Principal AI Data Scientist — Remote, Health Cost Impact

UnitedHealthcare; Las Vegas (NV); Remote; USD 113,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work in US

Job summary

UnitedHealthcare is seeking a Principal AI Data Scientist to lead AI-driven affordability initiatives, transforming how opportunities are identified, prioritized, and executed across affordability, medical cost data/analytics, and technology teams.

You will connect complex healthcare data, generate actionable insights, deploy production models, and drive measurable cost savings and operational improvements at scale, partnering with executives and cross‑functional leaders.

Qualifications

• 7+ years of experience in data science, applied statistics, machine learning, or artificial intelligence.
• 5+ years of SQL experience.
• 4+ years programming in Python and/or R.
• 3+ years working with healthcare payer, provider, or health plan data.
• Hands-on experience with healthcare claims data (medical, pharmacy).
• Experience deploying models into production and measuring real-world impact.
• Strong communication skills with executive audiences.
• Willing and able to travel 10% +/- depending on business need.

Responsibilities

• Lead large, complex Data Science and AI initiatives from problem framing through deployment, measurement, and value realization.
• Translate ambiguous business challenges into scalable analytical, machine learning, causal inference, optimization, or AI-driven solutions
• Design and build AI-enabled products, research agents, and analytical capabilities that connect enterprise data sources and generate actionable insights
• Provide technical architecture and solution design guidance for analytical products and production AI systems
• Establish best practices for feature engineering, model development, validation, evaluation, governance, and deployment
• Conduct technical reviews and ensure analytical rigor, scalability, and business impact across initiatives
• Partner with business, product, engineering, and technology leaders to identify opportunities, prioritize investments, and realize measurable value
• Drive innovation through emerging AI technologies, reusable frameworks, intellectual property, and modernized analytical platforms
• Develop intelligent workflow, portfolio management, and decision-support capabilities that improve execution efficiency and outcome tracking
• Communicate insights, recommendations, and business value to executive leadership and influence strategic decision-making
• Represent Data Science in enterprise architecture, governance, and technology strategy discussions
• Lead cross-functional initiatives focused on affordability, cost management, operational efficiency, and business transformation

Skills

Data science

SQL

Python/R

Healthcare payer data

Model deployment

Communication

Travel

Tools

Snowflake

Databricks

Job description

UnitedHealthcare is seeking a Principal AI Data Scientist to lead AI-driven affordability initiatives, transforming how opportunities are identified, prioritized, and executed across affordability, medical cost data/analytics, and technology teams.

You will connect complex healthcare data, generate actionable insights, deploy production models, and drive measurable cost savings and operational improvements at scale, partnering with executives and cross‑functional leaders.