Lead AI or ML Engineer (Machine Learning, Model Development, LLM)

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. We're looking for a hands-on technical leader to design, build, and productionize AI/ML and GenAI solutions that improve healthcare operations and patient outcomes. You will own end-to-end delivery-from problem framing and data pipelines to models, MLOps/LLMOps, and ongoing monitoring-while mentoring a small team and partnering with product, data engineering, and clinical/operations stakeholders. Primary Responsibilities: Lead architecture and delivery of ML/GenAI solutions (classification, forecasting, NLP, deep learning, LLM apps) at production scaleBuild robust data/feature pipelines over large clinical/claims datasets; write efficient, well-tested Python (pandas/NumPy) and SQLDevelop and deploy LLM capabilities: prompt design, fine-tuning, RAG pipelines, vector indexing, and evaluation with guardrailsEstablish MLOps/LLMOps best practices: CI/CD, model registry, experiment tracking, monitoring, drift detection, A/B testing, cost/perf optimizationEnsure data privacy and compliance (HIPAA/PHI handling, access controls, auditability) and champion model governance and Responsible AITranslate business problems into technical roadmaps; communicate trade-offs and results to executives and non-technical partnersMentor engineers and set engineering standards (code reviews, documentation, reliability, observability)Lead architecture and delivery of ML/GenAI solutions (classification, forecasting, NLP, deep learning, LLM apps) at production scaleBuild robust data/feature pipelines over large clinical/claims datasets; write efficient, well-tested Python (pandas/NumPy) and SQLDevelop and deploy LLM capabilities: prompt design, fine-tuning, RAG pipelines, vector indexing, and evaluation with guardrailsEstablish MLOps/LLMOps best practices: CI/CD, model registry, experiment tracking, monitoring, drift detection, A/B testing, cost/perf optimizationEnsure data privacy and compliance (HIPAA/PHI handling, access controls, auditability) and champion model governance and Responsible AITranslate business problems into technical roadmaps; communicate trade-offs and results to executives and non-technical partnersMentor engineers and set engineering standards (code reviews, documentation, reliability, observability)Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regard to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so.Scientist Responsibilities: Collaborate with research, engineering, and product teams to translate cutting-edge AI advancements into production-ready capabilities. Uphold ethical AI principles by embedding fairness, transparency, and accountability throughout the model development lifecycle. Required Qualifications: Bachelors in Computer Science, Engineering, Math, or related field required; MS/PhD preferred or equivalent experience10+ years of professional experience in software/ML engineering, including 3+ years leading projects or teamsHands-on GenAI experience: LLMs, embeddings, RAG, fine-tuning, evaluation; familiarity with Hugging Face and LangChain/LlamaIndexSolid foundation in statistics and ML (hypothesis testing, experimental design, feature engineering, supervised/unsupervised methods)Deep learning expertise (PyTorch or TensorFlow) and modern NLP (transformers)Expert Python and pandas stack; ability to write vectorized, high-performance code; solid testing practices (pytest) and GitSolid data engineering skills: SQL; experience with Spark/Dask and workflow orchestration (Airflow/Prefect)Cloud proficiency (AWS/Azure/GCP) and containerization/orchestration (Docker/Kubernetes); CI/CD and IaC (Terraform) exposureProven excellent communication and stakeholder management skills Preferred Qualifications: Healthcare domain experience: claims, EHR/HL7/FHIR, coding (ICD/CPT), risk adjustment, quality measures, de-identificationBig data platforms (Databricks, Snowflake, BigQuery) and streaming (Kafka); lakehouse patternsMLOps stack: Optum is