Director of AI
Remote
Director of AI/ML Engineering
Optum · Healthcare Technology · 5000+ employees · 📍 Schaumburg, IL
Optum is hiring a senior engineering director to own its AI agent strategy across the software development lifecycle, building the operating model and measurement framework to systematically deploy AI agents that accelerate engineering productivity at enterprise scale.
AI Maturity
scaling
Reports To
CTO
Why Role Exists
New position
Company Stage
enterprise
Source
linkedin
Key Responsibilities
- Define and own the AI engineering strategy to accelerate SDLC productivity via AI agents
- Build prioritized roadmap of AI agent use cases aligned to business and engineering objectives
- Lead end-to-end design, development, and production deployment of AI agents across engineering workflows
- Establish measurement frameworks and KPIs to track realized value from AI agent investments
- Define repeatable operating model for identifying, building, governing, and scaling AI agents
- Ensure AI solutions comply with enterprise architecture, security, privacy, and responsible AI standards
- Drive engineering enablement and change management to shift teams toward AI-augmented ways of working
- Serve as AI thought leader and advisor to engineering and technology leadership
Requirements
- Proven experience leading AI/ML engineering at enterprise scale
- Deep knowledge of AI agents and their application across software development lifecycle stages
- Ability to develop business cases with quantified productivity, cost, and quality metrics
- Experience governing AI solutions with security, privacy, and responsible AI controls
- Strong stakeholder and change management skills across large engineering organizations
Signals
- ⚠ No salary or compensation range disclosed
- ⚠ No equity mentioned — likely cash-only comp typical of large health system
- ⚠ Title is Director but scope resembles a VP or Head of AI Engineering role, suggesting possible title compression
- ⚠ Team size not specified — unclear whether this is a build-from-scratch or inherit-a-team situation
- ✓ Enterprise-scale mandate with cross-functional authority across architecture, platform, product, data, and security
- ✓ Clear, well-articulated mission tied to measurable engineering productivity outcomes
- ✓ Responsible AI and governance framework already established — not starting from zero
- ✓ Fully remote role with broad U.S. eligibility increases candidate pool quality
- ✓ Optum/UnitedHealth Group is one of the largest and best-resourced healthcare technology organizations globally