Principal Data Scientist

Description

At Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, we are committed to paving the way for everyone to achieve their healthiest life. Blue Cross of Minnesota is an Equal Opportunity Employer and maintains an affirmative action plan, as required by Minnesota law applicable to state contractors. All qualified applications will receive consideration for employment without regard to, and will not be discriminated against based on any legally protected characteristic.

Position Title:

Principal Data Scientist

Location:

Hybrid | Eagan, Minnesota

Career Area:
Data Analytics & Business Intelligence

We are looking for dedicated and motivated individuals who share our vision of transforming healthcare. As a Blue Cross associate, you are joining a culture that is built on values of succeeding together, finding a better way, and doing the right thing. If you are ready to make a difference, join us.

The Principal Data Scientist will lead the design and deployment of advanced AI solutions, leveraging Large Language Models (LLMs) and innovative agentic AI architectures. This individual will develop scalable systems where multiple AI models collaborate to produce insights and enhance efficiency across the organization. In this role, you will drive the development of cutting‑edge AI models and scalable systems that enable collaboration across multiple models to deliver actionable insights.

You will design and implement solutions that ensure accuracy, reliability, and performance while incorporating best practices for fairness and transparency. Working closely with cross‑functional teams, you will assess potential risks, optimize workflows, and establish governance processes for model monitoring and lifecycle management. Additionally, you will stay current with emerging technologies and regulatory requirements, mentor data scientists and engineers, and champion innovative approaches to integrating LLMs and agentic AI architectures into enterprise applications.

The ideal candidate brings at least seven years of experience in data science, progressing from predictive analytics and machine learning to sophisticated LLM‑driven AI applications. You excel at designing solutions that synthesize data, streamline operations, and deliver impactful insights. Success in this role requires strong partnership skills to translate complex business problems into effective data science and machine learning solutions, while maintaining a balance between innovative advancements and responsible governance for safe, scalable AI deployment.

• Lead data science projects to design and implement models and experiments from end to end, including data ingestion and preparation, feature engineering, analysis and modeling, model deployment, performance tracking and documentation.
• Act as a mentor to junior data scientists around mature data science practices (e.g., readable code, thorough documentation, comprehensive experimentation).
• Work with autonomy with business partners to convert ambiguous business problems into clear data science/ML specifications; use contextual business acumen to convert model predictions/results into impactful insights and provide actionable guidance on risks and limitations.
• Work hand‑in‑hand with product managers, data engineers, and subject matter experts to ship new models, algorithms and improvements continuously and collaboratively into production.
• Use a combination of machine learning knowledge and contextual business acumen to convert results into impactful insights and provide actionable guidance on risks and limitations of the model.
• Write narrative documents for model specification and performance analysis to communicate findings and recommendations to teammates, stakeholders and executive leadership.

• 7+ years of related professional experience. All relevant experience including work, education, transferable skills, and military experience will be considered.
• Hands‑on experience in analytics and data science (specific areas of interest include…