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.
About the Role:
At United Health Group and Optum, we want to make healthcare work better for everyone. This depends on hiring the best and brightest. With a thriving ecosystem of investment and innovation, our business in Ireland is constantly growing to support the healthcare needs of the future.

Our teams are at the forefront of building and adapting the latest technologies to propel healthcare forward in a way that better serves everyone. With our hands at work across all aspects of health, we use the most advanced development tools, AI, data science and innovative approaches to make the healthcare system work better for everyone.

The Director of Data Science will take a leadership role in the development and implementation of advanced, innovative reporting and analytic approaches / tools to support clinical teams. Working closely with other leaders to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of the entire organization, the Director of Data Science will play a key role ensuring stakeholder engagement.

The successful candidate will have a passion for innovation and a desire to make a significant impact on the healthcare industry. The Director of Data Science will collaborate cross-functionally with numerous business and data analytics teams and manage multiple competing business projects at one time.

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 of the Director of Data Science:

• Provide insight and guidance into actionable analytic findings through clear, succinct written and oral summaries, tables, charts, reports or presentations, that can be understood by a variety of audiences
• Partner with stakeholders across and verticals to understand their analytic and business needs and lead the development of tools and models to deliver business solutions and drive change
• Synthesize Business Requirements and translate into technical specifications. Define technical, data and system configuration specifications and business analysis requirements
• Architect the solutions; lead the development teams in accomplishing the analytic outcomes and be accountable for socializing to the leadership
• Anticipate customer needs, proactively develop & deliver solutions to meet them, and forecast/predict the impact to the business
• Identify gaps, process improvement, and automation opportunities, and lead such activities to execution
• Lead the development of available data to develop insights regarding the effectiveness of existing analytic tools and methodologies
• Utilize a broad range of analytic approaches including predictive analytics, issue detection, trend analysis, and data visualization to best address the business priorities
• Leadership in planning, developing, testing, and distributing of deliverables on time
• Develop business plans, economic evaluations, and ROI calculations for assessing alternate courses of action
• Explore innovative new uses for successful analytic products and services
• Develop proficiency with departmental programming, analytic and reporting software and other tools
• Comply with and contribute to departmental standards related to data, data governance, project planning, validation, and documentation
• Mentor junior resources to develop their analytic skills
• Design conceptional and logical data model and flowcharts

You will be rewarded and recognised 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 of the Director of Data Science:

• Bachelor’s Degree in relevant field (data science, analytics, mathematics, economics, business, statistics, engineering, or finance) or equivalent experience
• Extensive experience working with technical and business professionals in a matrix management environment, managing multiple priorities and deadlines
• Proven track record of leading teams on analytic projects, driving change and influencing individuals at all levels of the organization to take appropriate risks
• Experience with statistical models with a demonstrated understanding of different statistical methods and approaches
• Clearly demonstrated expertise in problem solving, data management, study design, and study implementation with the ability to gain subject matter expertise through individual research and self-guided analyses
• Advanced experience in Machine Learning or AI model development and deployment
• High degree of proficiency with Data Visualization / Dashboard tools (e.g., Power BI)
• Expert proficiency in SQL, and at least one scripting language such as SAS, R, or Python

Preferred qualifications of the Director of Data Science:

• Ph. D or Master’s Degree in relevant field (data science, analytics, mathematics, economics, business, statistics, engineering, or finance) or equivalent experience.
• Experience or knowledge of cloud-based data analytics e.g. (AWS, Azure, Snowflake)
• Experience in medical data including hospital, ancillary, and physician

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.

All telecommuters will be required to adhere to the United Health Group’s Telecommuter Policy.

At United Health 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 marginalised 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. © 2023 Optum Services (Ireland) Limited. All rights reserved.