Lead AI/ML Engineer

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Primary Responsibilities

Technical Leadership & Delivery

Design and implement scalable, distributed enterprise applications

Drive end-to-end delivery of AI-powered solutions leveraging LLM ecosystems

Build intelligent systems using GenAI patterns, including

Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG)

• Embeddings and semantic search
• NLP-based pipelines
• Develop, test, and deploy production-grade services and platforms

Ensure systems meet expectations for

Performance

Reliability

Scalability

Lead deep technical problem-solving in complex and ambiguous environments

Architecture & Engineering Excellence

Architect and implement

• Microservices-based systems
• Event-driven architectures
• Robust API-driven platforms

Define and enforce best practices in

• System design
• Code quality
• Testing strategies
• Secure software engineering
• Optimize systems for high throughput, low latency, and fault tolerance

Platform & Technology Development

Work extensively with

Programming languages (Go, Python, or equivalent)

Databases (MongoDB, PostgreSQL)

• Cloud platforms (Azure / GCP)
• Container-based deployments and orchestration (ACA preferred)
• Build and maintain CI/CD pipelines and DevOps practices
• Enable efficient, automated, and reliable software delivery

Observability & Production Reliability

Design and implement observability frameworks including

Logging

Monitoring

Tracing

Troubleshoot production issues and ensure rapid resolution

Continuously improve system reliability and operational excellence

• Stakeholder & Cross-Team Collaboration

Collaborate with

• Product teams
• Engineering teams
• Translate business requirements into scalable technical solutions
• Influence architecture decisions across teams without direct authority
• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to diverse audiences

Mentorship & Technical Influence

• Mentor and guide engineers to improve technical capabilities
• Promote engineering best practices and design rigor
• Drive technical reviews, design discussions, and innovation initiatives
• Foster a culture of high-quality engineering and continuous improvement

Compliance

Comply with all applicable Company policies, procedures, and business directives, changes including those relating to work location, team assignments, work schedules, and flexible work arrangements.

Required Qualifications

10+ years of hands-on experience designing and delivering enterprise applications

Solid hands-on programming experience in

Go, Python, or similar languages

Experience with GenAI/LLM ecosystems, including

RAG architectures

Embeddings

NLP workflows

Experience working with databases

MongoDB

PostgreSQL

Experience with

• Cloud platforms (Azure / GCP)
• Containers and cloud-native deployments (ACA preferred)
• CI/CD pipelines and DevOps tooling

Solid understanding of

• Scalability, performance, and reliability principles
• Observability and production troubleshooting
• Secure software engineering practices
• End-to-end system delivery

Expertise in

• System design and distributed systems
• Microservices architecture
• Event-driven systems
• API design and integration patterns
• Proven expertise in building and deploying production-grade software systems

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience building and scaling AI-powered enterprise platforms
• Experience working in large, complex enterprise environments
• Familiarity with advanced observability and monitoring ecosystems

Leadership & Execution

• Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction across teams
• Solid problem-solving skills in ambiguous and complex environments
• Proven ability to drive execution and deliver outcomes independently

Communication & Collaboration

Solid communication skills across technical and business audiences

Ability to clearly articulate architecture and design decisions

Effective stakeholder engagement and cross-team alignment

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.