Director, Pharmacy Pricing Strategy

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.

Optum, the fastest growing part of UnitedHealth Group, is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business. Our teams are dedicated to modernizing the health care system and improving the lives of people and communities. 

Serving virtually every dimension of the health system, we work with a diverse set of clients across 150 countries - from those who diagnose and treat patients to those who pay for care, deliver health services, and those who supply the cures. Optum maintains operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Our innovative partnerships provide technology and tools that enable unprecedented collaboration and efficiency. As a result, we can tap into valuable health care data to uncover insights and develop strategies for better care at lower costs.

About The Role: 

As our Director, Pharmacy Pricing Strategy, you will lead a team responsible for defining and managing pharmacy strategy, as it pertains to new (& renewing) client opportunities. This role oversees how pharmacy network rates are represented in underwriting assumptions and pricing models across all lines of business. 

You will deliver financial modelling and analytical insights to ensure pricing accuracy, consistency, and competitiveness, while partnering closely with Underwriting, Finance, Legal and Network stakeholders to drive optimal outcomes. The role plays a critical part in aligning pharmacy contractual terms, financial objectives, client commitments and organizational strategy.  

We're looking for someone with excellent leadership skills, a strategic mindset, a solid aptitude for complex problem solving, industry experience, and well-developed communication and technical skills.

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:

• Lead pharmacy cost of goods sold (COGS) strategy by translating pharmacy network rates into underwriting assumptions and pricing models that support client bids and renewals across all lines of business
• Own and govern the contract negotiation modeling framework used to support live pharmacy negotiations, including target setting, scenario analysis, negotiation tracking, and final agreement outcomes
• Lead a high performing analytics team responsible for analyzing and projecting pharmacy rate compression and expansion, developing negotiation scenario models, delivering COGS value strategy insights, and assessing financial risk relative to pricing and underwriting assumptions
• Oversee COGS and negotiation model development to ensure pricing assumptions are accurate, consistent, competitive, and aligned with contractual and financial objectives 
• Partner cross functionally with Network, Underwriting, Finance, Pharmacy, Legal and other stakeholders to align negotiation strategies, pricing decisions, and contractual outcomes
• Identify and communicate emerging pharmacy cost trends, risks, and opportunities, providing clear recommendations to senior leadership

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:

• Proven extensive experience in Data Analytics, Finance, Pricing, or similar roles
• Demonstrated proficiency in SQL and/or Python, with the ability to perform effective and efficient querying across multiple tables and subqueries
• Demonstrated advanced proficiency in Microsoft Excel
• Proven experience in financial modeling and assessing financial scenarios
• Demonstrated solid communication skills, with the ability to adjust tone and level of detail for varying levels of leadership and disciplines
• Proven experience working with and analyzing financial data to develop business insights and strategy
• Demonstrated complex problem solving skills
• Proven ability to work collaboratively across multiple teams or departments to support business growth or profitability goals
• Demonstrated excellent verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to translate complex analytical results into meaningful insights and convey technical information in a clear and understandable manner
• Demonstrated ability to work a portion of monthly hours from the Dublin or Letterkenny office

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in a quantitative discipline (Finance, Accounting, Mathematics, or Engineering)
• Proven experience leading a team of data analysts
• Proven experience in managed healthcare or pharmacy benefit management
• Proven experience creating data visualizations using Tableau or similar tools
• Demonstrated proficiency in Microsoft Azure
• Demonstrated high energy and detail orientation, with the ability to manage and prioritize multiple projects to ensure quality and timely delivery
• Demonstrated ability to work independently as a self starter in a rapidly changing environment

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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