Data Scientist – Safety Alignment

About The Company Humana Inc. is a leading healthcare company dedicated to putting health first for individuals, families, and communities. With a strong focus on innovation and excellence, Humana offers a wide range of insurance and healthcare services designed to improve quality of life and health outcomes. Our commitment extends beyond traditional healthcare, leveraging cutting-edge technology and data-driven solutions to deliver personalized, accessible, and effective care. As part of our mission, we aim to transform the healthcare experience through continuous innovation, ensuring that our members receive the support they need to lead healthier lives.

About The Role We are seeking a highly skilled Lead Data Scientist to join our Enterprise AI organization. In this pivotal role, you will drive the development and deployment of safe, reliable, and ethically aligned Agentic AI systems. Your expertise will help ensure that our intelligent agents operate safely across complex, multi-agent environments while adhering to human values. You will collaborate with cross-functional teams including research, systems engineering, governance, legal, and product management to design safety architectures, develop alignment techniques, and monitor agent behaviors in real-world scenarios. Your work will directly impact how AI is integrated into healthcare solutions, ensuring responsible and trustworthy AI deployment at scale.

Qualifications

• Master’s Degree in Computer Science, Data Science, Machine Learning, or related field
• 4+ years of experience in research, ML engineering, or applied research roles focused on AI solutions
• 2+ years of leadership experience in developing AI/ML systems
• Deep expertise in AI alignment, multi-agent systems, or reinforcement learning
• Proven ability to lead research-to-production initiatives and establish technical governance frameworks
• Strong publication or contribution record in AI safety, interoperability, or algorithm ethics
• Proficiency in SQL, Python, and data analysis/data mining tools
• Experience with machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch, JAX, ReAct, LangChain, LangGraph, or AutoGen
• Experience deploying or auditing large-scale LLM-based agents or multi-agent AI systems
• Experience with large-scale ETL processes

Responsibilities

• Design and implement safety architectures for Agentic AI systems, including guardrails, reward modeling, and self-monitoring capabilities
• Lead and collaborate on alignment techniques such as inverse reinforcement learning, preference learning, interpretability tools, and human-in-the-loop evaluation
• Develop continuous monitoring strategies for agent behavior in both simulated and real-world environments
• Partner with product, legal, Responsible AI, governance, and deployment teams to ensure responsible scaling and deployment of AI systems
• Contribute to and publish novel research on alignment of large language model-based agents, multi-agent cooperation/conflict, and value learning
• Identify and mitigate potential failure modes such as goal misgeneralization, deceptive behavior, and unintended instrumental actions
• Establish safety milestones for autonomous capabilities as part of deployment readiness reviews
• Collaborate with cross-disciplinary teams to ensure AI systems meet safety, ethical, and regulatory standards

Benefits

• Work from home flexibility with remote work options within the US
• Generous paid time off and holiday leave policies
• Health, dental, and vision insurance coverage effective from day one
• Annual incentive and bonus plans based on performance
• 401(k) retirement savings plan with excellent company match
• Well-being programs and resources to support your mental and physical health
• Paid volunteer time off to engage with community initiatives

Equal Opportunity

Humana is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees and applicants. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, disability, or protected veteran status. We also adhere to affirmative action policies in compliance with applicable laws, ensuring fair employment practices across all levels. We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and are dedicated to fostering a workplace where everyone can thrive.