The Director of Product Management - Program Operations will lead product strategy, market positioning, and portfolio execution for the Program Operations business within Optum State Government Solutions. This leader will help transform a $95M business into a more focused, market-connected, financially disciplined, and scalable portfolio serving state Medicaid and Health & Human Services agencies.
This role requires more than traditional product management. The Director must understand how state Medicaid and HHS agencies think, buy, operate, and modernize. The leader will use direct market insight, state and federal program knowledge, customer relationships, industry engagement, and product discipline to identify where Program Operations is going, where SGS has the right to win, and which capabilities should be built, bought, partnered, scaled, reshaped, or retired.
Working across Product, Growth, Operations, Technology, Finance, implementation, account leadership, and external market stakeholders, this leader will convert state problems and market signals into product strategy, investment priorities, go-to-market plans, differentiated offerings, and measurable business outcomes.
The Director will provide strategic product leadership for SGS's Program Operations pillar, focused on state Medicaid and HHS program administration, operational modernization, service access, provider and constituent experience, compliance-driven workflows, and technology-enabled service delivery.
The portfolio may include capabilities related to provider and constituent operations, service access and program workflows, case and care management operations, operational quality and compliance, customer-service operations, analytics-enabled oversight, and adjacent state-administered health and human services workflows.
You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.
Primary Responsibilities:- Develop and execute the Program Operations product, portfolio, and market strategy aligned to SGS growth, margin, customer, capital, and domain-plan priorities
- Define where Program Operations should grow, scale, fix, partner, acquire, package for reuse, maintain, or retire investment
- Build a multi-year roadmap tied to state Medicaid demand, known procurements, renewal and rebid priorities, account expansion, customer outcomes, technology feasibility, delivery maturity, and financial performance
- Use state Medicaid and HHS market insight to identify emerging needs, pre-procurement opportunities, partnership options, advisory relationships, and areas where SGS should shape demand before formal procurements are released
- Partner with Growth, market and account leadership, government affairs where appropriate, and solution-design teams to define the Program Operations go-to-market playbook, target-state priorities, win themes, competitive differentiation, and pursuit support model
- Translate CMS, state agency, customer, regulatory, procurement, and operational requirements into product strategy, roadmap decisions, investment choices, and measurable outcomes
- Develop business cases, pricing logic, margin-ramp assumptions, capital recommendations, commercialization plans, and build / buy / partner recommendations for new and existing offerings
- Rationalize the existing portfolio to reduce complexity, improve investment focus, strengthen reuse, and improve profitability
- Partner with Technology and Engineering to deliver secure, scalable, cloud-ready, government-compliant capabilities and identify modernization, technical-debt, AI, automation, and platform-reuse opportunities
- Partner with Operations, implementation, and client leadership to ensure offerings are deliverable, adopted, measurable, and connected to customer outcomes
- Support customer advisory conversations, industry forums, conference strategy, thought leadership, and market-facing points of view where appropriate to strengthen SGS credibility and market access
- Establish product governance, KPIs, and operating cadence across adoption, customer health, delivery performance, revenue, margin, capital benefit realization, product reuse, and operational outcomes
- Serve as the Program Operations product leader in SGS domain planning, capital planning, portfolio reviews, executive strategy sessions, and cross-functional operating forums
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:- 10+ years of combined experience in state Medicaid, Health & Human Services, Medicaid operations, Medicaid-focused consulting, state agency leadership, federal healthcare program work, public-sector healthcare technology, or state-facing healthcare solution leadership
- 7+ years of progressive leadership experience in product, solution, program, portfolio, market, operational, or customer-facing leadership roles within Medicaid, HHS, public-sector healthcare, or related government health programs
- Experience with state Medicaid / HHS program administration or operational modernization, including service access, provider or constituent workflows, case or care management operations, compliance-driven workflows, customer-service operations, or related state-administered health and human services functions
