Lead AI/ML Engineer - Digital Experience - Remote

UnitedHealth Group; Eden Prairie (MN); Remote; USD 146,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

UnitedHealth Group seeks a Lead AI/ML Engineer to design, build, and operationalize AI capabilities across Enterprise Finance. Lead LLM workflows, RAG, agents, and governance with security and Responsible AI in mind. Remote work from anywhere in the U.S.

with in-office requirements for Minneapolis or DC four days a week for local hires. You will collaborate with Finance, Data Engineering, Architecture, and Security to deliver scalable, trusted AI solutions aligned with productization standards

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field, or equivalent experience
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, machine learning, or AI engineering
• 3+ years of experience with cloud-native architectures, APIs, data platforms, and scalable software systems
• 2+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying generative AI and LLM-based applications in production environments
• 2+ years of experience with prompt engineering, RAG architectures, AI agents, model evaluation, and operational AI governance
• Demonstrated experience applying Responsible AI, security, privacy, and compliance practices in enterprise software systems

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges with an emphasis on responsible use of AI
• Design AI solution architectures aligned with business objectives, risk tolerance, and governance requirements
• Build and deploy LLM workflows, prompt orchestration chains, agent-based solutions, RAG applications, model integrations, classification models, and decision-support capabilities
• Develop prompt strategies, grounding approaches, tool-calling patterns, guardrails, and fallback mechanisms to improve solution quality and reliability
• Evaluate emerging technical trends to inform solution design, platform capabilities, and strategic innovation
• Leverage enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement

Skills

Software engineering

Machine learning

AI engineering

Prompt engineering

Responsible AI

Cloud-native

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Tools

APIs

Vector databases

Semantic search

Job description

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.

Are you passionate about applying AI to solve complex business challenges at enterprise scale? We are seeking a Lead AI/ML Engineer to design, build, and operationalize AI capabilities that drive decision-making, productivity, and innovation across the Enterprise Finance organization. In this role, you will lead the development of AI-powered solutions including large language model (LLM) applications, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), intelligent agents, classification models, summarization workflows, and decision-support tools. You will work closely with Finance, Data Engineering, Architecture, Security, and Responsible AI teams to deliver trusted, scalable, and governed AI solutions aligned with enterprise engineering practices and productization standards.

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:

• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges with an emphasis on responsible use of AI
• Design AI solution architectures aligned with business objectives, risk tolerance, and governance requirements
• Build and deploy LLM workflows, prompt orchestration chains, agent-based solutions, RAG applications, model integrations, classification models, and decision-support capabilities
• Develop prompt strategies, grounding approaches, tool-calling patterns, guardrails, and fallback mechanisms to improve solution quality and reliability
• Evaluate emerging technical trends to inform solution design, platform capabilities, and strategic innovation
• Leverage enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement
• Partner with Data Engineering teams to ensure access to trusted, governed, and high-quality data sources
• Establish evaluation frameworks, test datasets, scoring rubrics, and model-performance benchmarks
• Monitor and optimize output quality, relevance, accuracy, consistency, latency, cost efficiency, and hallucination risk
• Support production readiness through observability, monitoring, model evaluation, and drift detection practices while documenting solution behavior and controls

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.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or a related technical field, or equivalent experience (e.g., 4+ years of relevant software/AI engineering experience in lieu of degree)
• 5+ years of experience in software engineering, machine learning, or AI engineering
• 3+ years of experience with cloud-native architectures, APIs, data platforms, and scalable software systems
• 2+ years of hands-on experience building and deploying generative AI and LLM-based applications in production environments
• 2+ years of experience with prompt engineering, RAG architectures, AI agents, model evaluation, and operational AI governance
• Demonstrated experience applying Responsible AI, security, privacy, and compliance practices in enterprise software systems

Preferred Qualifications:

• 1+ years of experience developing and deploying agentic AI solutions
• Experience supporting Finance, FP&A, Accounting, Treasury, Tax, or other enterprise finance functions
• Familiarity with AI observability, model monitoring, vector databases, semantic search, and knowledge retrieval systems
• Experience leading enterprise AI products from initial design through production support

*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.

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