Senior Manager, AI/ML Engineering - Remote

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. As a Senior Manager of AI/ML Engineering within the Chief Digital Office, Consumer Engineering team, you will lead and manage the engineering team responsible for owning the intelligence layer of our digital solutions. In this remote leadership role, you will direct the strategy, design, evaluation, and operational delivery of enterprise AI components-including LLM workflows, RAG pipelines, agentic behaviors, classifiers, copilots, and AI evaluation frameworks. You will guide engineering talent to ensure all AI capabilities are useful, measurable, safe, performant, and fit for enterprise scale. 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.

Lead, manage, and empower a high-performing engineering team responsible for designing, building, and deploying the intelligence layer for digital consumer applications Direct the architectural strategy and technical execution for LLM workflows, prompt chains, agentic behaviors, RAG patterns, copilots, and classification/summarization systems aligned to business goals and risk profiles Establish engineering standards, prompt strategies, tool-calling patterns, and safety guardrails to ensure AI solutions are explainable, testable, and governable across the enterprise Drive team delivery and continuous improvement using enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate complex technical tasks, and optimize engineering velocity Oversee the implementation of evaluation datasets, scoring rubrics, model-performance testing, and failure-mode analysis to continuously improve output quality, accuracy, latency, and cost efficiency Evaluate emerging AI/ML trends, industry advancements, and novel architectures to inform solution design, technology roadmaps, and strategic innovation Partner with Data Engineering leadership to ensure AI applications integrate with trusted, governed, and enterprise-grade data pipelines Collaborate with cross-functional executive leadership, QA, Responsible AI, security, privacy, compliance, and architecture teams to ensure AI components fulfill enterprise compliance and risk standards Champion production readiness, model observability, drift monitoring, and thorough technical documentation to enable steady-state supportability Mentor, coach, and develop engineering talent, setting clear performance goals, conducting reviews, and cultivating an inclusive culture of engineering excellence 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.

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Data Science, AI, or a related technical field, OR 4+ years of equivalent software/AI engineering experience in lieu of a degree 8+ years of experience in software engineering, data science, machine learning, or AI engineering 4+ years of practical engineering experience building and deploying production AI applications (including LLMs, RAG patterns, vector search, embeddings, prompt engineering, and agent frameworks) 4+ years of strong hands-on Python engineering experience,