Director, Digital Product - AI or ML

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.

Join our team at Optum Real, where we are transforming revenue cycle management through the power of AI and machine learning. Our mission is to create a more patient-centric healthcare experience by reducing administrative friction, increasing transparency, and expediting processes for both providers and payers. We are building intelligent, scalable solutions that streamline operations and deliver measurable impact across the healthcare ecosystem.

As a Director of Digital Product , you will lead strategic initiatives across multiple AI-enabled products and platforms. This role includes people management responsibilities and blends product leadership with advanced technical fluency. You will define product strategy, guide architecture decisions, mentor junior team members, and drive measurable business outcomes through cross-functional collaboration.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead product strategy and execution across a portfolio of AI-enabled solutions
• Partner with engineering and data science teams to architect and deliver scalable AI-powered products
• Own model evaluation frameworks, telemetry design, and instrumentation standards
• Make strategic decisions on model readiness, balancing business impact and responsible AI practices
• Define and drive KPI frameworks and establish scalable data contracts with engineering
• Translate complex customer problems and market signals into actionable product strategies and narratives
• Lead experimentation strategy and ensure statistical rigor in decision-making
• Build and scale analytics infrastructure and present insights to senior leadership
• Ensure compliance with governance and regulatory processes; maintain documentation and decision logs
• Mentor junior product data scientists and promote best practices in product development and analytics
• Drive cross-functional execution and contribute to product culture through strategic thinking and customer obsession
• 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:

• Advanced degree in quantitative discipline
• 10+ years of total professional experience
• 5+ years of experience in data science or machine learning
• 2+ of the last 5+ years must include hands-on experience in DS/ML
• Experience scaling AI-enabled products and leading architecture decisions
• Experience with enterprise-grade telemetry and data contracts 
• Expertise in defining KPI frameworks, experimentation strategy, and analytics infrastructure
• Advanced proficiency in Python and SQL for data analysis and prototyping
• Proven leadership in technical product development and team mentorship
• Proven solid stakeholder management and strategic communication skills

Preferred Qualifications:

• Deep experience in the healthcare domain or other regulated industries
• Experience with applied analytics and scaling AI solutions across enterprise environments
• Familiarity with model lifecycle management and performance monitoring
• Background in enterprise integrations, data interoperability, and event-driven architectures
• Thought leadership in AI product strategy, frameworks, or industry best practices
• Proven ability to lead product strategy documentation, investment cases, and executive-level communications

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.