Optum's Payment Integrity Decision Intelligence is expanding and seeking a Senior Data Scientist to help drive our mission of achieving accurate and effortless claims payments through advanced analytics and machine learning. We are looking for a motivated professional with expertise in machine learning, large language models (LLMs), and healthcare analytics who is passionate about solving complex business problems with data.
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:- Utilize large language models (LLMs) to enhance analytic methodologies and support innovation across core product lines
- Design, develop, and maintain data science solutions, including data preparation, feature engineering, model development, evaluation, deployment, and monitoring
- Collaborate with engineering and product teams to implement and maintain scalable machine learning models in production environments
- Communicate technical findings, insights, and recommendations clearly to both technical and business stakeholders
- Support innovation initiatives in machine learning and AI by evaluating and applying new techniques and technologies
- Independently analyze complex data problems and recommend actionable solutions that deliver measurable business value
- Contribute to best practices in model development, code quality, documentation, and reproducibility
- Partner with cross-functional teams to ensure analytical solutions align with business objectives and operational needs
- Assist in evaluating and implementing emerging technologies such as foundation models, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and advanced NLP techniques
- Demonstrated problem-solving, communication, and collaboration skills
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:- 3+ years of experience developing and deploying predictive models using machine learning, deep learning, NLP, or related techniques
- 3+ years of experience using machine learning libraries and frameworks such as Scikit-learn, PyTorch, TensorFlow, or SparkM
- 3+ years of professional experience programming in Python for data science and machine learning applications
- 2+ years of experience writing complex SQL queries for data extraction, transformation, and analysis
- 1+ years of hands-on experience with large language model (LLM) frameworks such as Hugging Face Transformers, LangChain, or OpenAI APIs
- 1+ years of experience working with cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, or GCP
- Experience using Apache Spark for distributed data processing and large-scale data transformations
- Experience using Git for version control and collaborative software development
Preferred Qualification:- Experience working with healthcare data, claims analytics, or payment integrity solutions
*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 $91,700 - $163,700 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
