explain complex AI concepts to senior and non technical stakeholders

*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 $112,700 to $193,200 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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