The Role
The Lead AI/ML Engineer will develop AI and ML strategies in healthcare, manage teams, and ensure quality delivery of AI solutions.
About Optum
Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The Optum Technology Digital team is on a mission to disrupt the healthcare industry, transforming UHG into an industry-leading Consumer brand. We deliver hyper-personalized digital solutions that empower direct-to-consumer, digital-first experiences, educating, guiding, and empowering consumers to access the right care at the right time. Our mission is to revolutionize healthcare for patients and providers by delivering cutting-edge, personalized and conversational digital solutions.
Responsibilities
- Develop and implement AI and machine learning strategies across several healthcare domains.
- Collaborate with cross-functional teams to identify and prioritize AI and machine learning initiatives.
- Develop and maintain strong relationships with stakeholders, customers, and partners internally and externally.
- Represent Consumer Engineering work and teams across Optum global leadership.
- Maintain accountability for the integrity of code design, implementation, quality, data, and ongoing maintenance and operations.
- Stay hands-on, self-driven, and continuously learn new approaches, languages, and frameworks with significant focus on infusing AI/ML/Generative AI where applicable.
- Create technical specifications and write high-quality, scalable, supportable code; review code of other engineers and mentor them to ensure all quality KPIs are met or exceeded.
- Demonstrate collaborative skills to work effectively with diverse teams.
- Possess deep expertise in modern software engineering practices including AI/ML/Generative AI, Agile methodologies, and DevSecOps to deliver daily product deployments using full automation from code check-in to production across the full SDLC lifecycle.
- Serve as a role model by leveraging these techniques to optimize solutioning and product delivery.
- Strive to be a role model, leveraging these techniques to optimize solutioning and product delivery.
- Provide leadership and be accountable for the performance of managers and/or senior-level professional staff.
- Drive impact at the operational, local business unit, or market level.
Required Qualifications
- Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related discipline.
- 14+ years of experience in Software Engineering, Data Science, or Analytics, with at least 8 years in AI/ML engineering or related fields and the last 3 years focused on Generative AI technologies including OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, LangChain, Agents, RAG, Vector Databases, Prompt Engineering, and fine-tuning.
- Experience with AI/ML frameworks and tools such as MLFlow, TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras, and Scikit-learn.
- Experience with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, and GCP.
- Experience with DevOps and CI/CD tools and practices including Git, Jenkins, Docker, and Kubernetes.
- Demonstrated experience leading and managing AI/ML teams and projects from ideation to delivery and evaluation.
- Hands-on experience in AI and driving the development of innovative AI and machine learning solutions.
- Proficiency in Python or other programming languages for data analysis and AI/ML development.
- Proven expertise in AI/ML techniques including deep learning, natural language processing, computer vision, recommender systems, reinforcement learning, and large language models.
Preferred Qualifications
- PhD in AI / ML, Engineering, Mathematics, Statistics, or a related discipline.
- Experience working with cross-functional and distributed teams in a global and diverse environment.