Vice President, Data Strategy & Operational Insights

Improve the lives of others while Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Job Description - Vice President, People Data Strategy & Operational Insights (2387916)

United Health Group is a health care and well-being company that’s dedicated to improving the health outcomes of millions around the world. We are comprised of two distinct and complementary businesses, United Healthcare and Optum, working to build a better health system for all. Here, your contributions matter as they will help transform health care for years to come. Make an impact with a team that shares your passion for helping others.

Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Vice President, People Data Strategy & Operational Insights will lead the enterprise People data strategy for United Health Group, ensuring workforce data is trusted, governed, secure, AI-ready, and fit for use across operations, analytics, reporting, decision support, and intelligent workflows.

This leader will own the People Team’s data operating model, including data governance, stewardship, data quality, business definitions, source-of-truth logic, semantic consistency, data product strategy, and AI data readiness. The role will partner closely with Tech, Operations, COEs, Finance, and business leaders to ensure People data is used responsibly and consistently at enterprise scale.

A second critical focus of this role is operational insights. As United Health Group continues to reimagine the People function, this leader will build the insight and measurement discipline needed to understand how HR work is performed today, where operational friction exists, where AI and process redesign can create value, and whether transformation efforts are improving outcomes. This includes defining operational health metrics, measuring the success of People Team Reimagination initiatives, and helping leaders make fact-based decisions about service delivery, workflow design, automation, shared services, and employee / manager experience.

This role is not a traditional reporting or dashboard leadership role. It is a strategic enterprise role focused on making People data trusted, usable, governed, and actionable — and using that data to help reimagine how the People function operates.

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.

• Define and lead the enterprise People data strategy across workforce, talent, recruiting, learning, payroll, benefits, time, employee support, employee relations, and other People domains
• Establish how People data is governed, structured, secured, maintained, and made fit for use across operations, analytics, AI, reporting, decision support, and enterprise workflows
• Build a practical roadmap to improve trust, consistency, usability, and readiness of People data at enterprise scale
• Partner with People Technology and Optum Tech to ensure People data requirements are reflected in data platforms, integrations, pipelines, metadata, lineage, observability, reporting architecture, and AI-enabled capabilities
• Create clarity on People-side data ownership, including the principle that People own the business meaning, stewardship, readiness, and value of workforce data, while Technology owns architecture, engineering, integration, security, and runtime
• Mature the People data governance model, including ownership, stewardship roles, decision rights, issue escalation, and domain accountability
• Lead the modernization of common People data definitions, business rules, metric logic,…