Associate Director of Finance- Eden Prairie, MN Hybrid - Optum

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 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.

The Associate Finance Director is responsible for supporting regional general managers and product leaders in the full P&L.  The position will work with key leaders to ensure sound financial analysis, sound financial decision making, and appropriate financial and operating controls are in place.  

Primary Responsibilities: 

• Develop, translate and report on unit cost measure across Optum, where appropriate, to drive better decision making and reduce overall total cost of care across our business portfolios
• Develop an in-depth understanding of the Optum cost structure, in close partnership with business unit finance teams
• Partner with business unit FP&A teams to review operating cost metrics and processes, and understand underlying cost drivers
  
  • Understand, examine and articulate direct, indirect, fixed and variable cost pools, including chargebacks, controllable and non-controllable costs
  • Understand what drives costs in each business
• Report on Operating Cost Ratio, including pro forma views and synthesize the story into key themes and key opportunities to reduce/improve
• Support medical cost research and affordability questions, as needed
• Drive Optum enterprise cost reduction initiatives, as needed
• Lead monthly Optum SG&A review meetings with Optum Finance leadership.
• Support product line profitability and cost allocation methodologies; offer thought leadership around how to refresh, automate and mature in this space
• Analyze and synthesize operating expense trends; identify savings opportunities and collaborate with cross functional teams to drive progress against these opportunities
• Partner closely with Optum Financial Consolidations team to provide complete story points on operating costs
• Workforce / FTE analytics
  
  • Collaborate with Human Capital Analytics team to define and drive relevant reporting based on needs and data availability
  • Analyze trends; inform forecasting process and document assumptions. Monitor forecasting accuracy.
  • Enhance FTE reporting and insights through a closer partnership with business units during forecast cycles
  • Analyze and synthesize external contract labor data to identify opportunities, set targets and work with segment finance teams to monitor progress against established goals and targets.  Research high dollar contractor lists.
  • Obtain a deeper understanding behind workforce savings commitments and monitor
  • Requisition governance analysis
  • Partner with ES&P to analyze travel trends, contract labor and professional fees trends and cost savings opportunities, governance and reporting cadence
• Spend analysis.
  
  • In conjunction with ES&P and Optum VMO, understand and analyze vendor spend, vendor performance and consolidation opportunities
  • Set spend reduction targets and drive results across Optum, in conjunction with business unit finance teams
• Reporting
  
  • Lead a reporting team who will:
    
    • Complete monthly SG&A portrait reporting views
    • Create and maintain and Optum SG&A monthly scorecard
    • Track cost savings initiatives
• Support Monthly SG&A Review meetings by working with FP&A teams to prepare materials 
  
  • Work closely with BU Finance teams to understand committed and budgeted savings initiatives, monitor, track and report on progress
• Present findings and recommendations to management
• Other cost-related analyses, as required

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:

• Undergraduate degree in Accounting, Finance, or related field
• 6+ years of progressive financial planning and analysis or related experience
• Experience prioritizing & managing demanding workloads with concurrent deadlines
• Proven solid analytical skills and business acumen
• Proven trusted advisor and partner to those we serve in the business

Preferred Qualifications:

• Proven excellent interpersonal relationship building and communication (written and verbal) skills
• Proven to be assertive, self-starting personality with a customer service attitude
• Proven ability to deal with ambiguity and change

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.