Senior Director of Network Contracting Market Analytics

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 diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

What makes your career greater with UnitedHealth Group? Growth opportunities among the variety of product lines and making an impact on the healthcare system ensures it will always be challenging and exciting.

The Senior Director of Network Contracting Market Analytics will be responsible for centralizing and managing the enterprise forecast of drug cost trend, as well the multiple factors that influence this trend including, but not limited to, volume, mix, regulatory policy, competitor pricing, drug acquisition cost, drug pipeline, and others. They will also be accountable for having the appropriate analytics skillsets capable of monitoring what is happening in the market on a given day and being able to translate these analytics into insights and recommended actions for the enterprise.

The successful candidate will be responsible for identifying and centrally collating inputs from each business area within the enterprise and servicing their needs. They will partner cross-functionally to garner a deep understanding of all elements of drug cost and lead a streamlined, agile team of business and data analysts to develop a fit-for-purpose forecast model. They will work with strategy and product partners to provide inputs into new pricing models for PBM clients to meet market demands and ensure growth. This candidate will have the opportunity to lead the Rx US SMART (Strategic Modeling, Analytics, Reporting and Transformation) Team, with Azure / Databricks / Cloud Computing and Python programmers skillset, which offers support for critical business and monitoring processes for the Rx business.

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

Primary Responsibilities:

• Market Monitoring:
  • Build out and develop analytics monitoring (and ideally forecasting) competitor pricing strategies across both traditional competition and market disruptors
  • Monitor and forecast trends of drug acquisition costs over time
  • Monitor and forecast trends of brand drug costs over time
  • Assess, evaluate and predict the impact of market events (new drugs to market, drug shortages, generic launches)
• Forecasting:
  • Centralize ownership of the enterprise view of drug cost trend and develop the enterprise view of drug cost in the future, as well as the drivers of drug cost pressure and recommended actions
  • Develop multi-year long-term integrated forecasting covering drug rebates, pharmacy networks and clinical programs across all lines of business
  • Develop and implement methodologies to determine the client/member/manufacturer/pharmacy/pharma and PBM impacts of market events
  • Manage a governance committee of senior stakeholders to develop the enterprise assumptions on drug cost trend
• Regulatory:
  • Build an integrated view of future regulatory changes across all lines of business
  • Predict and quantify the impact of regulatory changes at the state and federal levels
• Leverage cross-functional connections and business knowledge to propose impactful pricing strategies that are well thought out with an understanding of how they can be operationalized
• Collects market intelligence and develops strategies to mitigate impact of, or get ahead of new markets offerings
• Assess and evaluate risks to profitability, including quantifying impact and developing solutions for clients and Optum
• Connect and bring together teams across the organization; clinical, underwriting, industry and network relations, et al
• Support growth of capabilities in Ireland regarding pricing and analytics

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.

Years of post-high school education, in a discipline related to healthcare analytics, finance, accounting, mathematics, engineering, can be substituted/is equivalent to years of experience.

Required Qualifications:

• 7+ years of experience working in healthcare analytics, finance, accounting, or mathematics
• 7+ years of experience in working with and analyzing financial data to develop/translating into business insights and strategy
• Experience working collaboratively, with multiple teams or departments for business growth and/or profitability goals
• Advanced proficiency with Azure / Databricks / Cloud Computing costs/ Python
• Solid proficiency in data literacy with a deep knowledge of data sources methodology
• Basic understanding of cloud infrastructure cost in order to efficiently negotiate with Tech and working collaboratively with IT partners to develop appropriate data pipelines to meet business needs
• Proven excellent verbal and written communication skills; ability to speak clearly and concisely, conveying complex or technical information in a manner that others can understand, as well as ability to understand and interpret complex information
• Proven solid background of data governance and regulations, working on a consultative basis to support data needs

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in managed health care or pharmacy benefit management
• Experience in agile/lean methodologies
• PowerBI, Azure and SQL Proficient

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

California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, or Washington Residents Only: The salary range for this role is $147,300 to $282,800 annually. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. UnitedHealth Group complies with all minimum wage laws as applicable. In addition to your salary, UnitedHealth Group offers 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 UnitedHealth Group, you'll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives.

Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.

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.

Diversity creates a healthier atmosphere: UnitedHealth Group is an Equal Employment Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, age, national origin, protected veteran status, disability status, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, genetic information, or any other characteristic protected by law.

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