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

UnitedHealth Group•Eden Prairie, MN

39d•$112,700 - $193,200•Onsite

About The Position

Optum Financial is looking to create and scale several new solutions and partnerships to drive rapid income from operations growth that complements the current business. The Associate Director, Strategic Finance will be critical to accelerating this growth by providing dedicated finance support across lines of business. The role will enable more rigorous evaluation of new products, partnerships, and investment opportunities while establishing consistent, scalable financial frameworks for shared economic models. By bridging business development, product, and finance, this position will strengthen decision-making, improve capital allocation, and drive alignment across a highly matrixed organization. The Associate Director will develop financial models, evaluate strategic opportunities, shape deal economics, and translate ambiguous business inputs into clear, executive-ready recommendations. This is a high-impact individual contributor role with meaningful exposure to senior leaders and cross-functional teams across Optum Financial. In addition to supporting growth investments and partnership opportunities, this role will serve as a strategic finance resource for several of Optum Financial's highest-priority initiatives. The Associate Director will lead and support cross-functional finance projects, conduct complex ad hoc analyses, develop executive-ready recommendations, and help drive enterprise initiatives that require strong financial leadership, structured problem-solving, and coordination across multiple stakeholders. The role offers a unique opportunity to influence business outcomes through both strategic growth initiatives and broader organizational priorities.

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

Nice To Haves

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

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