Product Director, Directed Spend Rewards and Offers - Optum Financial - Remote

Requisition Number: 2385956
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. Join us in making healthcare work better for everyone through people-led, responsible AI while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
The Directed Spend Rewards and Offers portfolio delivers integrated solutions that help members get more value from their benefits while enabling clients, merchants, and manufacturers to drive engagement toward specific products, services, and health-focused behaviors. The portfolio includes earned rewards that recognize eligible member actions and targeted, merchant-funded and manufacturer-funded offers, supported by scalable capabilities for program and offer configuration, eligibility, targeting, activation, earning, redemption, transaction processing, settlement, and reporting. We partner across Product, Engineering, Experience, Operations, Compliance, Analytics, Payments, Sales, and client teams to create differentiated experiences and measurable business and member outcomes.
As the Product Director, Directed Spend Consumer Payments, you will lead the strategy, roadmap, performance, and execution of two complementary product lines, Directed Spend Offers and Directed Spend Earned Rewards. You will establish a cohesive portfolio vision, identify opportunities for growth and differentiation, and guide Product Owners and cross-functional teams in delivering scalable, compliant, and engaging solutions. You will be accountable for aligning member, client, partner, and business needs; shaping investment priorities; managing portfolio risks and dependencies; and driving measurable outcomes across the full product lifecycle
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:

• Define and lead the product vision, strategy, roadmap, and investment priorities for the Directed Spend Rewards and Directed Spend Offers product lines, ensuring alignment with enterprise strategy, market opportunities, client needs, and member outcomes
• Create a cohesive portfolio strategy that differentiates the roles of rewards and offers while identifying shared capabilities, integrated experiences, and opportunities to scale across products, clients, and partners
• Own portfolio performance, including growth, adoption, engagement, financial results, operational health, client satisfaction, and other key measures of product success
• Develop business cases and recommendations for new capabilities, partnerships, and investments using market insights, customer feedback, analytics, financial analysis, regulatory considerations, and technical feasibility
• Lead, coach, and develop Product Owners and product team members, setting clear outcomes, decision rights, operating expectations, and accountability for roadmap execution and product quality
• Partner with Product Owners to translate portfolio strategy into prioritized roadmaps and team backlogs, ensuring delivery teams understand the business problem, member experience, product rules, and expected outcomes
• Provide cross-functional leadership across Engineering, Experience, Architecture, Operations, Analytics, Compliance, Legal, Payments, Finance, Sales, Implementation, and Client Management to align priorities and deliver end-to-end solutions
• Guide product design across reward earning, eligibility, offer targeting, activation, redemption, merchant and product restrictions, transaction qualification, funding, settlement, reporting, and member servicing
• Establish effective product governance for prioritization, scope, release readiness, risk management, regulatory and contractual compliance, operational readiness, and post-launch performance
• Manage complex dependencies across shared platforms, payment networks, processors, merchants, manufacturers, vendors, and internal teams; proactively resolve trade-offs and escalate material risks
• Represent the portfolio with senior leaders, clients, prospects, and strategic partners, clearly communicating strategy, value proposition, roadmap, performance, investment needs, risks, and decisions
• Monitor market, competitive, regulatory, consumer, and technology trends to identify opportunities to enhance the portfolio and strengthen its long-term position
• Build a culture of customer focus, data-informed decision-making, collaboration, accountability, innovation, and disciplined product execution

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 experience in product management, product leadership, general management, strategy, or related product and business roles within large-scale, complex organizations
• 5+ years leading and developing Product Managers, Product Owners, or cross-functional product teams, with a track record of establishing clear accountability and improving execution
• 5+ years of demonstrated experience defining product strategy, managing multi-year roadmaps, prioritizing investments, and delivering measurable business and customer outcomes across multiple products or complex capabilities
• Experience in healthcare, financial services, banking, fintech, payments, or rewards products
• Experience partnering with Engineering, Experience, Architecture, Operations, Analytics, Compliance, Legal, Finance, Sales, Implementation, and client-facing teams throughout the product lifecycle
• Proven solid business and financial acumen, including experience developing business cases, evaluating growth opportunities, managing investment trade-offs, and using performance data to guide decisions
• Proven ability to lead through influence in a highly matrixed organization and align senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders around a common strategy, priorities, and outcomes
• Proven solid technical and analytical aptitude, with the ability to understand complex platforms, data flows, integrations, payment or transaction processes, dependencies, and delivery risks

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience leading directed spend, earned rewards, card-linked offers, merchant-funded or manufacturer-funded offers, loyalty, incentives, consumer payments, healthcare benefits, or financial technology products
• Experience building and managing partnerships with payment networks, processors, merchants, manufacturers, vendors, clients, or other external organizations
• Experience leading a portfolio with multiple product lines, shared platforms, interconnected delivery teams, and complex commercial or technical dependencies
• Experience with product discovery, market analysis, pricing, commercialization, go-to-market planning, client implementation, and product performance measurement
• Experience operating in scaled Agile environments and partnering with Product Owners to connect strategy, roadmaps, backlogs, releases, and measurable outcomes
• Knowledge of reward program design, offer configuration, eligibility and targeting rules, merchant or product restrictions, transaction qualification, card processing, funding, redemption, settlement, reporting, and related operational workflows
• Proven executive-level written and verbal communication skills, including the ability to present strategy, recommendations, performance, risks, and complex trade-offs clearly to varied audiences
• Proven ability to operate effectively in a fast-paced environment with shifting priorities, significant ambiguity, complex dependencies, and high expectations for strategic leadership and execution quality

*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 $134,600 - $230,800 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
At UnitedHealth Group, our mission is to help people live healthier lives and help make the health system work better for everyone. Together, we are shaping the future of healthcare by harnessing technology and innovation to make care simpler to navigate, more affordable and more connected for the people we serve. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels welcomed, valued, heard and respected, empowering people to bring their authentic selves to work and strengthening our collective impact through diverse talents, backgrounds, experiences and perspectives.
UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated brands are an Equal Employment Opportunity employer under applicable law and qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, national origin, religion, age, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or protected veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by local, state, or federal laws, rules, or regulations.
UnitedHealth Group and its affiliated brands are a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.