Senior Data Scientist

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. OptumRx is seeking a highly skilled Senior Data Scientist to lead the development and deployment of advanced AI, Machine Learning, and Generative AI solutions that drive innovation across pharmacy and healthcare operations. This role will leverage large-scale healthcare and enterprise datasets to build predictive models, intelligent applications, and LLM-powered solutions that deliver measurable business and patient outcomes. The ideal candidate will combine deep technical expertise with solid business acumen to solve complex healthcare challenges in a fast-paced, data-driven environment.

Generative AI Application Development Design, build, and deploy features using Large Language Models (LLMs), including conversational AI, summarization, clinical knowledge extraction, medical document intelligence, and workflow automation Implement and optimize Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, from data preprocessing and embedding creation to vector search and contextual retrieval Apply advanced prompt engineering, fine-tuning techniques (e.g., LoRA), and model adaptation approaches to enhance model performance, accuracy, and domain relevance Develop AI-powered solutions leveraging healthcare and clinical datasets, ensuring high accuracy, explainability, and regulatory compliance Machine Learning Model Development & Deployment Develop and productionize a range of machine learning models, including traditional ML techniques (regression, classification, clustering) and deep learning models Perform feature engineering and data preparation on large-scale structured and unstructured datasets, including healthcare, claims, EMR/EHR, provider, member, and operational data Build predictive and prescriptive analytics solutions to support healthcare outcomes, risk stratification, utilization management, and operational efficiency Establish and manage processes for model evaluation, performance monitoring, drift detection, and continuous retraining AI Systems & Integration Build and maintain scalable AI services integrating third-party AI APIs (OpenAI, Azure OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) and open-source models Develop agentic AI workflows that orchestrate multiple tools, models, APIs, and healthcare data sources to solve complex business problems Work with vector databases (e.g., Pinecone, pgvector, Weaviate) and implement caching strategies to ensure low-latency performance Build scalable data pipelines capable of handling billions of healthcare transactions and large volumes of clinical and operational data Healthcare Data & Analytics Collaborate with healthcare stakeholders to develop AI/ML solutions utilizing EHR/EMR, claims, provider, member, and clinical datasets Apply knowledge of healthcare interoperability standards such as FHIR, HL7, ICD, CPT, and SNOMED in data integration and AI solution development Ensure compliance with healthcare data privacy, security, and governance requirements Collaboration & AI Quality Partner with product, business, clinical, data, and engineering teams to translate business needs into deployable AI/ML solutions Implement guardrails, evaluation frameworks, and Responsible AI practices to improve reliability and reduce hallucinations Participate in code reviews, architecture discussions, and technical mentoring activities. Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and