Principal Data Scientist – Remote

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 talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Information is the lifeblood of the healthcare industry—everything depends on it. At Optum Insight Technology & Engineering, you’ll help us work on streamlining the flow of information between payers, healthcare providers and various other stakeholders to deliver the right insights to the right places at the right times, driving better outcomes for patients, reducing friction in the health system and lowering costs. Every day our work directly impacts the world for the better, in meaningful and profound ways.  
 
 
We live in a time of unprecedented technical capability and possibility. Health care is at a pivotal point in this journey where even small gains can lead to major transformation. You could be a part of that – you have tremendous skill and the potential to make a lasting impact. Optum Insight Technology is uniquely positioned to bring your skills to bear on these pressing and life-changing technical challenges. The health care industry has an immediate need for your drive, innovation, passion and technical insight. Help us help the millions of people we serve each day.
 
 
The Principal Data Scientist plays a key technical contributor in the design and development of state-of-the-art ML for medical applications. The Principal Data Scientist works closely with ML engineers, research linguists, software engineers and subject matter experts on current company technologies and forward-looking projects. Lead Engineers initiate and lead new research initiatives into unexplored modeling approaches, mentoring and guiding teams to adopt new technologies.
 

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Initiate and drive novel method development in machine learning from first principles to deployed solutions
• Provide innovative modifications and extensions to existing deep learning and statistical learning architectures
• Perform independent statistical inquiry into new areas and identify growth points and areas of untapped information
• Partner with Engineering, Business and Technical Product to make and meet project commitments in an agile framework; rapidly delivering value to our customers via technology solutions
• Mentor junior data scientists to successfully deliver software and business value
• Responsible for continuous improvement for alerts, monitors and telemetry
• Communicate with stakeholders, subject matter experts, and colleagues to identify new means of approaching problems in the medical coding field
• Design novel methods in machine learning and launch them to production with the help of data engineers and deployment software engineers
• Perform independent analysis of trends in medical coding and production performance of statistical models
• Demonstrate leadership in the context of machine learning engineering and direct the research direction of a multidisciplinary team focused on deep learning and LLM approaches
• Stay abreast of leading-edge technologies in machine learning and deep learning, participate and lead in research talks and white paper reviews
• Participate in research meant to ensure alignment of models to ethical standards to ensure machine learning models perform without harm to users

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:

• 8+ years of experience in machine learning or data science: data analysis, algorithm design, model architecture specification, machine learning algorithm implementation
• 8+ years of coding experience with Python with emphasis on libraries from Pytorch, HuggingFace, and pandas
• 2+ years of experience leading development in a data science focused team using deep learning architectures
• 2+ years of experience in machine learning model development, transformer architectures, data trend analysis

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Experience digesting and implementing research from primary literature or white paper resources
• Production experience with cloud and big data technologies
• Experience with SQL databases and query language
• Experience in AzureML, AWS, or cluster computing architectures
• Experience with Hybrid NLP solutions that combine symbolic and machine learning approaches
• Experience with XML and XSLT
• IT full-stack engineering experience
• Publication history in deep learning or statistical domain
• Healthcare domain background

*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 $110,200 to $188,800 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.

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.

UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug – free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.