At UnitedHealthcare, we're simplifying the health care experience, creating healthier communities and removing barriers to quality care. The work you do here impacts the lives of millions of people for the better. Come build the health care system of tomorrow, making it more responsive, affordable and optimized. Ready to make a difference? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
Role Summary: A Senior Data Scientist (Grade 28) with a "Full Stack" skillset for EAR projects. This role is a primary hands-on contributor for building and deploying robust data pipelines, semantic layers, machine learning models, and LLM applications. It emphasizes practical engineering of AI solutions: rigorous model development, evaluation of modeling approaches, and implementing MLOps pipelines to ensure models are effectively integrated and maintained in production.
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:
- Build and support the Advocate Performance Data Platform that powers AmplifAI coaching, performance management, and workforce optimization capabilities
- Develop scalable data pipelines, semantic models, and governed advocate performance metrics using Databricks, Snowflake, and enterprise data architecture
- Integrate operational, quality, coaching, and learning data to create trusted, AI-ready data products and performance insights
- Establish certified metric definitions, lineage, governance, and data quality controls to ensure consistent reporting and enterprise adoption
- Enable near real-time delivery of advocate, supervisor, and coaching metrics that drive personalized coaching, commitment management, and performance improvement
- Accelerate Consumer Operations transformation by providing a scalable, enterprise-ready foundation for AI-driven coaching, analytics, and workforce performance optimization while reducing duplicate development and reporting efforts
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:
- Solid Data Science Background: 5+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, data engineering, or related roles. Solid foundation in statistical modeling and machine learning techniques. Hands-on experience developing models and data pipelines for real-world problems and improving them based on feedback and data
- Programming & Data Skills: Proficiency in Python and PySpark for building ML models and automating tasks. Solid SQL skills for data extraction and manipulation
- Production ML Experience: Demonstrated experience deploying and maintaining ML models and data pipelines in a production environment. Comfort with the end-to-end MLOps lifecycle: using source control, CI/CD pipelines, and orchestration to automate model deployment. Should understand concepts like model versioning, reproducibility, and monitoring in production
- Problem-Solving & Autonomy: Ability to work independently on complex technical problems. Solid troubleshooting skills to debug issues whether they stem from data quality, model behavior, or pipeline failures. A mindset geared towards automation and efficiency, always looking for ways to streamline repetitive tasks
Preferred Qualifications:
- MLOps Tooling: Experience with specific MLOps and cloud tools (e.g., Databricks MLflow for experiment tracking and model registry, GitHub Actions for CI). Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code for deploying ML infrastructure
- Databricks & Spark: Familiarity with the Databricks Lakehouse platform and Spark. For example, knowing how to implement ML pipelines on Databricks, use Delta Lake for data versioning, and optimize Spark jobs for feature processing. Experience with Metric Views
- Real-Time Systems: Exposure to real-time or streaming data analysis. Experience deploying models that consume streaming data (e.g., streaming analytics or real-time dashboards) or working with technologies like Kafka or Spark Declarative Pipelines for live data feeds
- Leadership & Collaboration: Experience in mentoring junior data scientists or leading technical workstreams will be beneficial. The ability to document work clearly and impart knowledge to others helps the overall team
*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.
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 b efore beginning employment.
Skills Required
- 5+ years of experience in data science, machine learning, data engineering, or related roles
- Foundation in statistical modeling and machine learning techniques
- Hands-on experience developing and improving models and data pipelines for real-world problems
- Proficiency in Python and PySpark
- Solid SQL skills for data extraction and manipulation
- Experience deploying and maintaining machine learning models and data pipelines in production
- Experience with the end-to-end MLOps lifecycle, including source control, CI/CD pipelines, orchestration, model versioning, reproducibility, and production monitoring
- Ability to work independently on complex technical problems and troubleshoot data, model, and pipeline issues
- Experience with MLOps and cloud tools such as Databricks MLflow and GitHub Actions
- Familiarity with infrastructure-as-code for deploying machine learning infrastructure
- Familiarity with Databricks Lakehouse, Spark, Delta Lake, ML pipelines, Spark optimization, and Metric Views
- Exposure to real-time or streaming data analysis and technologies such as Kafka or Spark Declarative Pipelines
- Experience mentoring junior data scientists or leading technical workstreams
- Ability to document work clearly and share knowledge with others
Optum Compensation & Benefits Highlights
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — PTO is generally described as decent or good, and many note it as a strong part of the package. Actual ability to take time off can depend on workload and team coverage.
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Retirement Support — Offerings include a 401(k) with employer match and access to an employee stock purchase plan, which are highlighted as meaningful components of total rewards. These programs are consistently referenced among core benefits.
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Parental & Family Support — Parental and caregiver leave, along with adoption assistance, are publicly highlighted and viewed as notable elements of the package. Availability can be role-specific, but these supports contribute to overall breadth where offered.
Optum Insights
What We Do
Optum, part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, 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. At Optum, we support your well-being with an understanding team, extensive benefits and rewarding opportunities. By joining us, you’ll have the resources to drive system transformation while we help you take care of your future. We recognize the power of connection to drive change, improve efficiency and make a difference in health care. Join a team where your skills and ideas can make an impact and where collaboration is key to creating technology that produces healthier outcomes.
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Optum Offices
Hybrid Workspace
Employees engage in a combination of remote and on-site work.
Optum has three workplace models that balance the needs of the business and the responsibilities of each role. These models, core on‑site (5 days/week), hybrid (4 days/week) and telecommute or fully remote, vary by country, role and location.