President, Optum Pharmacy Care Services

UnitedHealth Group; Eden Prairie (MN); Hybrid; USD 350,000 - 500,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive benefits package

Equity stock purchase

401k contribution

Job summary

UnitedHealth Group's Optum is seeking a senior executive to lead Pharmacy Care Services. You will drive strategic plans across home delivery, specialty, frontier rare disease, and infusion sites, delivering growth and operational excellence.

This role emphasizes AI-enabled transformations, cross-functional leadership, and a focus on affordability, price transparency, and patient experience. Remote work is permitted within the US with in-office requirements in certain regions.

Qualifications

• 20+ years of progressive senior executive healthcare leadership.
• Experience leading a multi-billion dollar P&L portfolio.
• Proven ability to operate in regulated reimbursement environments.
• Strong track record in tech-enabled operating transformations.

Responsibilities

• Set the vision and drive strategic plans for Optum's Pharmacy businesses, with full P&L accountability to drive growth and ensure execution of strategies.
• Lead the transition to an AI-native pharmacy, using AI as the real-time control layer across the prescription lifecycle to drive script capture, speed to therapy, and operating efficiency.
• Own operating leverage and productivity across the pharmacies, delivering cost-per-script and cost-to-dispense targets through automation, globalization, workforce and footprint optimization.
• Own the end-to-end patient and provider experience, converging fragmented data, insights and accountability into a single operating model focusing on affordability and price transparency.
• Leverage understanding of the health landscape and partner successfully across Optum and UHG to drive growth across products and services.
• Innovate and drive emergent business models and services in the dynamic healthcare market.

Skills

Leadership

Strategy planning

Healthcare experience

AI transformation

P&L management

Stakeholder management

Executive communication

Change management

Job description

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.

We are seeking a senior business executive to lead the Pharmacy Care Services (PCS) organization. PCS operates in the highly complex and competitive U.S. Pharmacy Market along with PBM affiliated pharmacies, retail pharmacies, digital pharmacies, infusion providers, and physician and provider owned pharmacies.

The market continues to expand, driven primarily by GLP-1 utilization and by specialty therapies targeting cancer and rare disease. The defining financial headwinds of the next five years are the Inflation Reduction Act and the Maximum Fair Price program, ongoing rate compression from payers and PBMs, biosimilar annualization, and membership contraction. Broader regulatory and policy uncertainty remains material, including any-willing-provider provisions, 340B reform, and possible restrictions on PBM pharmacy affiliation.

You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.

The Portfolio

Provide leadership to the pharmacy portfolio. Each business carries a materially different growth profile, and the role is a growth mandate and a turnaround mandate at the same time:

• Home Delivery
• Specialty
• Frontier - Rare Disease
• Genoa
• PharmScript
• Infusion - Pharmacy and Infusion Sites of Care
• CPS

These are the foundations for long-term growth by strategically positioning our businesses in the most attractive segments of the pharmacy market, providing increased business durability through revenue diversification. This focus enables us to implement both defensive and offensive strategies, ensuring we are prepared for market challenges and opportunities that may arise.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Set the vision and drive strategic plans for Optum's Pharmacy businesses, with full P&L accountability to drive rapid and sustained profitable growth and ensure execution of strategies
• Lead the transition to an AI-native pharmacy, using AI as the real-time control layer across the prescription lifecycle to drive script capture, speed to therapy, and operating efficiency, while elevating pharmacists to clinical judgment and complex care
• Own operating leverage and productivity across the pharmacies, delivering cost-per-script and cost-to-dispense targets through automation, globalization, workforce and footprint optimization, and disciplined capital deployment
• Own the end-to-end patient and provider experience, converging fragmented data, insights and accountability into a single operating model so that issues are prevented rather than escalated with particular focus on affordability and price transparency, communication, and first fill and onboarding
• Leverage a deep understanding of the health landscape, understanding the needs of all our constituents (payers, providers, employers, government and consumers), and partnering successfully throughout UHG (Optum and UHC) to drive growth across a portfolio of products and services
• Innovate, adapt and drive emerging business models and services in the dynamic healthcare market and ecosystem
• Continue to build upon the value of integrated pharmacy businesses operating as a system to drive critical levers that enable success, continuing to shift the orientation from vertical to horizontal
• Identify and drive business opportunities that create long-term value and prioritize short-term priorities including merger and acquisition strategies, innovative solutions and external partnerships
• Prioritize resources and optimally manage trade-offs between potentially competing objectives at the integrated pharmacy business level and in alignment with Optum's overall objectives.
• Work to recruit, retain and develop a talented workforce with a high level of employee engagement
• Create a diverse, inclusive, and team-oriented work environment that enables professional development and encourages creative solutions and strategies

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:

• 20 years+ of experience as a progressive senior executive in a complex health care organization with significant leadership experience
• Proven ability to influence and motivate
• Experience leading a multi-billion profit and loss portfolio
• Demonstrated success operating in a regulated reimbursement environment, including exposure to IRA and Maximum Fair Price dynamics, 340B, AWP-based reimbursement, and CMS rate setting
• Track record of technology- and AI-enabled operating transformation at scale, with earnings delivered from initiatives that did not exist at the outset of the plan
• Experience selling to and partnering with health systems and provider organizations, or comparable B2B enterprise channel experience
• Sales and growth oriented with a track record of success growing profitable business
• Experience leading in a fast-paced environment, at a lean and growing company dedicated to quality care with operational and financial success
• Proven ability to establish effective working relationships with executives and key business partners in a highly matrixed environment to drive a change agenda
• Proven ability to collaborate cross-functionally with teams in fast-moving and dynamic business settings
• Proven ability to motivate, lead and develop talent
• Demonstrated strategic thinking abilities and an enterprise-wide perspective
• Solid communication, influencing, problem solving and negotiation skills
• Ability to travel up to 50%

*All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group's Telecommuter Policy

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 $350,000 to $500,000 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

• a comprehensive benefits package
• incentive and recognition programs
• equity stock purchase
• 401k contribution

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.