Capability Manager

Requisition Number: 2388593
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 Data Product Capability Manager is a senior, hybrid role that combines the strategic focus of a data product owner with the cross-functional coordination responsibilities of a capability manager. This individual will own the definition, prioritization, and delivery of enterprise data capabilities - establishing the structure for how structured data is identified, governed, and consumed across the organization. Reporting into the Product Management organization, the role serves as the central connective tissue between business stakeholders, data domain owners, IT delivery, and data governance functions, ensuring that data products are developed in alignment with enterprise strategy, quality standards, and business value objectives.
Primary Responsibilities:

• Data Strategy Management & Roadmap Ownership: Define and maintain the enterprise data capability roadmap in alignment with overall business strategy. Identify data investment priorities, manage the capability backlog, and communicate progress and value delivery to senior stakeholders
• Vendor & Internal Data Needs Assessment: Evaluate and document structured data requirements across both vendor-sourced and internally generated datasets. Partner with procurement, legal, and data architecture teams to assess fit, feasibility, and compliance of data supply options
• Business & Domain Stakeholder Engagement: Partner with business and domain owners to identify and validate authoritative data sources (Systems of Truth / SOTs) and key attribute requirements. Facilitate workshops and working sessions to surface data needs, resolve conflicts, and build shared understanding of data definitions
• IT Partnership & Agile Delivery Planning: Collaborate with IT and engineering teams to translate data capability requirements into delivery plans using agile methodologies (e.g., SAFe, Scrum). Participate in sprint planning, PI planning, and backlog grooming to ensure alignment between business priorities and technical execution
• Data Governance Support & Stewardship: Support and actively contribute to enterprise data governance frameworks, policies, and practices. Work with data stewards and governance councils to ensure data capabilities are developed and maintained in compliance with data standards, privacy requirements, and regulatory obligations
• Data Quality Management: Define and enforce data quality standards, metrics, and SLAs for owned data products. Collaborate with data engineering and analytics teams to implement monitoring, remediation, and continuous improvement processes that ensure fitness-for-purpose data across the enterprise
• Data Product Definition & Lifecycle Management: Own the end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise data products - from ideation and requirements definition through development, launch, and sunset. Ensure data products are well-documented, discoverable, and aligned to measurable business outcomes
• Cross-Functional Coordination & Stakeholder Communication: Serve as the primary point of contact and escalation path for data capability delivery across business, IT, and governance functions. Manage stakeholder expectations, facilitate issue resolution, and deliver regular status updates and executive-level reporting
• Data Maturity & Capability Development: Assess the current state of enterprise data capabilities against industry benchmarks and organizational goals. Develop and execute maturity improvement plans that elevate the organization's ability to manage, consume, and derive value from data assets
• Metadata & Data Catalog Stewardship: Champion the adoption and maintenance of enterprise metadata standards and data catalog tools. Ensure critical data attributes, lineage, and ownership are documented and accessible to enable data discoverability and self-service analytics across the organization
• Comply with all applicable Company policies, procedures, and business directives, changes including those relating to work location, team assignments, work schedules, and flexible work arrangements

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Information Systems, Business, Computer Science, Data Science, or a related field
• 9+ years of experience in product management, data management, or a related discipline, with demonstrated accountability for delivering data or technology capabilities in a complex enterprise environment
• Hands-on experience working in agile delivery environments; proficiency with agile frameworks such as Scrum, and familiarity with tools such as Jira, Azure DevOps, or equivalent
• Experience supporting or leading data governance initiatives, including data quality programs, data stewardship models, or regulatory compliance efforts (e.g., GDPR, CCPA)
• Solid understanding of structured data concepts including data modeling, data dictionaries, systems of record/truth, master data management, and enterprise data architecture principles
• Proven ability to elicit, document, and prioritize data requirements from business and domain stakeholders, including the ability to reconcile conflicting priorities and drive alignment
• Proven exceptional cross-functional communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence without direct authority across business, IT, and executive audiences

Preferred Qualifications:

• Relevant certifications such as CDMP (Certified Data Management Professional), SAFe Product Owner/Manager, or equivalent data or agile credentials
• Experience with vendor evaluation and management, including RFI/RFP processes for data and technology solutions
• Experience on US Healthcare Domain
• Experience in a capability management, product ownership, or enterprise program management role within a data & analytics, enterprise architecture, or digital transformation context
• Familiarity with data catalog and metadata management tools such as Alation, Collibra, Informatica, or Microsoft Purview
• Understanding of cloud data platform ecosystems (e.g., Azure Synapse, Databricks, Snowflake, AWS) and their implications for data product design and delivery

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.