Associate Director

Optum is a global organization that delivers care, aided by technology to help millions of people live healthier lives. The work you do with our team will directly improve health outcomes by connecting people with the care, pharmacy benefits, data and resources they need to feel their best. Here, you will find a culture guided by inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

This Associate Director (SG29) role is a critical leadership position within the Global Network & Provider Management function, with end-to-end accountability for a multi-million-dollar global provider portfolio and a distributed international network supporting Employee Assistance and Wellbeing services.

Operating within a "player-coach" model, the role combines strategic leadership with hands-on execution, driving cost efficiency, network performance, and operational rigor while supporting business growth and client delivery.

The role will lead a small but high-impact global team and act as a key interface between Operations, Finance, and Commercial stakeholders.

This position is based at the Optum Bangalore office and requires in-office presence five days per week.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Team Leadership & Capability Building
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a global team of 3 FTEs (India & Philippines), ensuring solid execution discipline and capability uplift
  • Operate as a hands-on leader, balancing team management with direct involvement in complex provider and financial decisions
  • Establish clear performance goals, governance, and accountability frameworks
• Provider Network Ownership
  • Own and actively manage a multi-million-dollar global provider portfolio, ensuring compliance, performance, and financial discipline
  • Oversee end-to-end provider lifecycle including due diligence, onboarding, contracting, and performance management
  • Maintain solid provider relationships while enforcing service quality and contractual adherence
• Commercial & Negotiation Leadership
  • Lead provider rate negotiations, leveraging market dynamics, utilization trends, and network demand to optimize cost positioning
  • Drive structured negotiation strategies to improve margin while maintaining network adequacy and service quality
  • Identify opportunities to rebalance in-house vs. external service delivery
• Cost Optimization & Financial Governance
  • Deliver against a targeted ~30% cost reduction plan through pricing discipline, network optimization, and leakage prevention
  • Own invoice validation processes and partner with Finance to strengthen forecasting accuracy
  • Design and implement quality assurance controls to eliminate invoice errors and improve financial transparency
• Growth & Stakeholder Engagement
  • Act as primary point of contact for Growth and Commercial teams on network capabilities, pricing, and escalations
  • Support client discussions and escalations requiring network expertise or cost clarification
  • Partner cross-functionally with Sales, Account Management, and Operations teams
• Risk, Crisis & Operational Continuity
  • Serve as a member of the Global Crisis Team, supporting high-risk incident response and escalation management
  • Act as SIRG point of contact, ensuring network readiness and compliance during critical events
  • Proactively identify and mitigate operational and financial risks, including provider cost leakage and network gaps
• Regional Oversight (Interim Responsibility)
  • Provide interim leadership oversight for the UK & Ireland affiliate network, stabilizing performance, and operations
  • Transition ownership back to the regional hub once performance and governance are re-established
• Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so

Required Qualifications:

• 10+ years of experience in global provider/network management, vendor management, or healthcare/EAP operations
• Experience leading small, distributed teams with solid focus on execution and accountability
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-country provider networks and external vendor ecosystems
• Proven track record of delivering cost optimization, rate negotiations, and financial governance outcomes
• Proven solid financial acumen, including forecasting, invoice validation, and cost tracking
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a matrixed global environment with senior stakeholder exposure

Key Competencies (SG29 Benchmarks)

• Execution-led leadership - delivers results through direct ownership, not just oversight
• Commercial acumen - solid negotiation capability with clear margin impact
• Operational rigor - builds scalable processes, controls, and governance
• Risk awareness - proactively identifies and mitigates operational and financial risks
• Influence without authority - collaborates effectively across global stakeholders

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.