Remote Director: Payer Network Optimization

Optum; Eden Prairie (MN); Remote; USD 113,000 - 193,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Telecommuter policy

Job summary

Optum is seeking a Director, Payer Network Optimization to lead strategic product initiatives within Value Connect. This remote role focuses on building capabilities to benchmark, simulate, and improve network performance across access, affordability, and value-based care, with accountability for outcomes.

You will translate complex economics and analytics into actionable decision-support, collaborate across engineering, data science, and commercial teams, and drive measurable ROI for payer

Qualifications

• 10+ years of professional experience in healthcare product management, healthcare technology, healthcare analytics, network strategy, medical economics, actuarial, or related fields with demonstrated ownership of complex product strategy, delivery, and cross-functional leadership.
• Payer network optimization domain: 5+ years of hands-on experience with payer network strategy, payer performance, network adequacy/access, referrals, steerage, site of service, cost-of-care improvement, value-based network design, accountable care or alternative payment model alignment.
• 5+ years of experience productizing analytics, benchmarks, models, simulations, or AI-enabled insights into actionable decision-support workflows—not just dashboards or reporting.
• 5+ years of experience translating complex network, economics, analytics, and technology concepts into clear business and client-facing decisions to executive leadership.

Responsibilities

• Own the Network Optimization product strategy, roadmap, prioritization, delivery, commercialization, and outcome goals within Value Connect.
• Prioritize high-value use cases across network strategy and value-based network design, access, adequacy, provider performance, referrals, leakage, steerage, site of service, accountable care organization fit, alternative payment model fit, shared savings, and cost-of-care improvement
• Translate network strategy, healthcare economics, benchmarks, simulations, and analytics into trusted decision-support workflows—not static dashboards or retrospective reporting
• Partner with engineering, UX, data science, architecture, actuarial, medical economics, network strategy, advisory, clinical, compliance, and go-to-market teams to deliver scalable capabilities
• Ensure product logic, AI-enabled insights, and recommendations are explainable, evidence-backed, user-centered, and aligned to client value and measurable ROI
• Communicate roadmap decisions, tradeoffs, dependencies, risks, value story, and performance outcomes clearly to senior stakeholders, clients, and commercial partners

Skills

Healthcare product management

Healthcare analytics

Network strategy

Cross-functional leadership

Product strategy

AI-enabled insights

Job description

Optum is seeking a Director, Payer Network Optimization to lead strategic product initiatives within Value Connect. This remote role focuses on building capabilities to benchmark, simulate, and improve network performance across access, affordability, and value-based care, with accountability for outcomes.

You will translate complex economics and analytics into actionable decision-support, collaborate across engineering, data science, and commercial teams, and drive measurable ROI for payer