Director Data Analytics, Payment Integrity- Dublin / Letterkenny

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 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

About the Role:

In healthcare, evolution doesn’t just happen. It takes innovation, imagination, and a passion for solving problems in new and better ways. And innovation is taking place at a lightning-fast pace every day at Optum. As the fastest growing part of the UnitedHealth Group family of businesses, we’re expanding our team in Ireland and creating excellent opportunities for those who want greater purpose and more impact in their work. We’ll provide the investment, support, and resources to advance your career. You’ll provide the talent, ambition, and drive.

We are seeking an experienced and visionary leader to serve as Director of Data Analytics, spearheading our healthcare Payment Integrity analytics function. In this critical role, you will leverage advanced analytics, innovative technologies, and strategic thinking to transform clinical, operational, and financial data into actionable insights.

You will drive initiatives that not only reduce the cost of care but also enhance quality, compliance, and efficiency across the organization. By shaping data-driven strategies and fostering collaboration among cross-functional teams, you will enable informed decision-making at every level, positioning our organization at the forefront of healthcare analytics innovation.

Careers with Optum offer flexible work arrangements and individuals who live and work in the Republic of Ireland will have the opportunity to split their monthly work hours between our Dublin office and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model.

Primary Responsibilities of the Director Data Analytics, Payment Integrity:

• Strategic Leadership

  • Design and implement analytics strategies that align with enterprise clinical and operational objectives, ensuring efficiency and compliance across all workflows.

  • Leverage data insights to optimize business processes and support affordability initiatives, driving measurable improvements in cost management and operational performance.

  • Partner with clinical, operational, and executive stakeholders to identify and prioritize high-impact process enhancements, fostering collaboration and delivering solutions that enable strategic decision-making.

• Team & Capability Building

  • Lead and grow a cross-functional team of process analysts, data scientists and engineers, fostering collaboration and driving excellence in business process optimization.

  • Champion a culture of process discipline, continuous improvement, and ethical decision-making, ensuring that every initiative aligns with organizational values and compliance standards.

  • Establish best practices in process governance, focusing on quality, accuracy, scalability, and adherence to regulatory requirements across all operational workflows.

• Analytics Delivery

  • Oversee the development of predictive models, dashboards, and decision-support tools for clinical, operational, and financial use cases.

  • Ensure analytics solutions are compliant, clinically relevant, and aligned with data safety standards.

  • Translate complex data into clear, actionable insights for operations teams, administrators, and executives.

• Technology & Infrastructure

  • Partner with the Chief Data Office and data engineering to ensure secure, scalable, and interoperable data infrastructure.

  • Leverage claims systems and external health data sources.

  • Evaluate and implement advanced analytics platforms and tools, including AI/ML in clinical settings.

• Stakeholder Engagement

  • Act as a strategic partner and trusted advisor to clinical, operational, and business leaders, guiding process improvements and enabling data-driven decisions that align with organizational goals.

  • Communicate complex process insights in a clear, actionable manner to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring transparency and alignment across teams.

  • Represent the business process function in cross-functional initiatives and governance forums, driving collaboration, influencing decisions, and ensuring adherence to best practices and compliance standards.

    You will be rewarded and recognised 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 providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications for the of the Director Data Analytics, Payment Integrity:

• Education: Postgraduate or PhD in Health Informatics, Biostatistics, Data Science, Public Health, or a related field or equivalent experience

• Experience: Significant experience in data analytics, technology and operations with tenure in a leadership role

• Technical Skills: Proficient in SQL and Python/R for advanced data manipulation, modeling, and automation. Experienced with healthcare analytics platforms such as Power BI and Tableau for interactive reporting and visualization. Skilled in leveraging cloud environments (Azure, AWS, or GCP) to build scalable, secure, and compliant analytics solutions

• Leadership: Proven ability to lead cross-functional global teams and drive enterprise-wide analytics initiatives on affordability, clinical decision making and operational effectiveness

• Communication: Strong ability to convey complex data insights to clinical and executive audiences, both internal and external

• Certifications: Blackbelt in Lean or Six Sigma with extensive cross functional project experience

Preferred Qualifications of the Director Data Analytics, Payment Integrity:

• Domain Expertise: Deep understanding of healthcare data ecosystems, including EHR systems, claims data, Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), and Unified Data Warehouses (UDW). Strong knowledge of clinical workflows, payer-provider interactions, and regulatory frameworks such as HIPAA & HITECH.Expertise in EDI standards and formats for claims processing, including X12 transactions (837, 835, 270/271) and related interoperability protocols

• Experience with Payment Integrity, value-based care, risk stratification, and population health analytics

• Knowledge of advanced statistical modeling and predictive analytics for cost containment and clinical outcomes improvement

• Familiarity with regulatory compliance and audit processes in healthcare payment integrity and risk management

• Strong understanding of data privacy and security best practices, including encryption, access controls, and HIPAA compliance

• Exposure to emerging technologies such as generative AI, NLP, and automation for claims adjudication and fraud detection

Please note you must currently be eligible to work and remain indefinitely without any restrictions in the country to which you are making an application. Proof will be required to support your application.

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 marginalised 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: Optum is an Equal Employment Opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to gender, civil status, family status, sexual orientation, disability, religion, age, race, and membership of the Traveller community, or any other characteristic protected by law. Optum is a drug-free workplace. © 2023 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.
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