The Forward Deployed Engineer (FDE) operates at the intersection of consulting, engineering, and client delivery-partnering directly with healthcare payers and providers to design, build, and scale AI-powered solutions that address complex business and operational challenges.
This role is deeply embedded with clients, leading engagements from discovery through deployment. The FDE translates ambiguous business needs into production-grade systems, combining solid technical expertise with a consultative mindset. Success in this role requires the ability to influence stakeholders, shape solution strategy, and deliver high-impact outcomes in dynamic client environments.
You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.
Primary Responsibilities: Client Engagement & Consulting Leadership
- Partner directly with healthcare clients to understand strategic priorities, operational challenges, and digital transformation goals
- Lead discovery sessions, workshops, and solution design engagements with both technical and business stakeholders
- Act as a trusted advisor, guiding clients on how to apply AI/ML capabilities to real-world healthcare use cases (e.g., claims, revenue cycle, clinical workflows, member experience)
- Translate client needs into clear problem statements, solution architectures, and delivery roadmaps
Solution Design & Architecture
- Design scalable, secure, and compliant AI-powered solutions aligned to healthcare industry requirements
- Architect end-to-end systems integrating LLMs, machine learning models, APIs, and enterprise platforms
- Evaluate trade-offs between approaches (e.g., build vs. orchestrate, model selection, latency vs. accuracy) and communicate recommendations clearly to stakeholders
- Ensure solutions are designed for real-world deployment, maintainability, and integration with existing client ecosystems
Hands-on Engineering & Delivery
- Build and deploy production-grade AI applications, including LLM-based workflows, copilots, and intelligent automation solutions
- Integrate AI agents and automation into client environments, optimizing for performance, scalability, and reliability
- Rapidly prototype solutions to validate concepts, iterate with client feedback, and accelerate time-to-value
- Troubleshoot complex technical challenges across distributed systems and cloud platforms
Translation & Cross-Functional Collaboration
- Bridge business, clinical, and technical perspectives-translating between stakeholders to ensure alignment and clarity
- Collaborate with product, platform, and engineering teams to bring reusable capabilities into client deployments
- Communicate complex technical concepts in a way that is accessible and actionable for non-technical stakeholders
Delivery Excellence & Client Outcomes
- Own delivery outcomes from initial discovery through production deployment and scale
- Drive measurable impact for clients (e.g., operational efficiency, cost savings, improved experience)
- Build solid, trusted relationships with client stakeholders to enable long-term partnerships
- Contribute to reusable assets, playbooks, and best practices to accelerate future client engagements
Success Measures
- Delivers end-to-end client solutions from discovery through production deployment
- Demonstrates the ability to translate ambiguous client needs into scalable, high-impact solutions
- Builds trusted advisor relationships with client stakeholders
- Drives measurable business outcomes for healthcare clients
- Contributes to repeatable consulting and engineering patterns that scale across engagements
- Demonstrates the ability to design and develop prototypes with a clear path to production, ensuring solutions are scalable, supportable, and can be transitioned effectively to production engineering teams
You'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: - Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field
- 10+ years of hands-on software engineering experience in deploying distributed systems and cloud-native solutions
- Experience building and deploying AI/ML solutions, including familiarity with LLMs, prompt engineering, and model deployment patterns
- Proficiency in modern development frameworks, APIs, and data integration approaches
- Demonstrated advanced user capability on CodeX, Claude, etc. and other AI productivity tools
- Experience working in cloud environments (e.g., Azure, AWS, GCP)
- Proven ability to lead client engagements, including discovery, solution design, and delivery
- Proven solid stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence both technical and executive audiences
- Experience structuring ambiguous problems and driving them to clear, actionable solutions
- Proven excellent communication and storytelling skills, with the ability to adapt messaging to different audiences\
Preferred Qualifications: - Master's degree in a technical discipline (AI/ML, Data Science, Software Engineering)
- Healthcare Domain Expertise; understanding of healthcare payer and/or provider operations (e.g., claims, utilization management, care delivery, revenue cycle)
- Familiarity with healthcare data, regulatory requirements, and interoperability considerations
- Comfortable operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with evolving client needs
- Solid collaboration mindset with the ability to work across distributed and cross-functional teams
- Entrepreneurial, solution-oriented approach with a bias toward action and outcomes
*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 $203,200 to $348,400 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
