Senior AI/ML Engineering Lead - Remote

Optum; Eden Prairie (MN); Remote; USD 149,000 - 255,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Remote work

Job summary

Optum seeks a Senior Manager, AI/ML Engineering (Remote) to lead and mentor a high-performing team building the intelligence layer for digital consumer apps. You will steer architecture for LLM workflows, RAG patterns, and AI safety at enterprise scale while aligning with governance and Responsible AI practices.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in software/AI, 3+ years in leadership, and hands-on Python with production AI experience.

Qualifications

• 4+ years of practical engineering experience building and deploying production AI applications (LLMs, RAG, embeddings)
• 4+ years of strong hands-on Python engineering experience including model APIs and data pipelines
• 3+ years of engineering leadership or management experience
• 3+ years of experience designing testable, governable AI workflows with Responsible AI practices

Responsibilities

• Lead and empower an engineering team responsible for the intelligence layer of digital consumer applications
• Direct architectural strategy and execution for LLM workflows, prompt chains, RAG patterns, copilots, and classification systems
• Establish engineering standards, prompt strategies, tool-calling patterns, and safety guardrails across the enterprise
• Drive delivery using enterprise AI tools to streamline workflows and optimize velocity
• Oversee evaluation datasets, scoring rubrics, model-performance testing, and failure-mode analysis
• Collaborate with leadership and architecture teams to ensure AI components meet compliance and risk standards
• Champion production readiness, observability, and thorough technical documentation
• Mentor and develop engineering talent with a culture of excellence

Skills

Python

LLMs

RAG pipelines

Agent frameworks

Leadership

AI governance

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Data Science/AI or equivalent

4+ years of relevant software/AI engineering experience

Job description

Optum seeks a Senior Manager, AI/ML Engineering (Remote) to lead and mentor a high-performing team building the intelligence layer for digital consumer apps. You will steer architecture for LLM workflows, RAG patterns, and AI safety at enterprise scale while aligning with governance and Responsible AI practices.

Ideal candidates bring 8+ years in software/AI, 3+ years in leadership, and hands-on Python with production AI experience.