Director, Shared Services

For those who want to invent the future of health care, here's your opportunity. We're going beyond basic care to health programs integrated across the entire continuum of care. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

Optum California operates in one of the most complex and highly regulated healthcare markets in the country, where affordability, access, and compliance must be balanced at large scale. This role sits at the center of that challenge.

As Director of Shared Services, you will lead the transformation of core administrative functions, including referral management and UM processes ,  to improve care access, reduce unnecessary cost, and strengthen regulatory compliance. Your work will directly influence how patients move through the healthcare system, how providers experience our network, and how effectively we manage total cost of care.

You will join a small, high-performing team with outsized impact, operating with significant visibility into executive leadership. This is a unique opportunity to build and shape next-generation shared services capabilities, at one of the largest and most mature managed care organizations . You will partner across clinical, operational, network, and compliance teams to design scalable solutions that meaningfully improve performance across the system.

This is not a maintenance role, it is a builder role, with real ownership of strategy, execution, and outcomes.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead design and execution of shared services strategy
  • Define and scale shared services capabilities across referral management, UM and adjacent workflows
  • Align operating model to improve efficiency, reduce friction, and support enterprise priorities
• Drive measurable operational and financial outcomes
  • Improve referral timeliness, provider experience, and patient access to care
  • Improve financials and reduce administrative inefficiencies
  • Strengthen compliance with regulatory requirements
• Operate as a cross-functional leader in a highly matrixed environment
  • Partner with clinical, network, contracting, claims, compliance, and technology teams
  • Manage relationships with National and West Region Shared Services teams, ensuring alignment across tools, workflows, and service models 
  • Influence without authority to drive alignment and execution across diverse stakeholders
• Build scalable processes and performance management capabilities
  • Establish KPIs, reporting frameworks, and governance to monitor service performance
  • Identify gaps, prioritize improvements, and drive continuous process optimization
• Lead and develop a high-performing team
  • Coach team members to operate with ownership, accountability, and solid executive presence
  • Foster a culture of problem-solving, collaboration, and continuous learning
• Serve as a trusted partner to executive leadership
  • Translate complex operational challenges into clear options and recommendations
  • Support strategic decisions with data-driven insights and structured thinking

Key Competencies:

• Learning Agility and Domain Fluency: Quickly builds credibility in new and complex subject areas, moving from initial intake to meaningful contribution with speed and sound judgment
• Program Leadership and Execution: Leads high-priority initiatives from strategy through implementation, including planning, governance, stakeholder alignment, risk management, and execution oversight
• Executive Communication and Influence: Distills complex information into clear, concise, executive-ready recommendations and communicates effectively across frontline teams, cross-functional partners, and senior leadership
• Strategic Judgment and Risk Awareness: Anticipates downstream impacts, identifies hidden dependencies, and proactively surfaces operational, financial, or regulatory risks before they become issues
• Process Improvement and Simplification: Identifies inefficiencies, challenges outdated ways of working, and redesigns processes to improve clarity, scalability, and execution
• Leadership, Ownership, and Team Development: Leads through influence, builds trust across teams, develops others, and demonstrates accountability, sound judgment, and the courage to raise concerns when needed

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:

• 8+ years of experience in healthcare operations, strategy, consulting, or business management
• Experience in value-based care, provider network operations, or healthcare service delivery
• Proven solid analytical and problem-solving skills, with experience in process improvement and performance optimization
• Proven excellent project management skills with the ability to manage multiple priorities
• Proven solid communication and stakeholder management abilities, across all levels (C-suite to front line)
• Ability to travel up to 20% to Southern California admin & clinic sites (local stakeholder engagement is critical)

Preferred Qualifications:

• Familiarity with data visualization tools such as Power BI. High proficiency in MS Office tools (Excel, PowerPoint etc.) 
• Familiarity with California managed care regulatory environment (e.g., DMHC/Knox-Keene)
• Familiarity with Lean Six Sigma or other process improvement methodologies
• Background in consulting or strategic operations roles
• Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment

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 $112,700 - $193,200 annually based on full-time employment. We comply with all minimum wage laws as applicable.

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 marginalized 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.

OptumCare is 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.

OptumCare is a drug-free workplace. Candidates are required to pass a drug test before beginning employment.