Lead AI Software Engineer - Remote

UnitedHealth Group•Minnetonka, MN

18h•$112,700 - $193,200•Remote

About The Position

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. 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.

Requirements

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Data Science, Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience
12+ years of software engineering experience, including 4+ years focused on AI/ML engineering
4+ years delivering enterprise-scale AI, ML, Data, or Cloud platforms in production
3+ years in a technical leadership role — setting technical direction, leading engineering teams, and mentoring engineers (formal people-management experience is a plus, not a requirement)
Hands-on experience with Generative AI, including 3+ years with LLMs, NLP, and AI architecture, and 2+ years of applied experience with agentic AI patterns, RAG, and AI orchestration/automation frameworks
Experience with cloud-native AI/ML services and infrastructure across major providers — e.g., managed GenAI/ML platforms (AWS Bedrock/SageMaker, Azure OpenAI Service/Azure ML, GCP Vertex AI), serverless compute (Lambda/Azure Functions/Cloud Functions), container orchestration (ECS/EKS, AKS, GKE), managed search/vector stores (OpenSearch, Azure AI Search, Elasticsearch), and object storage (S3, Blob Storage, Cloud Storage)
Experience with AI governance, model lifecycle management, and production operationalization/support processes
Strong Python development skills and familiarity with enterprise-scale AI/ML platforms

Nice To Haves

Experience scoping and delivering large, cross-team AI initiatives (budget/program-management experience is a plus)
Exposure to healthcare payer, claims, provider operations, utilization management, or other regulated industries
Experience driving enterprise cloud modernization or platform transformation initiatives
Strong stakeholder communication and cross-functional collaboration skills

Responsibilities

Lead AI/ML adoption for the team — designing, developing, testing, deploying, and maintaining AI-powered solutions that combine Generative AI and traditional ML techniques
Provide technical leadership for AI initiatives (e.g., conversational AI/chatbots, predictive analytics, intelligent automation), partnering with product management, architecture, and engineering leadership to solve healthcare-specific challenges
Build responsible AI solutions and services for the Provider community, ensuring compliance with ethical and regulatory standards, and lead AI governance, model lifecycle management, and production support
Evaluate and leverage emerging cloud AI/ML offerings to deliver efficient, cost-effective solutions, including integrating AI into broader cloud modernization and digital-first initiatives
Drive alignment between AI initiatives and enterprise strategy, independently prioritizing and planning work against business objectives
Own the quality and operational excellence of AI software deliverables in production
Mentor and train team members on AI/ML technologies, frameworks, and responsible AI practices