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 to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.
The Business Operations & Growth Lead serves as a strategic partner and force multiplier to the Vice President of Marketing, supporting both the overall strategic business direction and daily operations to facilitate growth and transformation within the marketing portfolio. This position integrates responsibilities in general management, portfolio transformation, marketing operations, program management, and growth to ensure that marketing priorities are strategically aligned, scalable, and drive valuable business impact. Serving as the linkage between diverse areas such as marketing, business, product, technology, finance, and operations, this role drives outcomes across complex cross-functional initiatives.
What Success Looks Like
Success in this role is defined by measurable improvements across the portfolio, including:
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Clear strategic alignment across initiatives, teams, and stakeholders
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Faster execution and reduced operational friction (speed-to-decision and speed-to-delivery)
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Higher confidence from executive leadership in decision quality, follow-through, and outcomes
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Scalable operating models and standardized processes that enable sustained growth and performance
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Solid portfolio health and predictability through metrics, governance, and proactive risk management
Primary Responsibilities:
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Business Strategy, Thought Leadership & Portfolio Direction
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Act as a strategic enabler to the Vice President, ensuring priorities, decisions, and commitments are defined, communicated, and executed with rigor
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Participate in the development of business strategy, bringing a broad business lens to portfolio direction and tradeoffs
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Serve as a company thought leader and functional SME, developing pioneering approaches to emerging solutions and trends
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Predict emerging customer needs and partner across teams to develop innovative solutions that meet them
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Translate highly complex concepts into clear, actionable narratives for diverse audiences (executives, technical teams, operators)
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Operating Rhythm, Governance & Executive Enablement
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Establish and run the portfolio's operating rhythm, governance cadences, leadership forums, decisioning frameworks, and communications that create alignment and accountability
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Prepare and partner with Marketers on executive-level materials, analyses, and recommendations to support planning, decision-making, and leadership forums
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Anticipate risks, dependencies, and tradeoffs; surface insights and recommendations proactively to drive timely decisions and course correction
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General Management & Business Operations (End-to-End Process Ownership)
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Oversee the effective operation of the marketing portfolio, translating strategy into executable business plans and ensuring disciplined follow-through
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Own end-to-end business processes (e.g., planning-to-performance, intake-to-prioritization, operating cadence, or transformation execution) and continuously improve it for scale and speed
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Partner with VP to support budget management, workforce planning, capacity management, and investment prioritization
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Monitor portfolio health through performance metrics, milestones, and outcomes; drive corrective actions where needed
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Portfolio Management, Transformation & Complex Program Delivery
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Coordinate and lead portfolio-level planning, prioritization, and sequencing to ensure alignment with enterprise and business objectives
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Lead large, complex programs and transformation initiatives, including:
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operating model evolution
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process standardization and scalability
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capability building and performance excellence
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strategic business initiatives
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Ensure initiatives are sized, scoped, and resourced appropriately with clear success metrics, accountability, and measurable outcomes
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Solve unique and complex problems with broad impact, often spanning technical, operational, and organizational domains beyond the immediate team
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Marketing Operations Enablement & Scalable Execution
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Partner with Marketing Operations, MarTech, and Analytics to embed efficient, scalable processes into day-to-day workflows
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Enable consistent planning, execution, reporting, and performance management across teams and regions
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Drive adoption of tools, data, and governance models that improve marketing effectiveness, speed-to-market, and operational maturity
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Create clarity through playbooks, shared standards, operating principles, and enablement materials
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Cross-Functional Leadership & Senior Stakeholder Influence
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Serve as a trusted liaison across Marketing, Technology, Finance, Product, and Operations to align stakeholders around shared outcomes
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Clarify roles, decision rights, and ownership; remove barriers to execution and reduce organizational friction
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Influence senior leaders to adopt new ideas, products, services, and approaches through solid business cases, credibility, and executive communication
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Identify and resolve technical, operational, and organizational problems outside the immediate team to unlock delivery
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Leadership Scope & Accountability
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Provides leadership to VP and is indirectly accountable for the performance of managers and/or senior-level professional staff through influence, governance, coaching, and operating mechanisms
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Product, service, and process decisions likely to impact entire functions and/or customer accounts (internal or external), with potential for segment-wide impact
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Comply with the terms and conditions of the employment contract, company policies and procedures, and any and all directives (such as, but not limited to, transfer and/or re-assignment to different work locations, change in teams and/or work shifts, policies in regards to flexibility of work benefits and/or work environment, alternative work arrangements, and other decisions that may arise due to the changing business environment). The Company may adopt, vary or rescind these policies and directives in its absolute discretion and without any limitation (implied or otherwise) on its ability to do so
Required Qualifications:
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14+ years of experience in business operations, strategy, portfolio management, consulting, transformation, or Chief of Staff / general management roles, ideally within a complex enterprise
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Experience supporting senior leaders (VP+) in highly visible, high-stakes environments
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Proven ability to operate at both strategic and operational levels, managing ambiguity, complexity, and competing priorities
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Demonstrated success leading large, cross-functional initiatives and driving change through influence and disciplined execution
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Demonstrated solid executive communication skills, ability to translate complex concepts for a range of audiences
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Track record of solving complex problems with broad organizational impact, including across technical and operational domains
Core Competencies
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Strategic planning and business acumen
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Executive storytelling and decision support
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Portfolio governance, prioritization, and performance management
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Transformation leadership and operating model design
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Cross-functional influence without authority
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Process ownership and continuous improvement mindset
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Marketing tool (Adobe, Marketo, Workfront, PowerBI, or related capabilities)
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Ability to be flexible and work with ambiguity
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.
