AI Solution Architect - Remote

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.

We are seeking a highly skilled Solution Architect focused on Digital, AI & Data Transformation. Architect will lead the design, development, and implementation of next-generation Optum Bank's Digital, data and AI systems. This role combines deep hands-on engineering with strategic architecture, focusing on modern data transformation pipelines, small language models (SLMs), AI frameworks, and AI/ML solutions such as fraud detection, lending underwriting models, Operational Agents, and others.

The ideal candidate will influence enterprise-wide engineering practices, using tools like Claude Code, Git Hub Copilot, Codex, and AI-driven SDLC automation to significantly elevate developer productivity, velocity, code quality, and application modernization.

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:

* AI & Data Architecture

* Architect and lead end-to-end data transformation pipelines, including ingestion, normalization, quality, feature engineering, and real-time processing

* Design and implement Small Language Models (SLMs) optimized for domain-specific tasks such as customer interactions, document understanding, or process automation

* Build and maintain AI frameworks enabling scalable training, inference, experiment tracking, observability, and model governance

* Architect and deploy AI Agents capable of orchestration, reasoning, planning, and workflow automation across enterprise systems

* Develop and operationalize AI/ML models including:

* Fraud detection (transaction scoring, anomaly detection)

* Lending underwriting (risk modeling, creditworthiness, scoring pipelines)

* Personalization, recommendation, NLP, forecasting, and more

* Technical Leadership & Hands-On Engineering

* Lead technical design sessions, conduct POCs, and build reference architectures and reusable frameworks

* Write high-quality, production-grade code in languages such as Python, Java, Scala, or Type Script

* Partners with data engineering teams to optimize Datalake/Lakehouse house, distributed computing, and feature engineering architectures

* Evaluate emerging AI/ML technologies and drive adoption of best-fit solutions

* AI-Driven Developer Productivity

* Leverage Claude Code, Git Hub Copilot, and similar AI-assisted development tools to:

* Increase developer velocity

* Improve code quality and consistency

* Automate documentation, testing, and code review workflows

* Reduce time-to-market for complex transformation initiatives

* Evangelize AI-powered engineering patterns and train teams on effective usage

* Application Modernization & Transformation

* Guide modernization of legacy systems into cloud-native, AI-native applications

* Define patterns for integrating AI agents, LLMs, and SLMs into operational applications and microservices

* Collaborate with platform teams to ensure efficient infrastructure, MLOps, CI/CD, and model deployment workflows

* Governance, Risk & Compliance

* Ensure responsible AI practices including fairness, explainability, model monitoring, ethics, and regulatory alignment (eg, lending compliance)

* Implement robust evaluation and drift detection frameworks

* Cross-Functional Collaboration

* Influence senior leaders, product teams, and engineering stakeholders on AI strategy and roadmap

* Act as technical mentor and thought leader across AI and data domains

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:

* 8+ years in software engineering, data engineering, or machine learning

* 3+ years designing large-scale data transformation or AI architectures

* Hands-on experience with:

* Development skills in Java, Net, SQL Server / Oracle, Databrick, Power BI

* AI/ML frameworks:
PyTorch, Tensor Flow, Scikit-learn

* LLMs & SLMs:
Llama models, Claude, custom SLM training

* Data & compute:
Spark, Databricks, Flink, Kafka, Datalake/Lakehouse architecture

* Cloud platforms:
Azure, AWS, or GCP

* Experience building or integrating:

* AI Agents

* Vector databases (FAISS, Pinecone, Chroma)

* Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) systems

* Proven solid skills in Python, SQL, and distributed systems

Preferred Qualifications:

* Experience building…