AI/ML Engineer

Requisition Number: 2350522
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.
AI/ML Engineers code and develop software that deploys ML models and algorithms in production. Communicate and present complex analytics results and concepts to leadership and internal stakeholders. Employee AI and/or ML that may include natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), semantic understanding, intent classification, computer vision, deep learning, and automatic speech recognition (ASR). Applies deep learning technologies to give computers that capability to visualize, learn and respond to complex situations. May adapt machine learning to areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and other products that allow users to have an interactive experience. Work with large scale computing frameworks, data analysis systems. Employees in this role are expected to apply knowledge of experimental methodologies, statistics, optimization, probability theory and machine learning using code for tool building, statistical analysis, using both general purpose software and statistical languages. AI/ML Applied Scientists specialize in advancing and applying artificial intelligence through research-driven, experimental research, and translate research findings into practical AI solutions for the organization. Basic, structured, standard approach to work.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Design and implement AI systems for conversational search in medical content
• Evaluate, debug, and improve conversational AI to ensure accuracy and efficiency
• Monitor and optimize system performance for latency, cost, and reliability
• Explore and apply reinforcement learning and self-improving techniques
• Collaborate and communicate effectively with cross-functional teams and stakeholders to deliver scalable solutions
• Ensure responsible and ethical AI practices throughout all stages of development
• Stay up-to-date with advances in AI/ML and actively contribute ideas, research, or solutions to improve team and product capabilities
• 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
• 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:

• Graduate degree in computer Science or similar fields
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in AI/ML, with a solid focus on natural language processing (NLP) and Language Models
• 3+ years of experience with libraries such as OpenAI API, Hugging Face Transformers, or similar tools for finetuning and integrating LLMs
• Experience with agentic frameworks such as demonstrated by contributing to projects involving the design of modular and scalable 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.