Optum, the fastest growing part of UnitedHealth Group, is a leading information and technology-enabled health services business. Our teams are dedicated to modernizing the health care system and improving the lives of people and communities.

Serving virtually every dimension of the health system, we work with a diverse set of clients across 150 countries – from those who diagnose and treat patients to those who pay for care, deliver health services, and those who supply the cures. Optum maintains operations across North America, South America, Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East. Our innovative partnerships provide technology and tools that enable unprecedented collaboration and efficiency. As a result, we can tap into valuable health care data to uncover insights and develop strategies for better care at lower costs.

About the role:

We all know that there's a lot more to come in the changes sweeping through the health care industry. But if change is going to shape our world, it's comforting to know that we're shaping the change. At Optum, the actuarial consulting leader in health care innovation, your performance, your ideas and your innovative thinking will help us improve the lives of millions.

As the Associate Director, Actuarial Modeling and Data Sciences, you will join an elite team committed to changing health care through outstanding service and valuable products. You'll use innovative tools including the largest database of health care information in the world. You will drive the design and execution of mathematical analyses and modeling to identify statistical findings and conclusions, providing actionable insights to internal and external stakeholders. If you want to be challenged by working on complex and diverse analytical projects, this is the opportunity for you.

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 or Letterkenny and telecommuting from a home-based office in a hybrid work model.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Develop, evaluate, and deploy cutting-edge data-centric models for healthcare payers, including but not limited to rating, risk assessment, cost estimation, and behavior modeling

• Work on a team with energetic actuaries and data scientists

• Perform quantitative analysis of Actuarial, financial, utilization and cost data

• Brainstorm, design and construct novel analytical and operational solutions for payers

• Participate in client and vendor relationships

• Collaborate and communicate effectively with our broader product team, while supporting ad-hoc analytics where needed

• Ensure that the team delivers best in class analytical solutions and insights for clients accurately and on time, and drive the project scheduling and coordination of tasks

• Execute creative problem solving and critical thinking on the job

• Maintain a high degree of accuracy along with attention to detail, excellent oral and written communication skills, strong interpersonal skills, and the ability to always meet deadlines

• Take accountability for work within a fast paced, exciting environment and learn from challenges as they arise

• Lead and mentor junior members of staff

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:

• Bachelor's degree (STEM field) or equivalent experience

• Proven experience with data modeling, either in healthcare or actuarial fields, or in support of predictive models in another business setting

• Aptitude and strong interest in statistical modeling techniques such as linear regression, logistic regression, GLM, GAM, etc.

• Experience with R, Python, SAS, or SQL, preferably in a cloud platform such as Databricks or SPARK

• Experience working with healthcare data, or in an actuarial field

• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively, including written and verbal forms of communication

• Proven analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills

• Ability to learn quickly and use computer software tools effectively

• Ability to work proactively and collaboratively on all assignments with various teams both internal and external to Optum

• Eager to learn about and work on a variety of different projects/assignments

• Flexibility to handle changing priorities/requirements/deadlines

Preferred Qualifications:

• Completed Master’s degree (STEM field) or Qualified Actuary

• Proven consultancy, actuarial or healthcare industry experience

• Customer facing experience

• Knowledge and hands-on experience of regression analytics and Machine Learning techniques

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.

All telecommuters will be required to adhere to the UnitedHealth Group’s Telecommuter Policy.

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.