Dir, AI/ML Engineering - Remote at Optum in Eden Prairie, MN

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 in making healthcare work better for everyone through people-led, responsible AI while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

As Director, AI/ML Engineering – AI-Ready Data and Context Platforms, you will lead the strategy, architecture, and delivery of the enterprise context layer required to support generative AI and agentic workflows. This role will make enterprise data AI-ready by building semantic models, ontologies, knowledge graphs, metadata capabilities, and reusable contextual data products.

You will partner with AI, data, product, architecture, governance, and business teams to ensure AI agents can access trusted, relevant, secure, and understandable information. The role will also lead multidisciplinary engineering teams and establish standards for context engineering, semantic interoperability, data quality, governance, and AI grounding.

You’ll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead and direct teams of AI/ML engineers in designing, building, and delivering enterprise-scale machine learning systems and intelligent platforms
• Partner with senior technology, data, analytics, product, and business leaders to embed semantic and contextual foundations into the broader enterprise AI strategy
• Define and own the enterprise strategy and roadmap for AI-ready data, semantic architecture, knowledge graphs, and contextual data platforms
• Establish a clear architectural vision for the enterprise context layer that supports generative AI applications, intelligent search, decision-support systems, and agentic workflows
• Identify the semantic, contextual, and data-quality capabilities required for AI agents to accurately understand business entities, relationships, processes, policies, terminology, and constraints
• Translate enterprise AI priorities into a sequenced portfolio of foundational data, metadata, ontology, and knowledge-graph capabilities
• Use enterprise-approved AI tools to streamline workflows, automate tasks, and drive continuous improvement
• Evaluate emerging trends to inform solution design, platform scalability, and strategic technical innovation
• Mentor and cultivate technical leaders and engineering talent to ensure continuous technical growth and team capability

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:

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Engineering, or a related field
• 10 years of experience in AI/ML engineering, data engineering, data architecture, knowledge engineering, or semantic technologies
• 5 years of experience leading technical teams, influencing senior stakeholders, and translating business needs into platform capabilities
• 5 years of experience leading enterprise-scale data, AI, or knowledge-platform initiatives
• 3 years of experience designing semantic models, ontologies, taxonomies, or knowledge graphs
• 3 years of experience integrating structured and unstructured data into scalable AI-ready platforms
• Demonstrated understanding of data products, metadata, lineage, data quality, governance, and access controls
• Demonstrated understanding of generative AI, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation, vector search, and agentic AI workflows

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master’s degree in Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Information Science, or a related field
• Experience implementing enterprise knowledge graphs, semantic layers, or ontology-management platforms
• Experience with hybrid retrieval approaches combining graph, vector, keyword, metadata, and structured-data search
• Experience in a regulated industry or an environment with complex security, privacy, and compliance requirements
• Familiarity with semantic technologies and standards such as RDF, OWL, SHACL, SKOS, SPARQL, or JSON-LD
• Knowledge of GraphRAG, agent memory, context management, model context protocols, and AI tool-integration patterns

*All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy

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). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you’ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $176,700 - $302,900 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. Together, we are shaping the future of healthcare by harnessing technology and innovation to make care simpler to navigate, more affordable and more connected for the people we serve. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued, heard and respected, empowering people to bring their authentic selves to work and strengthening our collective impact through diverse talents, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.

UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated brands are 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 characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.

UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated brands are a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.