Remote Senior Data Scientist — AI & Insights Leader

Optum; Minnetonka (MN); Hybrid; USD 92,000 - 164,000; Full time

Job summary

UnitedHealthcare is seeking a highly analytical Senior Data Scientist to join a strategic enterprise program focused on transforming complex business processes through AI and ML. You will design predictive and prescriptive models, analyze diverse data, and translate insights into actionable business recommendations.

The role requires 5+ years in data science and hands-on experience with Python/R/SQL, ML frameworks, and large datasets.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in Data Science, Advanced Analytics, Machine Learning, or AI-related roles.
• 3+ years of experience programming in Python, R, or SQL for data modeling and analysis.
• 3+ years of experience with machine learning frameworks (e.g., Scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, XGBoost).
• 2+ years of experience working with large-scale structured and unstructured enterprise datasets.
• 2+ years of experience with experimental design, hypothesis testing, optimization, and predictive modeling.

Responsibilities

• Design, develop, and deploy AI-powered solutions to address complex business challenges, collaborating with research, engineering, and product teams to translate cutting-edge AI advancements into scalable, production-ready capabilities
• Analyze large, complex, and diverse datasets to identify trends, anomalies, hidden relationships, and previously undiscovered insights across the enterprise
• Develop predictive, prescriptive, and optimization models to improve business performance and operational effectiveness using machine learning, deep learning, NLP, and generative AI capabilities
• Formulate hypotheses, conduct experiments, and validate findings using rigorous analytical and statistical methodologies
• Evaluate emerging AI/ML trends to inform solution design, strategic innovation, and continuous improvement across enterprise applications
• Uphold ethical AI principles by embedding fairness, transparency, and accountability throughout the model development lifecycle
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement
• Partner with business, product, operations, and technology teams to translate complex analytical findings into clear business recommendations and executive-level insights
• Design and implement scalable analytical frameworks, reusable models, and decision-support solutions
• Mentor junior data scientists and analysts on analytical techniques, experimental design, and model development

Skills

Data science

Analytical thinking

Machine learning

Experiment design

Statistical modeling

Tools

Scikit-learn

TensorFlow

PyTorch

XGBoost

Job description

UnitedHealthcare is seeking a highly analytical Senior Data Scientist to join a strategic enterprise program focused on transforming complex business processes through AI and ML. You will design predictive and prescriptive models, analyze diverse data, and translate insights into actionable business recommendations.

The role requires 5+ years in data science and hands-on experience with Python/R/SQL, ML frameworks, and large datasets.