Remote Research Operations Director Jobs in Reston, VA

We'll put you in the driver's seat on vital projects that have strategic importance to our mission of helping people lead healthier lives. Yes, we share a mission that inspires. We need your organizational talents and business discipline to help fuel ours. 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.

The Lewin Group/OptumServe Consulting, a premier national health care and human services consulting and policy analysis firm with 50 years of experience, finds answers and solves problems for leading organizations in the public, non-profit, and private sectors. Seeking a dynamic, goal-oriented Director, Data Analytics to work on health and human services projects requiring intermediate SAS, R, Python, or SQL experience as well as knowledge of statistics and research methodology.

You'll enjoy the flexibility to work remotely * from anywhere within the U.S. as you take on some tough challenges.

For all hires in the Minneapolis or Washington, D.C. area, you will be required to work in the office a minimum of four days per week.

Schedule: Monday - Friday, daylight hours in your time zone

Primary Responsibilities:

• Independently perform a broad range of quantitative analysis to inform the design, implementation, and evaluation of Medicare and Medicaid payment models 
• Develop strategic working relationships with clients
• Design payment calculations, conduct financial and trend analysis, calculate quality metrics, and perform fast-paced ad-hoc analysis to quickly address client needs
• Efficiently query large databases of healthcare claims and eligibility data
• Apply machine learning, econometrics/statistics, predictive modeling, return-on-investment analysis, simulation, and data visualization methods to support the development of health policy 
• Mentor other staff to develop their technical and analytical problem-solving skills
• Write detailed specifications and documentation of data processing and analytical steps
• Write effective and efficient code both independently and under the guidance of project managers using best practice quality control procedures
• Maintain a consistently high degree of accuracy and attention to detail in all tasks
• Work effectively and cooperatively as a member of a project team
• Help to oversee adoption of artificial intelligence into technical activities

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 using SQL, Python, R or SAS in a research, consulting, or business environment
• 6 years of experience working on federal health policy issues, including Medicare and Medicaid value-based payment, working in multiple areas serving as a subject matter expert
• Experience working with Medicare or Medicaid healthcare claims and enrollment data 
• Experience working with and advising clients
• Experience in managing personnel 
• Extensive knowledge of healthcare data/payment concepts (e.g., claims data structure/contents, claim types, payment concepts)
• Experience managing and working directly with teams operating in Snowflake and/or Databricks environments. 
• Experience incorporating AI into technical workflows.
• Excellent written and oral communication skills, including the ability to clearly communicate analyses and findings to clients

Preferred Qualifications:

• Academic coursework in advanced statistics or econometric modeling
• Experience supporting multi-year payment model implementation contracts
• Experience leading statistical analysis to inform health policy
• Experience with databases having complex structures and relationships, such as the Integrated Data Repository, Chronic Conditions Warehouse, or similar data environment 
• Experience working with Github
• Familiarity with Medicare payment methodologies

*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 $134,600 to $230,800 annually 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.

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.