Senior AI/ML Engineer - | Prairie, |

Contact Center Voice Modernization Engineer

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.

Join the Contact Center Voice modernization journey modernizing a mission critical voice channel that supports 300M+ calls annually. You'll help migrate legacy contact center capabilities off on prem platforms and into multi cloud (AWS + Google) solutions-building scalable voice experiences, accelerating feature migrations, and strengthening reliability and governance for AI enabled customer interactions. If you enjoy solving complex, high impact engineering problems with modern cloud stacks (CI/CD, microservices, automation) and shaping'responsible AI' practices in production, this role is for you.

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:

• Lead cloud migrations of traditional voice contact center capabilities from legacy platforms to Google Dialogflow and Amazon (Connect/Lex) solutions, partnering across engineering, platform, and business teams
• Own solution design and delivery for cloud-based contact center components (voice bot/IVR workflows, orchestration/integrations, deployment patterns), ensuring production readiness end-to-end
• Rapidly learn and apply new ecosystem patterns to accelerate bot + IVR modernization-adapting to evolving requirements and scaling reusable approaches across workstreams
• Drive cross-functional execution: collaborate with Platform/Steering/CCaaS teams, SRE/Operations, QA/Perf, and business stakeholders to align dependencies and deliver outcomes
• Establish and evolve DevOps best practices for build/release automation, observability, and environment hygiene using modern CI/CD and source control practices (e.g., GitHub-based workflows)
• Build and enhance automation tooling, including the Bot Certification Tool, to streamline governance, compliance workflows, and developer productivity across contact center engineering
• Engineer for reliability, scalability, and security: design with least-privilege, resilient architectures, performance considerations, and solid operational monitoring for production voice experiences
• Partner with SI vendors and internal teams to define deliverables, execute migration plans, and ensure value realization through measurable outcomes
• Operationalize 'Responsible AI' by supporting a Machine Learning Review Board approval process-embedding governance, traceability, and risk controls into AI/LLM-enabled solutions

You'll be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role as well as provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• 3+ years of experience building and operating cloud-native solutions with DevOps practices (CI/CD, automated testing, release management, and monitoring) in production environments
• 3+ years of experience delivering digital contact center/channel solutions at scale (Voice Bot, Chat Bot or related orchestration/integrations) with production support accountability
• 3+ years of experience implementing AI/ML capabilities, including practical exposure to LLM-enabled features (prompting/guardrails, evaluation, monitoring, or governance) in enterprise settings
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with AWS and/or GCP, including cloud architecture fundamentals.
• 3+ years of experience building modern applications and services using React and Python/JavaScript/NodeJS, including microservices or micro-app patterns
• Demonstrated ability to quantify engineering and operational tradeoffs (cost, reliability, performance, and maintainability) and communicate those decisions to stakeholders
• Proven track record of innovation/optimization in established bot or IVR landscapes-e.g., automation accelerators, reusable frameworks, or delivery improvements that reduce cycle time or risk
• Proven solid cross-functional collaboration skills including experience working with platform teams, product/business partners, and SI vendors to deliver outcomes

Preferred Qualifications:

• Direct experience with Amazon Lex / Amazon Connect and/or Google Dialogflow implementations for enterprise voice workflows
• Experience building internal developer platforms/tools (e.g., governance workflows, certification pipelines, UI-driven tooling)
• Experience supporting large-scale voice modernization programs (migration roadmaps, dependency management, operational readiness)
• Experience with networking, IAM/security controls, observability, and reliability patterns

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). The salary for this role will range from $91,700 to $163,700 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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 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.