VP AI ML Engineering, Medicare & Retirement| Minnetonka, Minnesota | Remote

Vice President Of Ai/Ml Engineering For Medicare & Retirement (M&R)

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.

The Vice President of AI/ML Engineering for Medicare & Retirement (M&R) is responsible for driving AI-first engineering transformation across the portfolio, enabling scalable, production-grade AI capabilities that power growth, cost optimization, and operational efficiency for Medicare Advantage and Dual Eligible Special Needs Plan (DSNP) businesses.

This leader translates complex healthcare business challenges-such as benefit design, clinical operations, member engagement, and sales optimization-into deployable AI solutions, platforms, and products. The role will lead enterprise AI/ML engineering at scale, embedding AI across plan design, digital experiences, and operational workflows.

The impact of this role is direct and measurable: driving revenue growth and retention, increasing market responsiveness, strengthening resiliency and compliance, and reducing cost to serve through AI first modernization, platform reuse, and operational excellence-while modeling United Health Group values of Integrity, Quality, Inclusion, Compassion, Relationships, Innovation, and Performance.

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.

• AI Strategy & Portfolio Transformation
• AI/ML Platform & Engineering Leadership
• Business Alignment & Value Delivery
• Engineering Execution & Operational Excellence
• AI, Automation & Healthcare Impact (M&R-Specific Outcomes)
• Responsible AI, Risk & Compliance
• AI Transformation Leadership

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.

• 15+ years of software engineering experience, with 5+ years in senior engineering leadership roles
• Proven track record modernizing large scale legacy platforms and establishing AI enabled, cloud native architectures
• Employ AI and/or ML that may include natural language processing (NLP), natural language understanding (NLU), semantic understanding, intent classification, computer vision, deep learning, and automatic speech recognition (ASR)
• Work with large scale computing frameworks and data analysis systems. Employees in this role are expected to apply knowledge of experimental methodologies, statistics, optimization, probability theory and machine learning using code for tool building, statistical analysis, using both general purpose software and statistical languages
• Demonstrated success leading matrixed, globally distributed engineering teams
• Deep expertise in cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, GCP), microservices, APIs, Dev Ops, application security, and modern SDLC and AI-SDLC practices
• Hands on leadership integrating AI/ML and GenAI capabilities into production platforms and developer workflows
• Exceptional communication, influencing, and executive stakeholder management skills
• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field

• Product oriented engineering leader with strong focus on platform reuse, developer experience, and AI enabled productivity
• Experience leading AI first transformation initiatives, including cloud migration, platform consolidation, and intelligent automation
• Proven experience deploying AI/ML Models at scale across Payers / Providers / Healthcare ecosystem OR similarly regulated industries
• Knowledge of Quantum computing

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). The salary for this role will range from $200,400 to $343,500 annually based on full-time employment.

We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

United Health 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…