Lead AI/ML Engineer - Remote
About The Position
As a Lead AI/ML Engineer within Optum Technology, you will drive the design, development, and deployment of AI and machine learning solutions across enterprise health technology platforms. You will lead efforts to build scalable ML pipelines, automate complex tasks, and turn healthcare data into actionable insights to improve care delivery and operational efficiency. In collaboration with engineering and business teams, you will use enterprise-approved AI platforms and modern cloud technology to deliver secure, resilient, high-impact solutions, while emphasizing responsible AI. The position is remote from anywhere in the U.S. Employees hired in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area must work in the office at least four days per week. Remote employees must follow UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy. The role includes technical leadership, architectural guidance, and mentorship across AI and software initiatives.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree or at least 6 years of equivalent software engineering or machine learning experience.
- At least 6 years of software engineering or machine learning engineering experience.
- At least 6 years of experience with Python, Java, or JavaScript, including working knowledge of agent frameworks such as LangGraph, LangChain, LlamaIndex, Semantic Kernel, or CrewAI.
- At least 5 years of experience integrating third-party APIs and building production backend services.
- At least 4 years of experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP), containers, and CI/CD pipelines.
- At least 3 years of hands-on experience building with LLMs, including prompt engineering, tool/function calling, and agent or multi-step orchestration.
- At least 3 years of experience designing and shipping production RAG systems, including embeddings, vector databases, and retrieval evaluation.
- At least 2 years of experience building LLM evaluation and testing workflows rather than relying on manual spot checks.
- Remote employees must adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.
- Candidates must pass a drug test before beginning employment.
Nice To Haves
- Master’s or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field.
- Experience with model fine-tuning or parameter-efficient fine-tuning (PEFT) techniques.
- Experience integrating agents with enterprise observability and security platforms via APIs and MCP-style tool interfaces.
- Demonstrated ability to work across multidisciplinary teams, such as SRE, InfoSec, and platform engineering, and translate operational pain points into technical requirements.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions for complex business challenges, emphasizing responsible AI use.
- Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement.
- Evaluate emerging trends to inform solution design and strategic innovation.
- Lead the architecture, implementation, and maintenance of scalable machine learning models and end-to-end MLOps pipelines.
- Collaborate with software engineering, data engineering, and product teams to integrate AI/ML capabilities into health technology applications.
- Establish engineering standards and best practices for model monitoring, testing, continuous integration, and lifecycle management.
- Provide technical mentorship and architectural guidance to engineering team members across AI and software initiatives.
Benefits
- Comprehensive benefits package, subject to eligibility requirements.
- Incentive and recognition programs.
- Equity stock purchase plan.
- 401(k) contribution.
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Senior
