Overviewoptum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. This Principal Data Scientist role in Dublin & Letterkenny, Ireland involves architecting and implementing scalable analytics and AI solutions that drive business strategy, deliver actionable insights, and enable data-driven decision-making across the organization. The role offers opportunities to work on deployment and operationalization of advanced analytics solutions, including AI and large language models, to accelerate innovation and advance key organizational strategies. The environment emphasizes agility, experimentation, rapid iteration, ownership, and impact.Primary ResponsibilitiesLead the end-to-end development of scalable data and ML pipelines, ensuring data and model infrastructure directly supports organizational strategy, analytical models, and critical business decisions.Architect high-performance data models and integrate them with ML model development, optimizing analytics platforms such as cloud-based data warehouses (Snowflake/Redshift/BigQuery).Translate complex business requirements into engineered datasets that drive decision-making at all levels of the organization.Rapidly iterate on analytics solutions based on stakeholder feedback; deliver quick turnaround without sacrificing accuracy or quality.Partner with stakeholders across teams (including IT, product owners, operations) to identify opportunities where analytics and ML models can add strategic value.Ensure best practices in code quality, documentation standards, testing procedures (unit/integration), and data quality checks.Drive stakeholder engagement: facilitate discussions and communicate impact of project goals/results; manage expectations throughout the project lifecycle.Develop tools or reusable components that empower other analysts to perform self-service analytics efficiently.Mentor team members on engineering best practices within analytics contexts.Required QualificationsBachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Mathematics or related discipline or equivalent experience.Previous experience in Analytics/Data Engineering/Machine Learning environments with agile thinking and innovative solutions.Experience designing/building scalable data and ML pipelines using Python/SQL/Spark/Airflow or equivalent frameworks.Proven ability to understand complex problems and engineer scalable data architectures enabling strategic insights.Demonstrated ability to own/lead projects delivering real business impact.Preferred QualificationsMS/PhD in Computer Science/Data Engineering/Statistics/Applied Mathematics or similar numerical discipline.Hands-on experience developing and fine-tuning Large Language Models (LLMs) or similar advanced AI models.Experience collaborating with Data Scientists/Product Managers/Business Stakeholders delivering end-to-end analytical solutions.Experience architecting cloud-based analytical environments (AWS/GCP/Azure) including CI/CD pipelines.Familiarity with US healthcare system/billing of medical claims/data environments.Additional InformationPlease note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country you are applying to. Telecommuting options are available in a hybrid model, with potential split between Dublin and Letterkenny offices and home-based work.All telecommuters will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group\'s Telecommuter Policy. Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer. We consider all qualified applicants without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, or other protected characteristics. This job posting is subject to EEO and other applicable laws.
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