Associate Machine Learning Engineer

About This Role

UnitedHealth Group is hiring Associate Machine Learning Engineers to work on healthcare AI — predicting patient risk, optimizing care pathways, detecting insurance fraud, and improving clinical decision support. This is one of the most socially impactful applications of ML available to a new grad.

Job Overview

• Job Title: Associate Machine Learning Engineer
• Company: UnitedHealth Group
• Location: Minneapolis, MN / Dallas, TX / Phoenix, AZ / Chicago, IL / Atlanta, GA
• Job Type: Full-time
• Experience Level: Entry-level (0–2 years)
• Salary Range: $30–$42/hr
• Posted Date: 2026-06-01
• Application Deadline: 2026-07-01

Role Context

UnitedHealth Group's AI teams apply machine learning to one of the world's largest healthcare datasets. Associate MLEs work on teams building risk stratification models, NLP pipelines for clinical notes, and fraud/waste/abuse detection systems. You will work in a privacy-regulated environment with strict data governance standards.

Key Responsibilities

• Build and evaluate predictive models for patient risk stratification and care gap identification
• Develop NLP pipelines to extract clinical information from medical records and claims data
• Maintain model monitoring dashboards and detect performance drift in production
• Collaborate with clinical domain experts to ensure model outputs are medically sound
• Apply privacy-preserving techniques (de-identification, differential privacy) to training data
• Write model documentation for regulatory review and internal governance processes

Requirements & Skills

• Bachelor's or Master's in CS, Biomedical Informatics, Statistics, or a related field (2024–2025 grad)
• Python proficiency with scikit-learn, PyTorch, or similar ML libraries
• Understanding of classification, survival models, or time-series forecasting
• SQL skills for working with structured healthcare claims or EHR data
• Awareness of HIPAA data privacy requirements in healthcare AI is a strong plus
• Genuine interest in improving healthcare outcomes through data-driven methods

Benefits & Work Conditions

• $30–$42/hr with annual incentive bonus and UnitedHealth equity program
• Hybrid schedule with flexible remote days
• Comprehensive health insurance at reduced rates (employee benefit of the company's own plans)
• 401(k) with company contributions and financial wellness programs
• Paid volunteer time and tuition reimbursement programs

Who Should Apply

Recent ML graduates motivated by mission-driven work in healthcare. This role is ideal for people who want their models to help patients receive better care, reduce unnecessary costs, and detect fraud that harms the healthcare system. Domain curiosity in medicine is a genuine asset here.

About the Company

UnitedHealth Group is the largest health insurance and healthcare services company in the US, serving over 50 million members. Its Optum data and analytics division applies AI to clinical, pharmacy, and administrative healthcare data at a scale unmatched in the industry.

How to Apply

Apply at careers.unitedhealthgroup.com. Search "Associate Machine Learning Engineer." Expect a technical screen, an ML case study involving healthcare or predictive modeling, and a behavioral interview focused on collaboration and impact orientation.