Principal UX or CX Designer

Requisition Number: 2382563
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 Enterprise Digital Product Office (EDPO) at Optum is a centralized organization focused on accelerating digital transformation across the enterprise. The team partners across business, technology, and operations to design, build, and scale product-centric solutions that improve customer experiences, optimize operational workflows, and deliver measurable business outcomes. The team drives consistency in product strategy, agile delivery, and design practices, enabling teams to operate with greater speed, clarity, and impact. By aligning cross-functional stakeholders and leveraging modern technologies-including cloud platforms, data, and AI-the organization supports the development of scalable, user-centered solutions that help advance Optum's mission to build a more effective and equitable health care system.
As a Principal UX/CX Designer, in the Experience Resource Management team you'll help define the experience strategy for complex products while remaining deeply involved in the hands-on design work that brings those experiences to life. You'll partner with leaders and front-line teammates across Product, Design, Research, and AI Enablement functions to help define new and better ways to apply our core expertise to simplify and improve our constituent experiences.
This role is ideal for a design professional who enjoys evaluating design practices (skills, process, technology/tools) and seeks ways to deliver more value through innovation and improvement.
Strategic Focus: 50% strategic, 50% tactical
Primary Responsibilities:

• Lead the evaluation of design practices to better understand current state, then identify opportunities for improvement, and work with key leaders in the organization to continually improve the operation
• Define future state for Experience Resource Management (people, process, tech) through rigorous research, review, analysis, experience, and creativity to create a vision of what's possible
• Work with leaders across the organization to achieve future state. Apply the most appropriate tools to ensure progress, accountability, stewardship, discipline, and recognition as the organization moves through the different improvement efforts
• Build alignment across functional teams/areas by clearly communicating change rationale, facilitating discussions, and influencing strategic decisions around tool, skills, and processes
• Advance operational discipline and standardization to improve consistency, efficiency, and scalability across all Design, Research, and AI Enablement teams
• Lead by example through exceptional application of our Culture Values (Integrity, Relationships, Compassion, Innovation, Inclusion, and Performance) while establishing a high bar for quality, craft, attention to detail, and collaboration
• Leverage AI-enabled tools responsibly to accelerate research, ideation, documentation, and design workflows while identifying new opportunities to improve team effectiveness and product experiences
• Foster a culture of innovation, continuous learning, and design excellence by exploring emerging technologies, sharing knowledge, and championing human-centered design across the organization
• Mentor and coach designers through collaboration, constructive feedback, and design critiques, helping grow individual capabilities and strengthen the overall design practice
• Partner with Strategy and Planning, and business leaders to identify opportunities that improve overall EDP operations
• 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:

• 10+ years of experience
• 10+ years of experience designing digital products for web and mobile applications
• 3+ years of experience in process improvement in a Design operation
• Experience defining experience strategy and leading complex design initiatives from discovery through implementation
• Experience mentoring designers and helping elevate design quality across teams through coaching and collaboration
• Experience working in Agile product development environments
• Experience using AI-enabled tools to improve research, design exploration, documentation, or product design workflows
• Expert proficiency with Figma and prototyping
• Portfolio demonstrating expertise leading the end-to-end design of complex enterprise products and customer experiences
• Deep expertise in user experience design, interaction design, information architecture and visual design
• Proven ability to influence product direction and build alignment across cross-functional teams through strong communication, facilitation, and storytelling

Preferred Qualifications:

• Project / Program Management experience
• Healthcare experience. Experience designing products in similarly complex or regulated industries including insurance, financial services, retail, telecommunications, life sciences, pharmaceuticals, or enterprise software is also valued
• Experience with operational improvement methodologies such as Six Sigma (DMAIC and DMADV), LSS, or Lean
• Experience designing enterprise software or large-scale digital products
• Experience collaborating with globally distributed teams, including U.S.-based stakeholders
• Experience designing accessible experiences that align with WCAG 2.1AA requirements

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.