Associate Director, Strategic Finance - Optum Financial - Eden Prairie, MN

About the role

Optum Financial is a growth pillar within UnitedHealth Group and Optum, working at the intersection of health care and financial services to help consumers save, pay for, and manage health care expenses. The Associate Director, Strategic Finance will accelerate growth by providing dedicated finance support across lines of business, enabling rigorous evaluation of new products, partnerships, and investment opportunities while establishing consistent, scalable financial frameworks for shared economic models. This high-impact role bridges business development, product, and finance to strengthen decision-making, improve capital allocation, and drive alignment across a matrixed organization.

Responsibilities

• Develop and lead complex financial models, business cases, and scenario analyses for new products, strategic partnerships, investments, and growth opportunities
• Evaluate opportunity economics, including revenue potential, cost structure, pricing, risk, capital requirements, returns, and key sensitivities
• Partner with business development, product, technology, strategy, operations, and finance leaders to assess opportunities and structure financially sound recommendations
• Create consistent and scalable financial frameworks for shared economic models, partnership structures, pricing strategies, and investment decisions across lines of business
• Support due diligence and financial evaluation of partnerships, commercial arrangements, and selected M&A opportunities, including assessment of strategic and financial trade-offs
• Lead strategic finance support for high-priority cross-functional initiatives across Optum Financial, partnering with leaders across product, technology, operations, strategy, and finance
• Conduct complex ad hoc analyses to evaluate business performance, identify opportunities, assess risks, and support executive decision-making
• Support enterprise planning, investment prioritization, and resource allocation activities by providing fact-based financial insights and recommendations
• Drive special projects that improve operating performance, financial discipline, scalability, and long-term value creation across Optum Financial
• Translate complex and ambiguous inputs into clear assumptions, decision criteria, financial narratives, and actionable recommendations for senior leaders
• Prepare and present executive-ready materials that communicate opportunity size, economics, risks, sensitivities, and recommended actions
• Track performance of approved investments and partnerships against business case assumptions, identify emerging risks and opportunities, and recommend corrective actions
• Improve capital allocation discipline by establishing common evaluation standards, documentation, governance, and post-investment measurement
• Identify opportunities to enhance analytical frameworks, reporting capabilities, and decision-support tools that improve the speed and quality of business decisions
• Lead cross-functional workstreams, build alignment across a matrixed organization, and help move strategic opportunities and enterprise priorities from concept through evaluation and decision

Requirements

• 6+ years of progressive experience in strategic finance, corporate development, business development, consulting, investment banking or FP&A
• Demonstrated experience building and leading complex financial models and investment analyses
• Experience evaluating partnership structures, deal economics, or M&A opportunities
• Advanced proficiency in Excel and PowerPoint
• Proven ability to lead cross-functional initiatives and influence senior stakeholders in a matrixed environment
• Solid ability to synthesize ambiguous inputs into clear financial frameworks and strategic recommendations
• Excellent communication skills, with experience presenting to senior or executive audiences

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Finance, Accounting, Economics, or a related field
• Experience in financial services, banking, healthcare, or another regulated industry
• Experience with shared economic models, pricing strategies, or capital allocation frameworks
• Experience supporting product and technology organizations in an agile environment
• Experience with enterprise planning tools such as Hyperion, Essbase, or similar platforms
• Demonstrated ability to drive business development initiatives and strategic partnerships
• Solid analytical, problem-solving, and decision-making capabilities with high attention to detail

Pay

The salary for this role will range from $112,700 – $193,200 annually based on full-time employment. Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc.