Senior AI/ML Applied Scientist

Job ID: 101999563968Posted: 2026-10-16Location: Eden Prairie, Minnesota, United StatesSalary: $91,700 - $163,700/yearJob Area: TechnologyCompany: UnitedHealth GroupOptum 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.Optum AI is UnitedHealth Group's enterprise AI team. We are AI/ML scientists and engineers with deep expertise in AI/ML engineering for health care. We develop AI/ML solutions for the highest impact opportunities across UnitedHealth Group businesses including UnitedHealthcare, Optum Financial, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. In addition to transforming the health care journey through responsible AI/ML innovation, our charter also includes developing and supporting an enterprise AI/ML development platform.You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. Optum AI team members:Have impact at scale: We have the data and resources to make an impact at scale. When our solutions are deployed, they have the potential to make health care system work better for everyoneDo ground-breaking work: Many of our current projects involve cutting edge ML, NLP and LLM techniques. Generative AI methods for working with structured and unstructured health care data are continuously being developed and improved. We are working in one of the most important frontiers of AI/ML research and developmentPartner with world-class experts on innovative solutions: Our team members are developing novel AI/ML solutions to business challenges. In some cases, this includes the opportunity to file patents and publish papers about the methods we develop. We also collaborate with AI/ML researchers at some of the world's top universitiesPrimary Responsibilities:Apply advanced statistical, predictive modeling, and Agentic AI to optimize healthcare and digital experiencesCollaborate with the Responsible Use of AI (RUAI) team to ensure that the delivered solutions are compliant with company policies and standardsResearch innovative approaches for developing and evaluating Agentic AI solutions, and apply these findings to the solutions you are creatingDevelop code and model documentation, patents and publications in scientific conferences and journalsCollaborate with engineering teams to develop robust data pipelines of MLOps procedures for new solutionsStay up to date with latest technologies and literatureYou'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:PhD in Statistics, Mathematics, Computer Science or related field3+ years of AI/ML experience (LLM, NLP)Proficiency in AI/ML engineering development with PythonExpertise in Large Language Modeling and Transformer Architectures with experience in prompt engineering, evaluation, and LLM optimizationExperience with LLM frameworks and/or NLP approaches such as text embedding and text classificationPreferred Qualifications:Experience with AI Cloud services like Azure ML, Databricks, Azure OpenAI, or similar services in GCP / AWSExperience with Snowflake and other relational databasesProven solid publication record in top tier AI/ML/NLP venues (e.g., NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, ACL, EMNLP, CHIL, etc.)Proven solid technical communication skills*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 $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 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.#optumaiscienceUnitedHealth 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.#OptumTechPJ