The VP, People Analytics & Data Strategy will lead the People function's enterprise analytics, workforce data semantics, and AI data readiness agenda. This leader will be accountable for ensuring People data is trusted, well-governed, business-relevant, and fit for use across analytics, decision support, AI, and intelligent workflows.

This is not a traditional reporting role. It is a strategic leadership role at the intersection of workforce analytics, data stewardship, AI readiness, and business decision support. The VP will own the business meaning of People data, the semantic consistency of metrics and KPIs, the readiness of data for priority AI use cases, and the translation of data into decision support and measurable business value.

The role will work in close partnership with Tech partners, COEs, Shared Services, AI Enablement, and other key partners. People-side ownership of data meaning and stewardship will sit here; technical architecture, engineering, and runtime sits with Tech.

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:

Enterprise analytics and decision support
• Lead the People analytics and workforce insights agenda in support of enterprise, functional, and executive decision-making
• Deliver high-impact workforce reporting, dashboards, scorecards, and insights that inform strategic decisions across talent, workforce, payroll, productivity, and organizational effectiveness
• Shape executive and board-ready workforce narratives, including trend analysis, scenario support, and strategic storytelling
• Establish clear standards for insight quality, metric consistency, and business interpretation

Workforce data semantics and stewardship
• Own the business meaning, stewardship, and source-of-truth logic for People data across major domains including Core HR, Talent Acquisition, Talent, Learning, Payroll, Time, and Employee Support
• Define and govern metric logic, KPI definitions, business rules, and semantic consistency across the People ecosystem
• Establish a People data stewardship model, including domain accountability, issue resolution, and governance mechanisms
• Partner with COEs and Shared Services to ensure critical business rules and source data requirements are clearly defined and maintained

AI-ready data and data products
• Lead the People-side AI data strategy, ensuring data is fit for purpose for priority AI use cases, agent workflows, and intelligent automation
• Assess and prioritize AI data-readiness needs for key use cases, including structured and unstructured data, enrichment, metadata, lineage, and observability requirements
• Define the backlog of People data products and improvements required to enable AI-first HR capabilities
• Partner with AI Enablement and People Tech to align data priorities to product roadmap and AI use-case strategy

Governance, quality, and risk
• Establish and enforce business-facing governance for People data quality, stewardship, privacy, and appropriate use
• Define business quality thresholds and monitor data issues that impact trust, analytics, or AI deployment
• Partner with Tech, Privacy, Compliance, and Security teams to ensure People data governance aligns with enterprise controls and AI governance requirements
• Help shape the People function's role in AI governance, especially where workforce data supports sensitive decisions or employee-facing experiences

Partnership with technology
• Partner with Optum Tech on enterprise data engineering, platform architecture, metadata tooling, lineage, observability, pipeline delivery, and BI engineering
• Serve as the business owner for People data requirements while Tech owns technical build and runtime
• Translate business semantics and use-case needs into technical requirements for data pipelines, models, and platform capabilities
• Ensure solid alignment between People data priorities and enterprise platform investments

Value realization and measurement
• Define and monitor value metrics for People analytics, AI-enabled workflows, and digital products
• Establish KPI frameworks to track adoption, business outcomes, efficiency gains, and decision quality
• Ensure analytics and AI investments are tied to measurable business value, not just technical activity
• Provide leadership on how data and AI should be measured, governed, and continuously improved

Leadership
• Build and lead a high-performing team across workforce analytics, data semantics, stewardship, AI data readiness, and value measurement
• Develop talent and capabilities in analytics, business data ownership, stewardship, and AI-ready data practices
• Establish a modern operating model that connects analytics, product, AI, and technology teams with clear accountability and decision rights
• Serve as a senior leader across the People transformation agenda, bringing clarity, rigor, and enterprise perspective

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.

What success looks like
• People data is trusted, governed, and consistently defined across the enterprise
• Workforce analytics is elevated from reporting to strategic decision support
• Priority AI use cases have a clear data-readiness path and do not stall due to weak data ownership
• Business and technical teams are aligned on the split between data meaning and data engineering
• Data quality, stewardship, and observability improve across critical People domains
• Executive leaders have greater confidence in workforce metrics, AI outputs, and decision support
• The People function builds a scalable, AI-ready data foundation that enables transformation at pace

Required Qualifications:
• 12+ years of leadership experience in enterprise analytics, data and analytics, people analytics, data governance, digital transformation, or adjacent strategy roles
• Proven experience leading analytics and/or business data strategy in a complex enterprise environment
• Solid experience owning business data definitions, governance, metrics, and cross-functional stakeholder alignment
• Experience enabling AI, advanced analytics, or intelligent automation through improved data readiness and stewardship
• Solid executive communication skills and ability to translate complex data topics into business decisions and strategic narratives
• Experience working in close partnership with engineering, architecture, product, and technology leaders
• Demonstrated success building teams and operating models across analytics, governance, and decision support

Preferred experience
• Experience in HR, HRIS, workforce analytics, talent analytics, payroll analytics, or adjacent People domains
• Experience with enterprise platforms such as Oracle HCM, ServiceNow, Salesforce, Power BI, and cloud data platforms
• Experience in regulated or audit-sensitive environments where data quality, lineage, and governance matter materially
• Familiarity with AI-ready data concepts such as metadata, observability, lineage, stewardship, and data product management

Leadership profile

We are looking for a leader who:
• Sees data as a strategic business asset, not a reporting output
• Can bridge semantics, analytics, AI, and executive decision-making
• Brings rigor to definitions, governance, and measurement
• Can partner effectively with senior Technology leaders without ceding business ownership of the data
• Is comfortable operating at executive altitude while building real capability below
• Understands that in an AI-first organization, trusted data is the foundation of trust, speed, and scale

*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 $200,400 to $343,500 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.