Director Product Innovation - MN Market

At UnitedHealthcare, we're simplifying the health care experience, creating healthier communities and removing barriers to quality care. The work you do here impacts the lives of millions of people for the better. Come build the health care system of tomorrow, making it more responsive, affordable and optimized. Ready to make a difference? Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together

The Director of Product Innovation will lead the strategy, governance, and execution of the government programs-driven enterprise innovation portfolio, driving measurable growth through new products and enhancing value propositions of existing products. This role will initially focus on Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement, while establishing a scalable pathway for expansion into Medicaid and future markets.

As a key partner to senior leadership, this individual will identify emerging customer needs, define high-value market opportunities, and translate insights into differentiated, scalable products. The Director will own the end-to-end innovation lifecycle-from ideation through commercialization, building a repeatable innovation engine that accelerates time-to-market, optimizes investment decisions, and enhances long-term competitive advantage.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Define and lead the multi-year enterprise innovation strategy, with an initial focus on developing differentiated products for Medicare Advantage and Medicare Supplement, while establishing a scalable pathway for future expansion into Medicaid and adjacent markets
• Own the end-to-end innovation lifecycle, driving new product development from opportunity identification through commercialization and scale. Lead cross-functional execution across product, actuarial, finance, operations, and enterprise partners to deliver measurable business outcomes
• Identify and prioritize high-value market opportunities by leading and synthesizing quantitative analysis, qualitative research, and competitive intelligence to define target populations, unmet needs, and growth potential
• Develop and operationalize product business cases in partnership with actuarial and finance, ensuring alignment to enterprise investment priorities, return thresholds, and long-term strategic value creation
• Design differentiated, end-to-end member experiences, translating insights into cohesive journeys across marketing, sales, digital, and service channels to drive acquisition, engagement, and retention
• Partner with Sales and Marketing leadership to define and execute go-to-market strategies, accelerating penetration, cross-sell (UHC-to-UHC, UHC-to-Optum), and channel effectiveness
• Establish and lead innovation governance and portfolio prioritization, ensuring disciplined investment allocation, clear decision-making frameworks, and alignment with enterprise strategic objectives
• Build and manage a network of external partners, including vendor sourcing, selection, and contract negotiation, to accelerate speed to market and expand innovation capabilities
• Ensure regulatory alignment and risk mitigation, partnering with LCRA to translate evolving regulatory requirements into actionable product strategy guardrails
• Define and monitor success metrics across the innovation portfolio, establishing KPIs tied to growth, adoption, experience, and financial performance; translate insights into continuous optimization
• Serve as a strategic advisor to senior leadership, shaping enterprise product strategy, influencing investment decisions, and leading complex, cross-business transformations

You'll 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 provide development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of experience in product innovation, product management, strategy, or growth leadership, preferably in healthcare or a regulated industry
• Solid experience developing business cases and financial model
• Experience working with highly cross-functional teams, including actuarial, finance, operations, and marketing
• Deep understanding of customer-centered design, market analysis, and product lifecycle management
• Proven ability to lead large-scale, cross-functional initiatives from concept through launch and scale
• Demonstrated success influencing senior leadership and driving enterprise-wide change

Leadership Profile

• Strategic and systems-oriented - able to build and scale repeatable innovation processes, not just individual initiatives
• Outcome-driven - focused on measurable business impact, not just idea generation
• Influential and collaborative - excels at aligning diverse stakeholders and driving decisions in complex environments
• Customer-obsessed - deeply understands member needs and translates them into differentiated solutions
• Execution-focused - balances vision with the ability to deliver results in real-world constraints

Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you'll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $134,600 - $230,800 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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.    

UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.      

UnitedHealth Group is a drug - free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.