Senior Manager AI/ML Engineering

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, 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.

We are seeking a highly motivated Senior Manager, AI/ML Engineering to lead the design, development, and delivery of enterprise-scale Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning solutions. This leader will drive AI innovation, build high-performing engineering teams, and partner with business, product, and technology stakeholders to develop AI-powered applications that improve customer experience, operational efficiency, and business outcomes.

The ideal candidate combines strong technical expertise in AI/ML and Generative AI with proven engineering leadership experience and a passion for mentoring teams in a fast-paced healthcare technology environment.

Primary Responsibilities

AI/ML Engineering Leadership

Lead the development and deployment of AI/ML and Generative AI solutions across enterprise applications

Define technical strategy, architecture, and engineering best practices for AI-powered platforms and services

Drive adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs), AI agents, intelligent automation, and predictive analytics solutions

Solution Delivery

Oversee end-to-end delivery of AI/ML products from ideation through production deployment

Collaborate with product, business, architecture, and engineering teams to translate business needs into scalable AI solutions

Establish MLOps practices, model governance, monitoring, and operational excellence

Technology Innovation

Evaluate emerging AI technologies and identify opportunities to accelerate business value

Lead proof-of-concepts and pilot initiatives to validate new AI capabilities

Partner with enterprise technology teams to ensure secure, responsible, and compliant AI implementations

Team Leadership

Build, mentor, and develop a team of AI engineers, machine learning engineers, and technical leads

Foster a culture of continuous learning, innovation, collaboration, and engineering excellence

Support talent development, succession planning, and technical capability growth

Stakeholder Partnership

Collaborate with business leaders, architects, and product teams to prioritize and deliver AI initiatives

Communicate technical solutions and business value effectively to senior leadership

Comply with all applicable Company policies, procedures, and business directives, changes including those relating to work location, team assignments, work schedules, and flexible work arrangements

Required Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Data Science, or related field

15+ years of software engineering experience

10+ years of engineering leadership experience managing teams

Hands-on experience building and deploying Machine Learning or AI solutions in enterprise environments

Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, or GCP)

Experience with Python, ML frameworks, and modern software engineering practices

Solid understanding of AI/ML lifecycle, model deployment, and MLOps

Proven excellent communication, stakeholder management, and leadership skills

Preferred Qualifications

Master's Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Artificial Intelligence, or related discipline

Experience with Generative AI, LLMs, prompt engineering, AI agents, and RAG architectures

Experience leading AI transformation initiatives in healthcare, payer, provider, or regulated industries

Experience with Azure OpenAI, Databricks, MLFlow, LangChain, Semantic Kernel, or similar technologies

Knowledge of responsible AI, governance, security, and compliance practices

Leadership Competencies

Engineering Leadership

AI & Innovation Mindset

Talent Development & Coaching

Strategic Thinking

Customer & Business Focus

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Execution Excellence

Continuous Improvement

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.