VP Market Strategy & Insights

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 diversity and inclusion, talented peers, comprehensive benefits and career development opportunities. Come make an impact on the communities we serve as you help us advance health equity on a global scale. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together. 

The Vice President of Market Strategy & Insights is a forward-looking senior leader responsible for shaping, creating, leading, and mobilizing the business strategy across the Digital Pharmacies portfolio. This role integrates market insights, strategy formulation and articulation, cross-functional mobilization, and transformational leadership to drive the organization's most critical priorities and enable scaled, high-impact execution. VP will play a pivotal role in driving new revenue streams while maximizing value and sustainable ROI across the portfolio.   The VP will lead their organization and partner closely with pharmacy leadership and cross-functional enterprise stakeholders to translate strategy into action, ensure disciplined execution, and to optimize portfolio performance across the pharmacies.

Scope of Accountability
The VP will own programs and actions that grow and protect earnings across a $50B+ revenue portfolio. They will provide leadership across strategy & business planning, business development, revenue and cost structure optimization, portfolio management & innovation, and enterprise-wide Digital Pharmacies impacted initiatives.

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

Primary Responsibilities:

Overall Business Strategy & Market Expansion

• Define and lead the business strategy across the Digital Pharmacies, including market entry/expansion theses, strategic positioning, and differentiated value propositions
• Identify and quantify market opportunities, threats, and disruptors; translate insights into actionable growth and defensive strategies

New Business Development 

• Build and execute new-business strategies and commercialization pathways, including data-enabled products and services (e.g., data leasing), network inclusion and optimization, and new service offerings leveraging internal assets and capabilities
• Partner with Clinical, Legal, Payor, Ops, and Finance to ensure scalable, compliant, and profitable monetization models (e.g., core service offerings, enhanced services, clinical offerings)

External Partnerships & Ecosystem Development

• Source, evaluate, negotiate, and operationalize external partnerships (e.g., strategic technology, payer/provider, retailer, platform, and other ecosystem partners)
• Establish governance, KPIs, and performance management for partnerships to ensure value realization and risk management

Market Intelligence & Competitive Insights

• Build an always-on market intelligence engine: competitor moves, customer needs, pricing dynamics, regulatory signals, technology trends, and adjacent-market innovations
• Drive executive-ready insights and recommendations that inform investment choices, go-to-market decisions, and strategic pivots

M&A, Divestitures, and Strategic Transactions

• Lead strategic assessment, diligence support, valuation narratives, synergy cases, and integration/divestiture planning for inorganic opportunities
• Partner with Corporate Development and functional leaders to ensure disciplined decisioning and measurable value capture

Script Strategies, Planning & Execution (Conversion)

• Develop and lead enterprise-wide script conversion strategies (planning, tracking, operational mobilization, and execution governance)
• Establish conversion targets, milestone plans, issue-resolution mechanisms, and benefits realization reporting

Digital Pharmacy-Wide Strategy Leadership

• Serve as an enterprise strategy integrator across Digital Pharmacy lines, connecting strategy to execution through cross-functional mobilization
• Drive transformational initiatives that improve customer experience, strengthen competitive advantage, and unlock scalable growth

Business Strategy, Planning & Tracking (LRP / ABP / MBO)

• Own end-to-end strategic planning and performance operating cadence, including LRP (Long Range Plan), ABP (Annual Business Plan), and MBO (Management by Objectives) processes and tracking
• Create transparency and accountability through scorecards, performance narratives, and variance-to-plan action plans

Business Priorities (Plan-on-a-Page)

• Translate strategy into a clear, executable set of business priorities using a "plan-on-a-page" approach to drive alignment across leaders and teams
• Ensure priorities are measurable, resourced, sequenced, and tied to outcomes

Business Investment Optimization & Management

• Lead investment governance and optimization across COGS capital, resource allocation, COGS, SG&A, and gap-closure programs
• Develop business cases, ROI frameworks, and portfolio trade-off recommendations to maximize enterprise value

Corporate Deliverables Planning & Mobilization (MBR, QBR, Earnings, BoD)

• Own planning, storyline, analytics, and mobilization for key corporate deliverables, including MBR, QBR, Earnings, and Board of Directors materials
• Ensure consistent narrative integrity from strategy to performance, with clear decisions, risks, mitigations, and asks

External Events & Execution; Media / Regulatory / Communications Support

• Provide strategic leadership for external events and executive engagements; partner with Communications, Government/Regulatory, and Legal stakeholders on external narratives and readiness
• Support regulatory-facing strategy and response planning as needed

You will 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 providing development for other roles you may be interested in.

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
• Experience in strategy, market intelligence, business development, portfolio optimization, and executive operating cadences in a complex, regulated industry
• Demonstrated success leading enterprise initiatives across multiple functions (Strategy, Finance, Product, Operations, Tech, Legal/Compliance, Comms)
• Proven solid strategic finance and business case capabilities (ROI, capital allocation, COGS/SG&A optimization, investment governance)
• Experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder programs from concept through mobilization and execution

Preferred Qualifications: 

• MBA or advanced degree
• Experience in pharmacy, healthcare services, payer/PBM, digital health, or similarly regulated industries
• Experience supporting M&A diligence, integration planning, or divestitures
• Executive-level external partnership negotiation and governance experience

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

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.

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.

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. © 2025 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.