Data Scientist - Applied AI (LLMs, SLMs & Predictive Modeling)

Role Description

The CenterWell Centralized Data & Analytics team is seeking a highly hands-on Data Scientist 2 to lead the design, development, and scaling of predictive models, LLM- and domain-specific SLM-based solutions, and agentic AI systems for Home Health applications. This role operates at the intersection of applied AI innovation and real-world production impact, with significant ownership in building production-grade AI systems trained on clinical data. You will combine advanced analytics and machine learning with modern AI techniques, along with strong MLOps, cloud, and Responsible AI practices, to deliver solutions that drive measurable business and patient outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• AI Systems & Intelligent Modeling
  • Own the design and development of end-to-end intelligent systems combining predictive modeling, LLMs, and domain-specific SLMs.
  • Design and deploy predictive models (e.g., classification, regression, ranking, time series forecasting, anomaly detection, churn and risk modeling, and recommender systems), and integrate these signals into LLM- and SLM-based systems (e.g., RAG pipelines, decision engines).
  • Build and fine-tune proprietary SLMs trained on clinical notes and healthcare corpora.
  • Develop and deploy LLM-based and agentic AI systems for reasoning, automation, and decision support.
  • Engineer and optimize models across structured and unstructured data (tabular, text, and image).
• Clinical NLP, Multimodal AI & Innovation
  • Develop advanced clinical NLP solutions using embeddings, semantic search, and domain-specific models (e.g., ClinicalBERT, PubMedBERT).
  • Extract insights from large-scale unstructured healthcare data, including clinical text corpora.
  • Build and extend multimodal AI capabilities, including computer vision models (e.g., image classification) as complementary systems.
  • Prototype and explore emerging approaches in LLMs, SLMs, and agentic AI to drive continuous innovation.
  • Translate AI outputs into actionable clinical and business insights.
• Delivery, MLOps & Impact
  • Lead end-to-end delivery, from rapid prototyping and MVP development to scalable production systems.
  • Partner with engineering, product, and business stakeholders to align AI solutions with strategic goals.
  • Deploy and monitor ML/LLM/SLM systems, including model performance, drift, bias, and impact.
  • Implement MLOps best practices, including CI/CD, model lifecycle management, and scalable cloud deployment (Azure/AWS).
  • Drive Responsible AI practices, including explainability, governance, and compliance in healthcare environments.
• Growth & Impact
  • Opportunity to shape the direction of applied AI systems in a rapidly evolving healthcare domain.
  • Exposure to cutting-edge techniques across LLMs, SLMs, and agentic AI.
  • Clear path to expanded ownership, technical leadership, and strategic influence.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Engineering, Mathematics, or a related quantitative field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 4+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, or applied AI, with strong foundations in statistical modeling.
• Proven experience developing and deploying LLM and/or SLM-based systems in real-world environments.
• Hands-on expertise fine-tuning domain-specific models (e.g., LoRA, QLoRA, RLHF, DAPT, DPO).
• Strong experience in predictive modeling, including feature engineering, validation, and production deployment.
• Experience working with structured and unstructured data, particularly NLP and text-based systems domain-specific models (e.g., ClinicalBERT, PubMedBERT).
• Proficiency with modern AI/ML ecosystems, including Hugging Face, PyTorch/TensorFlow, Databricks, and MLOps practices.
• Ability to independently own and drive complex AI solutions from concept to production.

Preferred Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a quantitative or technical field.
• Experience working with clinical or healthcare data.
• Exposure to multimodal AI systems (text + image).
• Experience developing domain-specific or proprietary language models.

Location & Work Style

• This role is open to a remote work style in the US.
• Eastern or Central time zone is preferred.
• Ability to travel for on-site team meetings (occasionally) on East Coast.

Scheduled Weekly Hours

40

Pay Range

The compensation range below reflects a good faith estimate of starting base pay for full time (40 hours per week) employment at the time of posting. The pay range may be higher or lower based on geographic location and individual pay will vary based on demonstrated job related skills, knowledge, experience, education, certifications, etc.

$97,900 - $133,500 per year

This job is eligible for a bonus incentive plan. This incentive opportunity is based upon company and/or individual performance.

Description of Benefits

• Humana, Inc. and its affiliated subsidiaries offer competitive benefits that support whole-person well-being.
• Associate benefits are designed to encourage personal wellness and smart healthcare decisions for you and your family.
• Among our benefits, Humana provides:
  • Medical, dental and vision benefits.
  • 401(k) retirement savings plan.
  • Time off (including paid time off, company and personal holidays, volunteer time off, paid parental and caregiver leave).
  • Short-term and long-term disability.
  • Life insurance and many other opportunities.