Principal Data Scientist - Remote

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

As a Principal Data Scientist within the Optum Technology team supporting UHC Technology, you will lead the design, development, and deployment of advanced machine learning and generative AI solutions. In this role, you will define end-to-end ML architecture, select appropriate tools and frameworks, drive proof-of-concept experiments, and guide engineering teams in productionizing scalable AI services. You will balance architectural leadership with hands-on execution across complex initiatives, establishing best practices for model governance, reproducibility, and security to drive healthcare innovation.

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

• Design, develop, and deploy scalable, production-grade AI solutions to address complex business challenges while embedding responsible AI principles, fairness, transparency, and accountability throughout the model development lifecycle
• Lead solution architecture and hands-on development across complex AI/ML initiatives using traditional ML, deep learning, and modern LLM-based approaches
• Lead proof-of-concept experiments in generative AI (transformers, GANs, diffusion models) and evaluate emerging tools, research, and frameworks to drive strategic innovation
• Collaborate with research, data engineering, software engineering, and product teams to translate cu