Senior Data Scientist, OI Payment Integrity - Remote

UnitedHealth Group Inc.•Eden Prairie, MN

30d•Remote

About The Position

Optum is a global organization 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 inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. Optum's Payment Integrity Decision Intelligence division is expanding and seeking a Sr. Data Scientist to help drive our mission of achieving accurate and effortless claims payments through advanced analytics and machine learning. We are looking for a disciplined, self-motivated professional with expertise in large language models (LLMs), predictive modeling, and healthcare data analytics. The ideal candidate will have a solid portfolio of projects and a passion for solving complex problems using data. 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. 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.

Requirements

3+ years of professional experience developing and deploying predictive models using machine learning, deep learning, NLP, or related techniques OR PhD in a related field with solid applied research experience
3+ years of experience using machine learning libraries and frameworks such as Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, and SparkML in applied modeling
3+ years of experience programming in Python or R for data science, machine learning
Familiarity with large language model (LLM) frameworks (e.g., Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, LangGraph, OpenAI APIs)
All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group's Telecommuter Policy

Responsibilities

Utilize large language models (LLMs) to enhance and expand analytic methodologies across core product lines
Design and implement end-to-end data science pipelines, encompassing data ingestion, feature engineering, model development, deployment, and performance monitoring
Collaborate with engineering and product teams to deploy robust, scalable machine learning models in production environments
Effectively communicate complex technical concepts, insights, and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders
Lead innovation initiatives in machine learning and AI, identifying and executing opportunities to enhance model performance, operational efficiency, and business value
Operate independently to solve complex, high-impact problems and drive strategic data science initiatives across teams
Mentor and support junior data scientists by promoting technical excellence, code quality, and collaborative best practices across the team
Drive cross-functional alignment between data science, engineering, product, and business teams to ensure models are aligned with strategic goals and deliver measurable impact
Evaluate and integrate emerging technologies and methodologies (eg, foundation models, retrieval-augmented generation) to maintain a cutting-edge data science practice