Senior Software Engineer

Our Company

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, and data they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by diversity and inclusion, 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.

Position Summary

As a Senior Data Scientist within Optum Technology, you will play a key role in advancing our mission to transform healthcare through advanced analytics and data-driven solutions. In this role, you will design, develop, and deploy predictive models and machine learning algorithms to solve complex business challenges, uncover actionable insights, and improve healthcare outcomes.

You will collaborate closely with cross-functional technology and business teams to translate strategic goals into scalable analytical capabilities, leveraging modern cloud platforms and data science toolsets.

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

Primary Responsibilities

• Design, build, test, and deploy predictive models, machine learning algorithms, and advanced statistical analyses to solve complex healthcare and business problems
• Query, clean, and analyze large volumes of complex structured and unstructured data across enterprise data repositories
• Collaborate with product, engineering, and business stakeholders to translate business requirements into scalable, production-ready data science solutions
• Review the work of other data scientists and analysts, providing constructive technical feedback, code reviews, and mentorship
• Develop innovative analytical approaches and establish best practices for data science workflows, model validation, and governance
• Anticipate business and stakeholder needs, proactively identifying high-impact opportunities for advanced analytics
• Design validation, performance tracking, and monitoring frameworks to evaluate model accuracy, fairness, and reliability in production
• Synthesize and present complex analytical findings and model results clearly to technical and non-technical audiences

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

• 5+ years of professional experience in data science, predictive modeling, or machine learning
• 3+ years of programming experience using Python or R for statistical analysis and machine learning
• 3+ years of experience writing complex SQL queries and extracting data from relational or distributed databases
• 2+ years of experience developing and deploying machine learning models into production environments
• 2+ years of experience utilizing machine learning libraries and frameworks (e.g., scikit-learn, TensorFlow, PyTorch, or XGBoost)
• 1+ years of experience communicating analytical findings and technical concepts to business stakeholders

Preferred Qualifications

• Master's or Ph.D. degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, or a related quantitative discipline
• Experience working with cloud-based data science and machine learning platforms (e.g., AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud Platform)
• Experience with distributed computing and big data tools (e.g., Spark, Databricks, Hadoop)
• Experience with Natural Language Processing (NLP), deep learning, or large language models (LLMs)
• Experience working within the healthcare, health insurance, or life sciences industry
• Experience with MLOps methodologies, containerization (e.g., Docker), and model monitoring pipelines
• All Telecommuters 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 to $163,700 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Pursuant to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance, we will consider for employment qualified applicants with arrest and conviction records.

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.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere

UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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

#RPO, #GREEN