Lead AI Engineer, AI-First Platform & SDLC

UnitedHealth Group; Charleston (WV); Remote; USD 113,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Benefits package

Equity stock purchase

401k contribution

Job summary

UnitedHealth Group seeks a Lead Engineer to set the AI-First engineering direction for the PATH platform, guiding requirements, architecture, coding, and deployment. You will lead AI SDLC adoption across all stages and drive AI-driven productivity gains, governance, and responsible innovation.

You will mentor teams on prompt engineering, RAG, and AI solution architecture, while collaborating across enterprise functions to deliver secure, scalable health tech solutions.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of enterprise software engineering experience.
• 5+ years in lead engineer, architect, or senior technical leadership roles.
• 3+ years leading AI transformation, AI-enabled SDLC initiatives, or enterprise AI adoption programs.
• Hands-on experience with Generative AI, Agentic AI, LLMs, RAG, vector databases, AI orchestration, and model evaluation.
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g., AWS), DevSecOps, CI/CD automation, monitoring, and observability tools.
• Experience in government or regulated environments (e.g., Human Services, Medicaid, SNAP, TANF, Child Welfare, or Eligibility systems).

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the AI-First engineering vision, architecture, and roadmap for the PATH platform.
• Lead AI Software Development Lifecycle (SDLC) adoption across requirements, design, coding, testing, deployment, operations, and support.
• Establish measurable productivity, quality, and efficiency goals through AI-powered engineering practices.
• Drive adoption of Generative AI, Agentic AI, copilots, intelligent automation, and knowledge-driven workflows.
• Implement AI-assisted software development, code reviews, test generation, documentation, incident analysis, and DevSecOps automation.
• Build governance frameworks, responsible AI controls, model evaluation frameworks, security guardrails, and compliance standards.
• Mentor teams on prompt engineering, Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), agent frameworks, AI observability, and AI solution architecture.
• Act as a senior technical leader and escalation point for critical application, integration, data, batch, cloud architecture, and production issues.
• Translate complex business and regulatory requirements into technical designs, implementation plans, and engineering deliverables.
• Integrate enterprise AI tools, set AI goals in development plans, and champion responsible and ethical technology usage across engineering teams.

Skills

AI Transformation

Lead Engineer

SDLC

Cloud Platforms AWS

DevSecOps

Governance & Compliance

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

CI/CD tools

Monitoring/Observability

Vector databases

RAG

AI orchestration

Job description

UnitedHealth Group seeks a Lead Engineer to set the AI-First engineering direction for the PATH platform, guiding requirements, architecture, coding, and deployment. You will lead AI SDLC adoption across all stages and drive AI-driven productivity gains, governance, and responsible innovation.

You will mentor teams on prompt engineering, RAG, and AI solution architecture, while collaborating across enterprise functions to deliver secure, scalable health tech solutions.