Principal Data Scientist

Optum, the fast-growing part of UnitedHealth Group, is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business. Our teams are dedicated to modernizing the health care system and improving the lives of people and communities.

Serving virtually every dimension of the health system, we work with a diverse set of clients across 150 countries – from those who diagnose and treat patients to those who pay for care, deliver health services, and those who supply the cures. Optum maintains operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Our innovative partnerships provide technology and tools that enable unprecedented collaboration and efficiency. As a result, we can tap into valuable health care data to uncover insights and develop strategies for better care at lower costs.

About the Role

As a Principal Data Scientist within our Advanced Analytics team, you will join a multi-disciplinary team focused on improving Network Affordability, with a drive towards unprecedented growth and medical cost reduction. Major projects will include building out a contract performance & medical cost suite of analytics and improving our competitive analysis capabilities throughout negotiation processes, allowing the acceleration and expansion of insight generation and decision-making capabilities and our speed-to-market. Your work will have a significant impact on the healthcare delivery for millions of people.

Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin office and telecommuting from a home-based office.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Be a functional SME for Data Science within the Advanced Analytics team and wider business
• Work alongside other data scientists and analysts to design and implement models and experiments from end to end, including data ingestion and preparation, feature engineering, analysis and modeling, model deployment, performance tracking and documentation
• Visualize referral pattern changes and network exposures as provider market share and patient dynamics shift; create predictive models that advance network interaction forecasting
• Analyze, review and interpret complex data through the development of case-studies, enabling the data to tell a story
• Understand and identify drivers of patterns/behaviors uncovered in data
• Contribute to the design and realization of analytical based tools/assets to identify and monitor non-standard patterns
• Collaborate with Clinical subject-matter experts to explore business problems and design solutions
• Share analysis and interpretation for operational and business review and planning
• Support short and long term operational/strategic business activities through analysis
• Ideate and develop strategic solutions with business partners to mitigate rising trends in medical costs
• Develop recommended business solutions through research and analysis of data and business process and implement when appropriate

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in a relevant discipline (i.e. applied mathematics, physics, computer science) or relevant work experience
• Demonstrable success within a Data Science environment focused on agile thinking and innovative solutions, delivering complex and challenging projects
• Experience applying computational algorithms, statistical and programming methods using (R and Python) to structured and unstructured data
• Proven experience in understanding complex problems and datasets and driving data testing and strategic testing of ideas to come up with first-class solutions
• Demonstrated ability to own and lead projects that deliver real business value

Preferred Qualifications:

• MS/PhD in applied mathematics, physics, computer science, engineering, statistics, bioinformatics, actuarial science or similar numerical degree
• Experience and understanding of US healthcare system, billing of medical claims and associated data environments
• Experience creating Machine learning solutions to solve complex issues

Careers with Optum. Here’s the idea. We built an entire organization around one giant objective; make the health system work better for everyone. So when it comes to how we use the world’s large accumulation of health-related information, or guide health and lifestyle choices or manage pharmacy benefits for millions, our first goal is to leap beyond the status quo and uncover new ways to serve. Optum, part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, brings together some of the greatest minds and most advanced ideas on where health care has to go in order to reach its fullest potential. For you, that means working on high performance teams against sophisticated challenges that matter. Optum, incredible ideas in one incredible company and a singular opportunity to do your life’s best work.SM

At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and make the health system work better for everyone. We believe everyone–of every race, gender, sexuality, age, location and income–deserves the opportunity to live their healthiest life. Today, however, there are still far too many barriers to good health which are disproportionately experienced by people of color, historically marginalized groups and those with lower incomes. We are committed to mitigating our impact on the environment and enabling and delivering equitable care that addresses health disparities and improves health outcomes — an enterprise priority reflected in our mission.

Please note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country to which you are making an application. Proof will be required to support your application.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug-free workplace. © 2023 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.