Senior Director Operations

Requisition Number: 2349716
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.
This role of Senior Director, Operations - Risk & Quality Operations is a senior leadership position accountable for setting strategic direction, driving operational excellence, and delivering superior business outcomes across multi-site, large-scale Risk Adjustment and Quality Operations. This role provides leadership through multiple layers of senior managers and directors, ensuring performance, compliance, service quality, and financial objectives are consistently met or exceeded.
The Senior Director partners closely with executive stakeholders, onshore leadership, technology teams, and clients to strengthen Optum's operational capabilities, scale best-in-class processes, and deliver measurable value to health plan partners.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Strategic Leadership & Business Ownership
• Define operational strategy for Risk Adjustment and Quality Operations aligned with enterprise goals
  • Lead multi-site operations (2,000-3,000+ FTEs) through multiple directors, senior managers, and professional staff
  • Drive transformation initiatives that deliver sustainable productivity, quality improvement, and cost efficiencies
  • Own end-to-end delivery of contractual SLAs, KPIs, compliance, and client commitments across programs
• Operational Excellence & Performance Management
  • Design, implement, and continuously optimize operational frameworks, metrics, and governance models
  • Evaluate and interpret business performance reports; identify drivers of underperformance and institute corrective actions
  • Oversee workforce planning, staffing ratios, labor cost management, and operational budget controls
  • Ensure adherence to Optum policies, regulatory guidelines, and industry best practices across Risk Adjustment and Quality workflows
• Client & Stakeholder Engagement
  • Serve as a senior point of escalation for onshore leaders and client executives
  • Partner with U.S. business teams to align operational strategy with plan performance goals
  • Provide insights, recommendations, and consultative support to drive customer value and long-term partnerships
• Transformation, Innovation & Automation
  • Champion adoption of advanced analytics, GenAI solutions, and automation to improve outcomes
  • Lead continuous improvement programs, standardization efforts, and capability-building initiatives across locations
  • Benchmark industry practices and bring innovative operating models into the Risk & Quality Operations space
• People Leadership
  • Develop the next layer of senior leadership - directors, senior managers, and future successors
  • Foster a culture of accountability, inclusion, high performance, and ethical conduct
  • Drive leadership development, talent mobility, succession planning, and organizational capability
• 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 regard 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:

• Graduate/Postgraduate from a recognized university.
• 15+ years of progressive leadership experience, with at least 8+ years leading large-scale healthcare operations (Risk Adjustment, Quality, Clinical Ops, or related domains)
• 10+ Years of experience in people leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience managing multi-site operations and P&L accountability
• Solid experience interacting with U.S. clients, executives, and cross-functional leaders
• Proven track record in large-scale transformations, automation adoption, and performance turnaround.
• Willingness to travel as required
• Flexibility to support U.S. and India working hours

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in health plan operations, HEDIS, STARS, Risk Adjustment analytics, or clinical quality domains
• Exposure to AI/automation-led transformation
• Lean Six Sigma or similar certification

Values-Based Competencies (Optum Leadership Expectations)

• Model Ethical Behavior
• Deliver Value to Customers
• Lead and Develop People
• Lead Change and Innovation
• Communicate with Impact
• Drive Sound, Data-Driven Decisions
• Execute with Excellence

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.