Principal Data Scientist - Remote

Optum; Eden Prairie (MN); Hybrid; USD 113,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

comprehensive benefits package

incentive and recognition programs

equity stock purchase

401k contribution

Job summary

Optum is recruiting a Principal Data Scientist to lead high-impact AI initiatives within the CDS Engineering team. You will architect secure AI systems, train transformer and multimodal models, and bridge AI research with production software engineering.

You will work remotely from anywhere in the U.S., with in-office requirements four days per week for Minneapolis or DC area hires. You will mentor AI/ML staff and advance responsible AI practices.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of industry or academic experience in machine learning or a related data science field.
• 5+ years of experience building machine learning models for business applications.
• 5+ years of experience leading technical teams or complex AI/ML projects.
• 4+ years of equivalent technical experience in software development/data science.
• 3+ years of experience with Python programming and deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch or TensorFlow).
• 3+ years of experience with state-of-the-art ML architectures (e.g., Transformers/LLMs, multimodal modeling) and transformer fine-tuning.

Responsibilities

• Drive end-to-end generative AI and machine learning projects that have a high degree of ambiguity, scale, and complexity.
• Design robust AI architectures, ensuring that systems are scalable, secure, and efficient; select appropriate technologies, frameworks, and methodologies.
• Build machine learning models, perform proof-of-concept experiments, optimize and deploy models to production, and partner with software engineers to productionize ML models.
• Perform hands-on analysis and modeling of healthcare data sets to develop insights that increase business value.
• Run A/B experiments, gather data, and perform statistical analysis; continuously assess AI system performance and optimize algorithms and models to improve accuracy and efficiency.
• Establish scalable, efficient, automated processes for large-scale data analysis, machine learning model development and validation, and MLOps.
• Research and implement innovative machine learning approaches, evaluate emerging trends to inform solution design, and translate cutting-edge AI advancements into production-ready capabilities that can be re-used across the enterprise.
• Uphold ethical AI principles by embedding fairness, transparency, and accountability throughout the model development lifecycle.
• Mentor and help recruit AI/ML scientists and machine learning engineers to the team.

Skills

Python

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Transformers/LLMs

MLOps

Cloud

Big data

AWS

Tools

PyTorch

TensorFlow

Hadoop

Spark

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 to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Clinical Decision Support (CDS) Engineering team, a unit within the Optum Insight Technology organization, is responsible for building commercial products that help payers and providers with administrative- and clinician-focused CDS solutions. In this role as a Principal Data Scientist, you will lead high-impact AI initiatives characterized by scale and complexity. You will architect robust, secure AI systems, train state-of-the-art transformer and multimodal models, and bridge the gap between AI research and production software engineering. By extracting deep insights from healthcare data and maintaining the highest standards of responsible and ethical AI, you will help shape the next generation of intelligent health solutions.

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

• Drive end-to-end generative AI and machine learning projects that have a high degree of ambiguity, scale, and complexity
• Design robust AI architectures, ensuring that systems are scalable, secure, and efficient; select appropriate technologies, frameworks, and methodologies
• Build machine learning models, perform proof-of-concept experiments, optimize and deploy models to production, and partner with software engineers to productionize ML models
• Perform hands-on analysis and modeling of healthcare data sets to develop insights that increase business value
• Run A/B experiments, gather data, and perform statistical analysis; continuously assess AI system performance and optimize algorithms and models to improve accuracy and efficiency
• Establish scalable, efficient, automated processes for large-scale data analysis, machine learning model development and validation, and MLOps
• Research and implement innovative machine learning approaches, evaluate emerging trends to inform solution design, and translate cutting-edge AI advancements into production-ready capabilities that can be re-used across the enterprise
• Uphold ethical AI principles by embedding fairness, transparency, and accountability throughout the model development lifecycle
• Mentor and help recruit AI/ML scientists and machine learning engineers to the team

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of industry or academic experience in machine learning or a related data science field
• 5+ years of experience building machine learning models for business applications
• 5+ years of experience leading technical teams or complex AI/ML projects
• 4+ years of equivalent technical experience in software development/data science
• 3+ years of experience with Python programming and deep learning frameworks (e.g., PyTorch or TensorFlow)
• 3+ years of experience with state-of-the-art ML architectures (e.g., Transformers/LLMs, multimodal modeling) and transformer fine-tuning

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience working with complex healthcare datasets and clinical/claims analytics
• Practical experience with public cloud AI technology stacks, deployment, and MLOps methodologies (AWS preferred)
• Experience with big data processing tools such as Hadoop and Spark
• Experience with state-of-the-art ML algorithms and architectures (e.g., Transformers/LLMs, state space models such as Mamba, GNNs), legacy architecture maintenance/migration, and tradeoffs between pretraining from scratch vs. adapting foundation models
• 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 $112,700 - $193,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

• a comprehensive benefits package
• incentive and recognition programs
• equity stock purchase
• 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements)

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 make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone-of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income-deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes - an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

UnitedHealth Group is 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 is a drug - free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.