Senior Manager, AI/ML Engineering

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

Lead the dedicated team that makes enterprise data usable across AI platforms. Within Optum Technology's Integrated AI & Automation / AI Engineering team, you will own the end-to-end pipeline from intake through build and enablement, administration, troubleshooting and operations for Microsoft Copilot, OpenAI, Anthropic and Google integrations. Scope includes plugins, connectors, Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and, where approved, skills artifacts. The role combines people leadership with technical quality, repeatable onboarding and reliable service.

You will partner with product and business leaders to align capacity and priorities, and with Architecture, Security, Legal, Privacy, identity teams and source owners to deliver approved, supportable integrations. Your focus is building a solid team and a sustainable engineering service; project managers coordinate delivery execution, while developers own hands-on implementation. You ensure review evidence and readiness criteria are met without overriding the authority of control or approval functions.

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.

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Recruit, coach and develop a balanced team of connector engineers, platform administrators and troubleshooters across employees and contractors as appropriate; set clear expectations, provide actionable feedback and build collaborative ownership and sound engineering judgment
• Translate business demand into a realistic engineering portfolio with product and business leaders, incorporating CIO priority input and balancing new delivery, maintenance, risk reduction and team capacity
• Establish auditable intake and scoping with sponsors and source owners, capturing access, feasibility, acceptance criteria and retrievable review evidence rather than ad hoc pings or uploads. Record required approval/catalog identifiers, including AID where applicable. Coordinate catalog, hosting, IAM and network dependencies with AI Catalog, cloud/platform, identity and network owners, who retain their control authority. Help these owners define evolving custom-agent/MCP processes
• Own technical quality through design and custom-code review, reusable patterns, testing and documentation. Validate platform-specific packages, including manifests, contracts and skill/instruction files, and distinguish approved artifacts from unauthorized uploads through approval/catalog provenance. 
• Use approved development, test and production environments and least-privilege controls to prevent direct production creation or deployment that bypasses review
• Ensure Architecture, Security, Legal and Privacy reviews have complete evidence; coordinate AIRB and ESRO reviews as applicable and track required decisions before release
• Guide secure configuration with AI administrators, identity and access management (IAM) teams and source teams, covering Entra app registrations, delegated OAuth, gateways, manifests, admin registration and approved API permissions
• Require sandbox and staging validation of authentication, retrieval, access mapping, synchronization and performance, with traceable results and resolved issues before production progression
• Be accountable for connector operations and incident response, including monitoring, alerts, recovery, support-group ownership, access and onboarding processes, change controls and audit evidence
• Ensure controlled pilots, Limited Availability and General Availability have explicit readiness criteria, approved users, required controls and completed launch decisions, including ESRO gating where applicable
• Build effective vendor and platform partnerships, manage technical dependencies and evolving capabilities, and coordinate with source teams when service issues or platform changes affect integrations. Escalate complex configuration or diagnostic issues to qualified vendor technical experts as needed
• Use delivery, reliability and adoption evidence to improve engineering practices; ensure training, communications and user feedback inform releases while project managers maintain execution plans and coordination

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.

#OptumTechPJ

Required Qualifications: 

• 5+ years of experience leading an engineering team, including hiring, coaching, performance management and capacity planning for a portfolio of integration work
• 5+ years of experience delivering enterprise AI integrations, connectors, plugins or API-based services, with the judgment to evaluate designs and establish reusable engineering standards
• Working knowledge of Python or Java sufficient to assess implementation quality, guide technical trade-offs and coach developers; integration delivery expertise is the primary technical requirement
• Platform-administration and diagnostic depth sufficient to lead a multi-platform integration service: hands-on configuration, OAuth authorization/token endpoints, callback URLs, service principals, API permissions and access mapping across Microsoft and source-managed/custom identity providers; network, internet, gateway and firewall dependencies; and the ability to explain use, troubleshoot and plan rollback. Experience applying testing, monitoring, incident response and controlled release practices
• Proven ability to align business and technical stakeholders, explain risks and priorities clearly, and work effectively within security, legal, privacy and AI-governance approval processes

Preferred Qualifications:  

• Bachelor's degree in computer science, software engineering or a related field, or equivalent practical experience
• Experience with AI connectors and MCP servers, and familiarity with integration capabilities across OpenAI, Anthropic or Microsoft AI platforms
• Experience with Entra app registrations, delegated OAuth, gateways, connector manifests and administrator registration workflows
• Experience building repeatable onboarding and operational-readiness practices in a regulated enterprise environment
• Experience partnering with platform vendors and leading improvements informed by production incidents, user feedback and adoption evidence

*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 $148,900 - $255,300 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.