IT Senior Principal

This position within the AI Center of Enablement represents the most distinguished technical role within The Cigna Group, operating at the intersection of cutting-edge research, enterprise-scale engineering, and business strategy to shape the future of AI technology both within the enterprise and across the broader healthcare industry. The AI Engineering Senior Principal transcends traditional engineering leadership to define the organization's AI capabilities for the next decade, making decisions that establish the technical identity of Cigna's AI capabilities in the broader industry landscape. This role establishes the 10 year vision for AI engineering capabilities anticipating multiple technology paradigm shifts, architects next-generation AI platforms that enable capabilities not yet imagined by the business, identifies breakthrough AI research with transformational business potential months before mainstream awareness, and drives cultural transformation in how the organization approaches AI development and deployment. The Senior Principal is recognized as a preeminent expert in AI engineering, influencing not only internal technical direction but contributing to the evolution of the field itself through research publications, industry standards participation, and thought leadership, ultimately positioning The Cigna Group as a leader in healthcare AI innovation while improving the cost, quality and access to healthcare for Cigna's clients and customers.

As an AI Engineering Senior Principal, you will engage at the highest organizational levels including C-suite executives and board members, driving alignment between technical strategy and business strategy with multi-year impact. You will architect technical foundations that remain relevant through multiple waves of AI innovation, establish research partnerships with leading universities and AI companies, drive adoption of breakthrough technologies providing sustained competitive advantage, and influence AI product roadmaps of major vendors through strategic partnerships. This role requires the highest levels of influence within the business, technology and architecture organizations equivalent to C-suite executives, extensive business and domain knowledge across healthcare operations, innovative problem-solving skills operating years ahead of mainstream AI adoption, and the ability to marry business and technology into a cohesive value-oriented strategy that positions the organization as an industry leader in AI capabilities.

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Define the 10 year vision for AI engineering capabilities, anticipating multiple technology paradigm shifts in healthcare AI
• Shape the organization's fundamental approach to AI, establishing principles that outlast specific technologies
• Drive decisions on which emerging AI capabilities become core organizational competencies versus external partnerships
• Establish the technical identity of the organization's AI capabilities in the broader healthcare and technology industry landscape
• Serve as technical counsel to C-suite executives and board members on AI strategy, risk, and opportunity
• Influence enterprise business strategy by identifying transformational applications of AI technology to healthcare delivery, operations, and member experience
• Lead technical due diligence for major strategic decisions including M&A, partnerships, and technology investments
• Architect next-generation AI platforms that enable healthcare capabilities not yet imagined by the business
• Design technical foundations using Python, AWS, Terraform, and emerging technologies that remain relevant through multiple waves of AI innovation
• Create abstractions and frameworks that accelerate development velocity by 100x while maintaining quality, safety, and HIPAA compliance
• Build AI infrastructure that scales from proof-of-concept to enterprise production across thousands of healthcare applications
• Design systems that seamlessly integrate future AI modalities including multimodal models, embodied AI, and neuromorphic computing
• Create platforms that democratize AI capabilities across the organization while maintaining governance and control
• Identify breakthrough AI research with transformational business potential months before mainstream awareness
• Design experiments to validate feasibility of emerging techniques at enterprise scale
• Build pathways to operationalize research concepts into production systems serving millions of healthcare members
• Develop novel AI engineering approaches that combine multiple research breakthroughs in unique ways
• Create proprietary AI capabilities that provide sustained competitive advantage in healthcare markets
• Establish research partnerships with leading universities, labs, and AI companies (OpenAI, Anthropic, academic institutions)