Data Scientist

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:

• Design, develop, validate, and deploy predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions to address complex business problems
• Build, optimize, and operationalize machine learning models across classification, regression, forecasting, recommendation systems, clustering, and optimization use cases
• Perform exploratory data analysis (EDA), feature engineering, and data preparation to uncover patterns, trends, and actionable insights
• Develop and validate statistical models using appropriate methodologies, ensuring model robustness, reliability, and interpretability
• Apply statistical techniques such as hypothesis testing, experiment design, sampling, regression analysis, and time-series modeling to solve business challenges
• Monitor model performance in production, identify model drift, and implement continuous improvement and retraining strategies
• Translate business requirements into analytical frameworks and scalable ML solutions
• Develop and operationalize AI/ML solutions leveraging both traditional machine learning and Generative AI techniques
• Apply Natural Language Processing (NLP), Large Language Models (LLMs), Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG), and agentic AI frameworks to solve real-world business problems
• Evaluate, benchmark, and compare model performance using industry-standard evaluation frameworks, metrics, and best practices
• 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 regards 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

Required Qualifications:

• 6+ years of experience in Data Science, Machine Learning, Applied Statistics, or a related field
• Hands-on experience with Python, SQL, and leading ML frameworks such as Scikit-learn, XGBoost, TensorFlow, or PyTorch
• Solid understanding of machine learning algorithms, statistical modeling techniques, model validation, and model risk management practices
• Familiarity with MLOps practices, CI/CD pipelines, model monitoring, and production deployment frameworks

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with cloud-based AI/ML platforms (Azure ML, AWS SageMaker, or GCP Vertex AI)
• Experience working with Generative AI, LLMs, RAG architectures, and AI agents

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.

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