Principal AI/ML Engineer

Requisition Number: 2376076
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.
Optum Insight partners with payers, providers, governments and life sciences companies to simplify and enhance clinical, administrative and financial processes through software-enabled services and analytics, while advancing value-based care. Our differentiated products, technology insights, clinical expertise and analytics support the entire health system - ultimately delivering better experiences for consumers.
Optum Insight Technology and Engineering is a critical function in Optum Insight driving the innovation and value we provide our customers and partners. This team is focused on products, solutions, platform / enabling capability development, product development lifecycle, engineering excellence and connectivity to Optum Technology.
We are seeking a Principal AI/ML Engineer to join our Process Automation team, focused on designing and delivering intelligent automation solutions that drive operational efficiency across Optum's revenue cycle. In this role, you will work at the intersection of software engineering, robotic process automation (RPA), and apply AI translating complex business processes into scalable, maintainable automated workflows.
You don't need to arrive with RPA expertise - we provide structured training on UiPath and our automation platform. What we're looking for is a strong engineering foundation, sharp analytical thinking, and communication skills to bridge business stakeholders and technical teams effectively.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Design, build, and deploy Agentic chat workflows that will create Process Documentation and business cases for the approval to rapidly deploy RPA workflows using UiPath to automate revenue cycle and back-office business processes
• Integrate AI and machine learning capabilities into automation pipelines to handle unstructured data, decision logic, and exception handling
• Develop reusable automation components, frameworks, and libraries that accelerate delivery across the team
• Apply software engineering best practices - version control, code review, unit testing, CI/CD - to automation assets
• Collaborate with business stakeholders to understand end-to-end processes, document requirements, and identify automation opportunities
• Translate ambiguous business requirements into structured technical specifications and automation designs
• Perform process discovery and current-state analysis to evaluate feasibility, complexity, and ROI of automation candidates
• Proactively identify edge cases, failure modes, and process risks before implementation
• Serve as a bridge between business process owners and the engineering team - translating technical concepts for non-technical audiences and business context for technical teams
• Communicate project status, risks, and tradeoffs clearly and proactively to team leads and stakeholders
• Participate actively in Agile ceremonies: sprint planning, standups, retrospectives, and backlog refinement
• Collaborate closely with architects, senior developers, QA, and operations teams to deliver high-quality solutions
• Contribute to documentation including process design documents, runbooks, and knowledge base articles
• Stay current with emerging AI tooling, LLM integrations, and automation platform capabilities (UiPath, Azure AI, etc.)
• Identify opportunities to enhance existing automations with AI-driven capabilities such as intelligent document processing, NLP, and predictive analytics
• Participate in post-implementation reviews and incorporate lessons learned into future builds
• 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.

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, Software Engineering, Information Systems, or equivalent experience
• 7+ years of hands-on software engineering experience in one or more languages (Python, Java, C#, JavaScript, or equivalent)
• 7+ years of experience in writing clean, maintainable, and well-documented code
• 7+ years of experience working with APIs, data pipelines, or system integrations

Preferred Qualifications:

• Hands-on experience with RPA platforms - UiPath strongly preferred; Automation Anywhere or Blue Prism also considered
• Exposure to AI/ML workflows, LLM integrations, or intelligent document processing (IDP)
• Experience in healthcare, revenue cycle, or regulated enterprise environments
• Familiarity with Azure cloud services, including Azure AI, Azure Functions, or Azure Data Factory
• Experience with relational databases (SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL) and/or NoSQL platforms
• Background in process improvement methodologies (Lean, Six Sigma, or similar)
• Agile development experience and familiarity with tools such as Jira, Confluence, or Azure DevOp

*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 $164,600 - $282,200 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.
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