Role Summary
Optum (part of UnitedHealth Group) is seeking a collaborative, analytical Associate Data Scientist to join our Business & Data Analytics organization in Pune, Maharashtra, India. In this role, you will analyze large-scale healthcare datasets, design and evaluate predictive and statistical machine learning models, and prototype emerging Generative AI and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications. Partnering with cross-functional data engineering, clinical, and business teams, you will turn complex healthcare data into actionable, data-driven insights and scalable production AI solutions that improve health outcomes globally.
Key Responsibilities
- Exploratory Data Analysis & Insights: Ingest and examine structured and unstructured datasets, conduct exploratory data analysis (EDA), engineer relevant features, and validate data quality to identify key operational patterns.
- Machine Learning & Predictive Modeling: Build, optimize, evaluate, and monitor statistical and machine learning algorithms (such as classification, regression, and clustering) under the guidance of senior data scientists.
- Generative AI & LLM Prototyping: Experiment with Large Language Model (LLM) use cases, engineer targeted prompts, prototype basic Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines, and apply Responsible AI principles to mitigate hallucination and bias.
- Data Visualization & Storytelling: Build interactive dashboards and reporting views using tools such as Power BI or Tableau to communicate complex metrics and business narratives clearly to stakeholders.
- Cross-Functional Collaboration: Partner closely with Data Engineers to ensure scalable data ingestion pipelines, support MLOps deployment practices, and participate in analytical problem-solving sessions.
- Documentation & Continuous Learning: Maintain thorough documentation of experimental setups, modeling approaches, and codebases while staying abreast of rapid advancements across AI, ML, and healthcare analytics.
Key Qualifications
- Education: Bachelor's or Master's degree in Data Science, Computer Science, Statistics, Mathematics, Engineering, or a related quantitative field.
- Experience: 1+ years of professional or practical experience in data science, predictive modeling, or advanced analytics.
- Core Technical Skills: Strong Python programming (Pandas, NumPy), advanced SQL for data querying and transformation, and applied machine learning fundamentals.
- Analytical Capabilities: Solid understanding of probability, applied statistics, feature selection, model validation metrics, and data visualization tools (Power BI, Tableau).
- Preferred Capabilities: Familiarity with Scikit-learn, XGBoost, cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP), modern data warehouses (Databricks, Snowflake), MLOps concepts, and hands-on exposure to Generative AI frameworks.
About Optum & UnitedHealth Group
Optum is an information and technology-enabled health services business and part of UnitedHealth Group, a Fortune 5 leader. Serving millions of people across the health ecosystem, Optum integrates clinical expertise, advanced technology, and actionable data to modernize infrastructure, simplify care delivery, and improve overall population health on a global scale.