Director, Clinical Innovation & Strategic Partnerships

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 diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Director, Clinical Innovation & Strategic Partnerships will play a critical leadership role within Clinical Strategy & Intelligence (CSI), driving strategic initiatives, external partnerships, innovation programs, and clinical research collaborations that advance Optum's clinical and digital health product capabilities. This leader will serve as the CSI operations lead for high-priority clinical innovation efforts and will coordinate multi-team innovation activities across product, clinical, research, and business teams to operationalize and execute innovation opportunities, develop business cases and processes, and coordinate internal and external clinical partnerships and pilots.

This position requires a highly collaborative leader with experience in healthcare innovation, strategic planning, clinical workflows, digital health, partnership management, and stakeholder engagement. The ideal candidate will possess solid communication skills, strategic thinking capabilities, and a passion for transforming healthcare through process development and impactful coordination and delivery of clinical innovation products.

Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin or Letterkenny office and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Serve as the operations lead for Clinical Strategy & Intelligence (CSI) strategic initiatives, partnerships, and organizational priorities
• Lead stakeholder engagement throughout the Clinical Strategy & Intelligence Opportunity Evaluation Process (OEP), including opportunity intake, evidence collection, stakeholder coordination, analysis, recommendation development, and executive-level communication
• Drive strategic communications related to clinical partnerships, innovation initiatives, pilots, research activities, milestones, outcomes, and business impact
• Develop, manage, and track partnerships with academic institutions, healthcare organizations, government agencies, industry partners, and research collaborators
• Create business cases, problem statements, value propositions, outcome measures, success benchmarks, and return-on-investment frameworks for digital health and clinical decision support solutions
• Partner closely with Product Management, Analytics Teams, User Experience (UX/UI), Market Strategy, Product Delivery, Customer Success, and other cross-functional teams to coordinate pilot programs, validation activities, commercialization plans, and product development initiatives
• Support the development of portfolio-wide clinical experience strategies, interoperability initiatives, and cross-product integration opportunities
• Manage relationships with key external stakeholders including health systems, clinical experts, physician leaders, researchers, academic institutions, and innovation partners
• Synthesize clinical evidence, market intelligence, customer feedback, and business priorities to inform strategic recommendations and investment decisions
• Monitor and evaluate the performance of innovation initiatives and partnerships against established objectives and key performance indicators
• Identify emerging healthcare trends, clinical technologies, and innovation opportunities that align with organizational strategy and customer needs
• Mentor team members and foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and evidence-based decision making
• Present findings, recommendations, and strategic updates to senior leadership and executive stakeholders

You will be rewarded and recognized for your performance in an environment that will challenge you and give you clear direction on what it takes to succeed in your role, as well as providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

If you don't meet every single requirement, don't let that hold you back - we're just as excited about potential as we are about qualifications and experience, and you could be exactly who we're looking for.

• Master's degree or PhD in Healthcare Administration, Public Health, Business Administration, Organizational Leadership, Life Sciences, or a related field
• Proven extensive experience in product strategy, clinical innovation, digital health, healthcare consulting, clinical care pathway improvement, healthcare operations, or related disciplines
• Proven solid experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives, products, or strategic programs
• Proven experience managing healthcare partnerships, vendor relationships, academic collaborations, or research programs
• Proven experience developing business cases, strategic recommendations, and executive-level presentations
• Demonstrated experience leading stakeholder engagement across clinical, technical, operational, and business teams
• Proven experience evaluating healthcare innovation opportunities using data, research, market insights, and business outcomes
• Proven ability to influence senior leaders and drive alignment across diverse stakeholder groups
• Demonstrated solid written, verbal, and presentation communication skills
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple priorities within fast-paced, matrixed environments

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven experience with digital health, clinical decision support solutions, healthcare technology products, or healthcare AI initiatives
• Demonstrated knowledge of healthcare interoperability standards and healthcare data ecosystems
• Proven experience collaborating with health systems, academic medical centers, research organizations, or government healthcare agencies
• Proven experience supporting healthcare product commercialization and go-to-market activities
• Demonstrated familiarity with clinical research methodologies, evidence generation, and outcomes evaluation
• Proven experience working within payer, provider, population health, or healthcare technology environments

Leadership Competencies:

• Demonstrated strategic thinking, with the ability to translate complex clinical and business challenges into actionable solutions
• Demonstrated solid relationship-building skills, with the ability to establish credibility with internal and external stakeholders
• Proven ability to navigate ambiguity and drive clarity across complex initiatives
• Demonstrated commitment to team development, mentorship, and collaborative leadership
• Demonstrated solid analytical and problem-solving skills, supported by data-driven decision-making
• Demonstrated innovative mindset, with a commitment to advancing healthcare transformation and improving patient outcomes
• Demonstrated executive presence, with the ability to communicate effectively across all organizational levels

Please note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country to which you are making an application. Proof will be required to support your application.  

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.


Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug-free workplace. © 2026 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.

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