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Our team is seeking a Director, Machine Learning with expertise and experience in machine learning. This individual will be responsible for the research and development of advanced, high-impact machine learning techniques for various healthcare use cases such as disease progression, population health risk identification and intervention selection/optimization. This role provides an unprecedented opportunity to leverage large-scale proprietary healthcare datasets, internal team of subject matter experts and cutting-edge computing cloud infrastructure to craft innovative machine learning problems to challenging and high-impact healthcare problems.

The candidate should have familiarity and experience with the application of a broad repertoire of predictive and statistical methodologies and can lead teams to think through how different methods could help solve particular questions. This role entails strong relationship management with a diverse set of partners, and collaborative work within the Applied Research team. We are looking for someone entrepreneurial in spirit, strong problem solver, and an excellent communicator.

You ll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop and expand a fledgling applied research program with focus on impact-focused initiatives, rapid prototyping and obsession with converting applied research into software
• Conduct research into machine learning methods for use cases such as disease early-onset and progression modeling (including uncertainty quantification), population health risk identification and patient intent/experience prediction - potential techniques could be regression, classification, sequence modeling, time-series methods, anomaly detection, clustering/segmentation etc.
• Be a hands-on leader and teach by example by building prototypes using variety of predictive methods (ML, DL, Probabilistic methods, time-series/spatial methods) while adhering to the ML development cycle (e.g. iterative EDA, prediction specification, feature engineering and model tuning)
• Synthesize the most cross cutting approaches from both the private and public sector, and apply these to different research-driven use cases.
• Manage and optimize a research lifecycle management program with focus on framework-driven idea curation, prioritization, milestone definition and commercialization-driven measurement
• Participate in meetings business stakeholders, data experts, software/platform engineering, physicians to scope R&D use-cases and convert them into scope of work
• Develop, justify, and execute key Applied R&D programs that advance key OptumLabs analytics and data capabilities.
• Build, mentor and lead a team of applied research scientists and data scientists.
• Self-drive knowledge accumulation of methods and modeling advances by reading research publications, blogs and attending presentations and webinars

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:

• Graduate (Masters/Phd) degree in engineering, information or other math-heavy disciplines
• 10+ years of solid experience in scientific programming via a combination of languages such as Python, R, Julia, Matlab, C++ - (we mainly are looking for a level where the candidate understands difference between good and bad code, script and program, knowing when to use what etc.)
• 7+ years of experience designing and implementing predictive or experimental research at scale using multiple kinds of predictive methods and research methods (surveys, simulation, observational, statistical)
• 4+ years of deep, hands-on (coding) experience with machine learning applied to the healthcare, energy, industrial AI. Aerospace or other high-stakes domains (direct experience in a cloud environment is highly valued)
• Experience with statistical data analysis, data cleaning, and statistical inference/hypothesis testing
• Experience distilling concepts into frameworks and converting approaches into scalable tools
• Experience digesting and evaluating evidence from interdisciplinary literature
• Experience presenting via written and verbal mediums to a variety of audiences
• Proven record of publishing applied research on predictive methods in academic journals of your field (should be listed on resume or added as an attachment when applying)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with both successfully and unsuccessfully converting research into commercial/customer-facing product
• Experience with one or many of these topics such in customer churn, intent prediction, disease/damage progression, probabilistic methods, anomaly detection, sequence-based models, time-series forecasting or time to event modeling
• Experience in deploying machine learning models in a production setting (logging, monitoring, alerts) in a cloud environment
• Exposure to extracting and manipulating data via tool/libraries/forms such as Spark, pandas, scikit family, numpy/scipy, matplotlib, streamlit
• Full COVID-19 vaccination is an essential requirement of this role. UnitedHealth Group will adhere to all federal, state and local regulations as well as all client requirements and will obtain necessary proof of vaccination prior to employment to ensure compliance.

To protect the health and safety of our workforce, patients and communities we serve, UnitedHealth Group and its affiliate companies require all employees to disclose COVID-19 vaccination status prior to beginning employment. In addition, some roles and locations require full COVID-19 vaccination, including boosters, as an essential job function. UnitedHealth Group adheres to all federal, state and local COVID-19 vaccination regulations as well as all client COVID-19 vaccination requirements and will obtain the necessary information from candidates prior to employment to ensure compliance. Candidates must be able to perform all essential job functions with or without reasonable accommodation. Failure to meet the vaccination requirement may result in rescission of an employment offer or termination of employment.

Careers at UnitedHealth Group. We have modest goals: Improve the lives of others. Change the landscape of health care forever. Leave the world a better place than we found it. Such aspirations tend to attract a certain type of person. Crazy talented. Compassionate. Driven. To these select few, we offer the global reach, resources and can-do culture of a Fortune 5 company. We provide an environment where you're empowered to be your best. We encourage you to take risks. And we offer a world of rewards and benefits for performance. We believe the most important is the opportunity to do your life's best work.(sm)

All Telecommuters will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group s Telecommuter Policy.

Colorado, Connecticut or Nevada Residents Only: The salary range for Colorado/Connecticut/Nevada residents is $113,500 to $218,100. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, UnitedHealth Group offers 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 UnitedHealth Group, you ll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

UnitedHealth Group is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.