Director, AI-Payer Strategy & Innovation

Optum; Eden Prairie (MN); Hybrid; USD 135,000 - 231,000; Full time

Job summary

Optum is seeking an experienced client-facing leader to drive AI payer strategy engagements. You will translate health plan business problems into executable AI solutions, manage day-to-day delivery, and align cross-functional teams across data science, operations, and engineering to deliver measurable value.

Based in the U.S., you will facilitate workshops, lead executive forums, oversee scopes and budgets, and ensure governance and compliant delivery while expanding Optum AI payer offerings.

Qualifications

• 10+ years in management consulting or AI-enabled delivery.
• 7+ years leading multi-workstream client engagements.
• 5+ years working with payer organizations.
• 5+ years translating complex business problems into AI use cases.
• 5+ years facilitating workshops with senior stakeholders.
• Ability to travel up to 30-40% to client locations.

Responsibilities

• Lead day-to-day delivery of AI consulting engagements.
• Serve as the primary client contact for workshops and decision forums.
• Structure payer problems and translate findings into AI use cases and value hypotheses.
• Own the development, quality, and delivery of client work products and roadmaps.
• Coordinate cross-functional teams to define future-state workflows and AI roadmaps.
• Manage engagement economics, scope, schedule, staffing, forecast, margins, and risk.
• Partner with sales to participate in discovery, proposals, and pricing inputs.
• Transform outcomes into reusable playbooks and AI narratives.
• Embed privacy, security, and regulatory compliance in all solutions.

Skills

Consulting leadership

Client engagement

AI/ML knowledge

Stakeholder management

Workshops facilitation

Travel readiness

Education

Advanced degree (MBA or related)

Tools

Cloud platforms

Generative AI

Data strategy

Job description

Optum is seeking an experienced client-facing leader to drive AI payer strategy engagements. You will translate health plan business problems into executable AI solutions, manage day-to-day delivery, and align cross-functional teams across data science, operations, and engineering to deliver measurable value.

Based in the U.S., you will facilitate workshops, lead executive forums, oversee scopes and budgets, and ensure governance and compliant delivery while expanding Optum AI payer offerings.