- Experience engaging with, advising, or supporting state Medicaid / HHS leaders, CMS or federal stakeholders, state agency clients, or other public-sector healthcare decision-makers
- Experience supporting or shaping state government or public-sector healthcare procurements, renewals, rebids, amendments, change requests, RFP responses, solution orals, customer advisory conversations, or pre-procurement opportunity development
- Experience translating state, customer, regulatory, operational, or market insight into product strategy, solution strategy, roadmap decisions, investment priorities, operational improvements, or measurable business outcomes
- Experience leading or materially influencing product, solution, service, program, operational, or business portfolios with responsibility for customer outcomes, program performance, adoption, delivery results, operational performance, or measurable business outcomes
- Experience partnering across Product, Growth / Sales, Operations, Technology, Finance, implementation, client / account, and executive stakeholders to align strategy and execution
- Solid understanding of Medicaid operations, state agency buying processes, public-sector implementation realities, and secure, compliant, government-facing technology or service delivery
- Proven executive communication, stakeholder management, strategic planning, and decision-framing skills
Preferred Qualifications:- Experience distinguishing scalable product opportunities from account-specific delivery obligations and making disciplined build / buy / partner / retire recommendations
- Experience with revenue growth, margin improvement, pricing, business cases, capital investment, cost productivity, commercialization, or financial performance for Medicaid, HHS, public-sector healthcare, or state-facing solution portfolios
- Experience with Medicaid Enterprise Systems, MMIS, MITA, CMS certification, modular procurement, MESC, APD / federal funding, or CMS interoperability requirements
- Experience with cloud-native SaaS, FedRAMP, NIST, FISMA, HIPAA, data privacy/security, government hosting, interoperability, AI/automation, and secure workflow platforms
- Experience modernizing legacy products, operational services, or technology portfolios into scalable offerings
- Experience developing margin-ramp, pricing, capital, or investment cases for state government / Medicaid growth opportunities
- Direct CMS, state Medicaid agency, state HHS, or Medicaid program leadership experience
- Recognized industry presence through conference speaking, association participation, workgroups, advisory forums, publications, customer convenings, or market-facing thought leadership
- Existing professional network across state Medicaid / HHS executives, program leaders, CMS or federal stakeholders, Medicaid associations, policy organizations, systems integrators, technology partners, and solution vendors
Success MeasuresWithin the first 12-24 months, the Director will be expected to:
- Establish a Program Operations strategy that clearly defines where SGS will play, where it has the right to win, and what it will grow, fix, partner for, acquire, maintain, or retire
- Build a market-connected product roadmap tied to state Medicaid demand, known procurements, renewal/rebid needs, account expansion, customer outcomes, and financial performance
- Improve Program Operations profitability through portfolio rationalization, pricing, margin management, capital discipline, reuse, automation, and commercialization
- Increase SGS market credibility through differentiated points of view, customer advisory relationships, industry engagement, conference/forum presence, and earlier state problem discovery
- Support measurable growth through new-logo opportunities, expansion in existing states, amendments/change requests, consulting/T&M growth, and improved pursuit readiness
- Improve customer adoption, satisfaction, retention, and reference ability across strategic Program Operations offerings
- Launch, reshape, or scale priority Program Operations capabilities that solve repeatable state Medicaid / HHS program administration problems
- Implement disciplined governance, KPIs, and operating cadence tied to revenue, IOI/margin, delivery performance, product reuse, customer outcomes, capital realization, and operational excellence
- Partner with executive leadership to make Program Operations a credible part of the SGS growth strategy and 2027 domain-plan execution model
*All employees working remotely will be required to adhere to UnitedHealth Group's Telecommuter Policy
Pay is based on several factors including but not limited to local labor markets, education, work experience, certifications, etc. In addition to your salary, we offer benefits such as, a comprehensive benefits package, incentive and recognition programs, equity stock purchase and 401k contribution (all benefits are subject to eligibility requirements). No matter where or when you begin a career with us, you'll find a far-reaching choice of benefits and incentives. The salary for this role will range from $159,300 - $273,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.
Application Deadline: This will be posted for a minimum of 2 business days or until a sufficient candidate pool has been collected. Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.
