Sr. Director, Payments Platform - Optum Financial - Remote
About The Position
Optum Financial is seeking a strategic and technically fluent Senior Director, Payments Platform to lead the vision, development, and modernization of Payments 2.0 and CCS 2.0. This leader will define and deliver a scalable, AI-native, API-first platform that powers end-to-end healthcare payment and communications experiences across payers, providers, internal operations, and strategic partners. As Commercial Payments transitions from legacy point solutions to a unified platform model, this role will be instrumental in advancing the Optum Payments Network strategy. The ideal candidate brings deep payments and fintech platform expertise, solid product management discipline, and proven 0-to-1 platform leadership. They will lead cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Architecture, AI, Operations, Security, Compliance, and Commercial functions to build scalable, secure, and commercially viable platform capabilities spanning payment orchestration, onboarding, fulfillment, communications, APIs, transaction visibility, and enterprise-scale operations.
Requirements
- 12+ years of Product Management experience with deep expertise in Payments, FinTech, platform products, and enterprise technology solutions
- 5+ years leading payment platforms, fintech products, large-scale modernization initiatives, and enterprise software capabilities
- Deep Payments and FinTech platform experience, including payment processing, payment orchestration, disbursements, reconciliation, settlement, and large-scale transaction platforms
- Proven experience taking a platform, product, or major capability from concept through launch, adoption, and scale (0-to-1)
- Experience leading cross-functional teams across Product, Engineering, Architecture, Operations, Security, Compliance, and executive stakeholders
- Solid technical fluency with APIs, platform architecture, cloud-native systems, integrations, and enterprise product delivery
- Demonstrated success defining platform strategy, roadmaps, MVPs, adoption metrics, and product lifecycle management
- Proven ability to influence senior leaders, align complex stakeholder groups, and drive executive-level decisions
- Proven exceptional executive communication skills with the ability to translate technical complexity into business strategy and measurable outcomes
Nice To Haves
- MBA, advanced technical degree, or relevant product/technology leadership certifications
- Experience in healthcare payments, commercial payments, financial services, banking, treasury, payment processing, claims payment, payer-provider ecosystems, or healthcare fintech
- Deep understanding of payment rails and workflows including ACH, ACH+, virtual cards, checks, funding, settlement, reconciliation, 835/ERA, remittance, and straight-through processing
- Experience designing or leading API-first platforms, developer portals, integration ecosystems, or payment orchestration platforms
- Experience with AI-native product development, agentic workflows, AI-assisted data mapping, knowledge retrieval, workflow automation, or human-in-the-loop operating models
- Experience leading cloud modernization, platform hardening, PCI readiness, security controls, observability, and production support readiness
- Experience working with high-volume transaction processing platforms where reliability, scalability, auditability, and operational resilience are critical
Responsibilities
- Define and execute the vision, strategy, and roadmap for Payments 2.0 and CCS 2.0, leading 0-to-1 platform innovation and modernization
- Drive the transition from legacy systems to scalable, configurable, AI-native, API-first platforms that support long-term business growth
- Balance near-term delivery priorities with platform scalability, extensibility, customer adoption, and strategic objectives
- Lead platform capabilities across payments, communications, onboarding, fulfillment, reconciliation, reporting, and partner integrations
- Define reusable platform services, APIs, shared capabilities, and governance models that support multiple product domains
- Partner with Product, Engineering, Architecture, and AI teams to deliver modern, configurable solutions that improve customer and operational outcomes
- Ensure platform architecture supports high-volume transaction processing, operational resilience, security, compliance, and observability
- Establish standards for platform health, performance, monitoring, disaster recovery, production readiness, and operational support
- Drive enterprise controls for payment integrity, data privacy, fraud prevention, auditability, and regulatory compliance
- Lead execution across Product, Engineering, Operations, Security, Compliance, AI, Data, Sales, Marketing, and Client teams
- Translate business strategy into roadmaps, delivery plans, migration strategies, and measurable business outcomes
- Drive platform adoption and modernization efforts that improve implementation speed, operational efficiency, scalability, and customer experience
- Establish platform governance, operating cadences, KPIs, executive dashboards, and strategic reporting
- Partner with executive leaders to prioritize investments, manage risks, and make tradeoff decisions across cost, speed, scope, and business value
- Measure platform success through adoption, transaction performance, reliability, operational efficiency, and financial outcomes
Benefits
- comprehensive benefits package
- incentive and recognition programs
- equity stock purchase
- 401k contribution
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What This Job Offers
Job Type
Full-time
Career Level
Director
Education Level
No Education Listed
