Lead AI/ML Engineer

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 in making healthcare work better for everyone through people-led, responsible AI while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Optum Technology Digital team is on a mission to disrupt the healthcare industry, transforming UHG into an industry-leading Consumer brand. We deliver hyper-personalized digital solutions that empower direct-to-consumer, digital-first experiences, educating, guiding, and empowering consumers to access the right care at the right time. Our mission is to revolutionize healthcare for patients and providers by delivering cutting-edge, personalized and conversational digital solutions. We're Consumer Obsessed, ensuring they receive exceptional support throughout their healthcare journeys. As we drive this transformation, we're revolutionizing customer interactions with the healthcare system, leveraging AI, cloud computing, and other disruptive technologies to tackle complex challenges. Serving UnitedHealth Group's digital technology needs, the Consumer Engineering team impacts millions of lives through UnitedHealthcare & Optum. 

The Optum Technology Chief Digital Office (CDO) Leadership team is transforming Optum to be an industry-leading Consumer brand. We are on a journey towards delivering a best-in-the-industry consumer experience to our patients and providers by delivering personalized digital solutions that support our consumers throughout their healthcare journeys. This team is transforming to meet the moment - to begin radically altering the way our customers engage with the healthcare system using modern tech to solve some of the most complex problems experienced along the way.

Serving all of UnitedHealth Group's digital technology needs, the CDO team is responsible for driving outcomes across nearly 30 million+ human lives with UnitedHealthcare insurance, a number which puts UHC at the top of the pack as the largest managed care provider in the United States.

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 the design, development, and deployment of AI/ML solutions powering the Desktop of the Future platform
• Define and implement the enterprise AI architecture supporting AI Assist, Agentic Workflows, Next Best Actions, Knowledge Retrieval, Call Summaries, and Intelligent Automation
• Design and build scalable Agentic AI solutions leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs), AI orchestration frameworks, and autonomous workflow capabilities
• Develop and optimize Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) solutions that provide accurate, contextual, and explainable responses from enterprise knowledge sources
• Establish AI governance, model evaluation, monitoring, observability, and responsible AI practices to ensure reliable and trustworthy outcomes
• Drive continuous improvement of AI capabilities through model optimization, prompt engineering, performance tuning, and experimentation
• Collaborate with Product, Architecture, Security, Engineering, UX, and Business teams to translate business needs into AI-enabled experiences
• Create AI frameworks and reusable services that can be leveraged across multiple lines of business and enterprise products
• Design human-in-the-loop workflows, confidence scoring mechanisms, and AI-to-human handoff strategies
• Lead technical evaluation and adoption of emerging AI technologies, tools, and platforms.
• Mentor and provide technical leadership to AI/ML engineers, software engineers, and data scientists
• Establish best practices for AI engineering, MLOps, testing, deployment, scalability, and operational excellence
• Ensure compliance with enterprise security, privacy, risk, and regulatory requirements, including HIPAA and PHI handling standards

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.

#OptumTechPJ

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Engineering, Data Science, or a related field
• 8+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ years focused on AI/ML solution development
• 3+ years of experience serving as a technical lead, architect, or lead engineer for enterprise AI initiatives
• Proven experience designing, developing, and deploying AI/ML solutions in production environments
• Hands-on experience with Large Language Models (LLMs) such as GPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, or similar technologies
• Experience building enterprise-scale RAG, semantic search, vector database, and knowledge retrieval solutions
• Demonstrated solid proficiency in Python and modern AI frameworks such as LangChain, LangGraph, Semantic Kernel, LlamaIndex, PyTorch, or TensorFlow
• Experience developing AI orchestration, multi-agent systems, conversational AI, or intelligent workflow solutions
• Demonstrated solid understanding of MLOps, model lifecycle management, AI observability, and production operations
• Experience with cloud-native AI solutions on Azure, AWS, or GCP
• Demonstrated solid understanding of distributed systems, APIs, microservices, and enterprise software architecture
• Experience implementing secure, compliant, and scalable AI solutions in enterprise environments
• Demonstrated excellent communication and stakeholder management skills with the ability to influence technical and business leaders
• Proven success improving AI performance through prompt engineering, model tuning, retrieval optimization, inference optimization, and evaluation frameworks
• Demonstrated experience improving AI quality metrics including accuracy, latency, response relevance, hallucination reduction, user adoption, and business outcomes
• Experience implementing AI observability, monitoring, guardrails, feedback loops, and continuous learning frameworks in production environments
• Experience building and optimizing conversational AI, agent-assist platforms, copilots, virtual assistants, or digital employee experiences
• Experience integrating AI solutions with enterprise systems including CRM, knowledge management, workflow orchestration, and case management platforms
• Experience building reusable enterprise AI platforms supporting multiple business units and large-scale adoption
• Proven track record of transforming AI proof-of-concepts into scalable, production-ready enterprise solutions

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Healthcare industry experience, including payer, provider, pharmacy, care management, population health, or member services
• Demonstrated solid understanding of HIPAA, PHI handling, healthcare workflows, and healthcare regulatory requirements
• Experience designing AI solutions for contact center, customer service, member service, or advocate desktop environments
• Demonstrated familiarity with contact center technologies, telephony platforms, CRM systems, workforce optimization tools, and omnichannel engagement solutions
• Experience leveraging AI to improve operational metrics such as:
  • Average Handle Time (AHT)
  • First Contact Resolution (FCR)
  • Advocate Productivity
  • Knowledge Retrieval Efficiency
  • Call Summarization Accuracy
  • Next Best Action Recommendations
  • Customer and Member Satisfaction
• Experience with Azure OpenAI, Azure AI Foundry, Azure AI Search, and modern AI platform technologies
• Experience working in highly regulated environments where security, governance, compliance, and auditability are critical

*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 help make the health system work better for everyone. Together, we are shaping the future of healthcare by harnessing technology and innovation to make care simpler to navigate, more affordable and more connected for the people we serve. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued, heard and respected, empowering people to bring their authentic selves to work and strengthening our collective impact through diverse talents, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.

UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated brands are 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 and its affiliated brands are a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.