Director AI/ML Engineering - Eden Prairie, MN

Optum Tech is a global leader in health care innovation. Our teams develop cutting-edge solutions that help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. From advanced data analytics and AI to cybersecurity, we use innovative approaches to solve some of health care's most complex challenges. Your contributions here have the potential to change lives. Ready to build the next breakthrough? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

As a Director AI/ML Engineering within Optum Health Financial Tech, you will lead the enterprise vision, strategy, and execution of artificial intelligence and machine learning technology solutions. You will champion AI as a key driver of organizational success, shaping how intelligent systems and data products are built, deployed, and scaled across health financial platforms. In this role, you will lead high-performing engineering teams, foster a culture of responsible and ethical AI, and partner closely with business executives to deliver transformative business value and improve health financial outcomes for millions of users.

Primary Responsibilities

• Integrate enterprise AI tools, set AI goals in team development plans, and align hiring with technical competencies while actively removing barriers to accelerate adoption
• Champion the ethical use of AI by embedding transparency, fairness, accountability, and data privacy throughout the entire solution lifecycle
• Strategically use AI and machine learning technologies to solve complex healthcare and financial challenges, unlock operational opportunities, and deliver tangible business value
• Champion AI as a core driver of team success and proactively shape how AI systems are developed, deployed, monitored, and scaled across enterprise platforms
• Provide technical and strategic leadership for AI/ML engineering architecture, modern MLOps practices, automated CI/CD pipelines, and cloud platform integration
• Partner with senior leaders, product owners, and enterprise architects to define long-term AI technology roadmaps that align with business growth and innovation goals

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, Data Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative field (or equivalent software experience in lieu of a degree)
• 10+ years of progressive technology leadership experience in software engineering, data engineering, or machine learning engineering
• 5+ years of direct experience managing, mentoring, and scaling high-performing technical teams in AI/ML engineering or advanced analytics
• 5+ years of experience driving AI strategy, overseeing end-to-end machine learning system lifecycles, and delivering measurable business outcomes
• 3+ years of experience with enterprise cloud platform architectures (e.g., AWS, Azure, GCP) and AI/ML frameworks (e.g., TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn)
• Demonstrated experience establishing MLOps standards, AI governance frameworks, and ethical compliance processes in an enterprise environment

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Engineering, or a related quantitative field
• Leadership experience within financial technology (FinTech), health financial platforms, or healthcare IT ecosystems
• Strategic experience building and deploying Generative AI models, Large Language Models (LLMs), and natural language processing (NLP) applications at scale
• Solid executive communication and stakeholder management skills with a proven track record of aligning technology roadmaps with executive strategy

*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 $176,700 - $302,900 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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.