Financial Consultant

This position is National Remote. You'll enjoy the flexibility to telecommute* from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges. For all hires in Minneapolis, Virginia, Maryland, or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office for a minimum of four (4) days per week.

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.

Reporting to and partnering with the OptumInsight Operating Expense leadership team, the Financial Consultant will support the Payment Integrity business by providing financial analysis, budgeting, planning, forecasting, modeling, and decision support. This role will help evaluate financial performance, identify expense trends, support capital planning activities, and develop insights that enable senior finance and business leaders to make informed decisions.

The Financial Consultant will partner closely with finance, operations, and business stakeholders to support monthly forecasting, annual planning, variance analysis, and financial reporting. This role will also assist in building financial models, preparing leadership materials, analyzing key business drivers, and supporting strategic initiatives focused on cost management, productivity, and profitability.

This position is full time. Employees are required to have flexibility to work any of our shift schedules during our normal business hours of 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.

We offer weeks of on-the-job training. The hours of the training will be based on schedule or will be discussed on your first day of employment.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Support monthly close, forecasting, capital planning, vendor expense management, FTE tracking, leadership reporting, cost management, and cost allocation processes.
• Assist with operating expense management, forecasting, reporting, and analysis for the Payment Integrity business.
• Analyze financial results, identify key expense drivers, and develop insights to support business recommendations and decision-making.
• Build and maintain financial models to evaluate cost trends, productivity opportunities, business performance, and financial impacts.
• Apply financial discipline using key metrics such as activity-based costing, cost allocations, operating cost ratios, revenue per FTE, cost to collect, and other operational performance measures.
• Partner with finance, operations, and business stakeholders across a matrixed organization to support forecasting, planning, and cost management initiatives.
• Synthesize complex financial and operational information into clear, actionable insights for senior finance and business leaders.
• Perform ad hoc financial and operational analyses to support cost optimization, productivity improvement, and strategic business decisions.
• Support system enhancement and process improvement initiatives that improve financial reporting, forecasting accuracy, and operational efficiency.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to implement technology upgrades, improve reporting processes, and enhance cost allocation methodologies.
• Develop, update, and maintain cost allocation models to support accurate expense reporting and business decision support.
• Ownership of expense real-time forecasting results for products across Optum Insight segment (with focus on Administrative Solutions pillar)
• Development of analytics, including trend analysis and report building, to drive transparency and insight to results
• Development of productivity metrics
• Interface with business, finance and growth leaders to build relationships in support of real-time forecasting and influence change
• Ability to quickly assess areas of opportunity to leaders and present findings in a clear, meaningful manner
• Understand business drivers and metrics to assist in identification of expense and IOI trends
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams in conjunction with real-time forecast and budget Optum Insight Market and Analytics teams
• Collaborate with Business Unit Finance, FP&A, Accounting, and Revenue Analytics teams to identify best practices for forecasting, monitoring expenses and cost management scenarios, and trend analysis.
• Working across finance teams to develop, recommend and establish strategies, plans, and processes to improve profitability and cost efficiencies
• Support Operations teams with ad-hoc scenario analysis and enhancement of productivity metrics to enable better business decision making

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:

• Bachelor's Degree in Accounting, Finance, Economics or equivalent
• 3+ years of relevant financial analysis and strong analytic experience
• Advanced skills in Microsoft Excel, Microsoft PowerPoint and other technology tools
• Work experience anticipating accounting, financial reporting, forecasting and operational issues, assessing their implications and developing and implementing an appropriate action plan
• Ability to work full time. Employees are required to have flexibility to work any of our shift schedules during our normal business hours of 8:00 am - 5:00 pm.

Preferred Qualifications:

• MBA or CPA

Telecommuting Requirements:

• Ability to keep all company sensitive documents secure (if applicable)
• Required to have a dedicated work area established that is separated from other living areas and provides information privacy.
• Must live in a location that can receive a UnitedHealth Group approved high-speed internet connection or leverage an existing high-speed internet service.

Soft Skills:

• Excellent written and oral communication skills
• Comfortable with some level of ambiguity and persistence to find the right answer
• Experience working collaboratively and influence across a matrix environment to drive expense and cost management initiatives
• 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 $72,800 - $130,000 hourly 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 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.

UnitedHealth Group 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.

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