Director - Product Management

Caring. Connecting. Growing Together.

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 inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health optimization on a global scale.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Product Strategy
• Define and execute AI product transformation strategy, including launching new AI-powered products and transitioning existing products to AI-enabled capabilities, covering go-to-market approach, B2B customer messaging, pricing, and operational readiness
• Build and maintain a portfolio of AI products grounded in market and customer needs, with a clear understanding of what is technically feasible, commercially viable, and ethically sound
• Drive the AI product vision by staying current on emerging AI/ML research, tooling, and competitive landscape, and translating insights into differentiated product decisions
• Product Delivery
• Own end-to-end delivery of AI products - from problem framing and data requirements through model development, evaluation, deployment, and post-launch monitoring - in close partnership with data science and engineering teams
• Apply deep understanding of the full AI/ML development lifecycle (model training, evaluation metrics, MLOps pipelines, data drift, model degradation) to make sound product tradeoffs and set realistic expectations with stakeholders
• Define and track AI-specific success metrics - accuracy, precision/recall, latency, model fairness, coverage - alongside traditional product KPIs such as adoption, retention, and revenue impact
• Lead products through all lifecycle stages with plans that meet or exceed financial, operational, and customer targets
• Champion responsible AI practices - including transparency, explainability, bias mitigation, and compliance with applicable regulations - as first-class product requirements, not afterthoughts
• Stakeholder Management
• Translate complex AI concepts, model limitations, and data constraints into clear, actionable narratives for business, commercial, and executive audiences
• Communicate product strategy and roadmap to customers individually, in groups, and in industry forums; maintain strong engagement throughout the product lifecycle
• Build strong internal partnerships with data science, engineering, operations, sales, marketing, legal, and compliance to align AI product goals with enterprise priorities
• Navigate ambiguity inherent to AI product development - including uncertain timelines, evolving model performance, and shifting data availability - with clear communication and sound judgment
• People Management
• Lead, coach, and develop a team of Product Managers, building AI product management capability within the team
• Establish shared standards for AI product craft - including hypothesis-driven development, experiment design, and data-informed decision-making
• Initiate involvement and input from appropriate levels of leadership during decision-making processes
• Manage contractor or consultant relationships as needed

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in engineering, computer science, data science, or a related field of study
• 8+ years of experience in a product organization or product-related role with direct client or customer-facing responsibilities
• 3+ years of hands-on experience building and shipping AI or ML-powered products - not AI-adjacent roles; candidates must have directly owned AI product outcomes
• Experience designing experiments (A/B tests, champion/challenger models) to validate AI product hypotheses before committing to full build
• Experience in complex matrix organizations, multi-disciplinary teams, and cross-functional program
• Deep, working knowledge of AI/machine learning concepts including supervised and unsupervised learning, NLP, generative AI, model evaluation, and MLOps
• Proven understanding of ethical AI principles - fairness, bias detection, explainability, and regulatory considerations (e.g., HIPAA in healthcare contexts)
• Proven ability to communicate AI product strategy and complex technical tradeoffs to executive and commercial audiences
• Demonstrated ability to partner with data science and engineering teams to define data requirements, evaluate model outputs, and make quality/accuracy tradeoffs
• Domestic and international travel up to 25%

Preferred Qualifications:

• 3+ years of AI/ML product leadership experience in healthcare, health tech, or enterprise SaaS
• Experience with generative AI product development, including prompt engineering, RAG architectures, evaluation frameworks, and responsible deployment practices
• Hands-on familiarity with AI tooling and platforms
• Keen understanding of the healthcare and technology marketplace, including competitors and emerging trends in automation, AI, and ML adoption for payer and provider solutions
• Demonstrated ability to manage multiple concurrent AI product initiatives in a fast-paced environment