Optum M&A Senior Analyst
Hello,
What is a career trajectory like to join Optum’s corporate development? I cannot find much updated info about this role or this company.
Would love to understand the comps and the culture.
Thanks!
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Interviewed for an M&A Analyst role at UHG so I can add some color. Feel free to correct any outdated/inaccurate info.
Most of the team is from the Minnesota/Wisconsin area, and I got a sense that they're not very trusting of "outsiders." Their biggest fear in taking candidates who aren't from that area is that they'll use it as a stepping stone to go to Chicago or NYC. I would definitely have a very good answer to "Why Minnesota?" in your interviews. Likewise, know that their feeder schools aren't exactly "target" for IBs, so UHG has plenty of cannon fodder at the junior level which should give you a sense of what the WLB is like.
Continuing on the topic of WLB, know that it will be very limited - expect the workload to be somewhat like a banking-lite. My interviewers were very proud of the hours that they worked, and one of them said something along the lines of "most of my peers out of undergrad were complacent working 9 to 5s. Look where that got them vs. where I am now." I was also told that analysts will be spending a lot of time together eating dinner at their desks, etc.
Though, any of the above shouldn't be a surprise given that UHG has probably the most robust corporate development team in the HC space. They do all of their acquisitions in-house without the help of any outside advisors. So the experience is top-notch if you're interest in working in CD in HC services, working in HC strategy, joining HC startups, or exiting to IB. Have heard anecdotally that PE exits are extremely rare and generally limited to Minneapolis-based funds.
Thank you for the response. The role is for a senior analyst position which is fully remote (though still needs to be around CA or West Coast - I gotta laugh since they say fully remote) or in LA so I think they have changed their business model.
So I know the role you are talking about, it is slightly different than the above post for UHG corp dev. UHG corp dev is your expected corp dev function that works across the whole enterprise.
This Optum role is specifically for their Optum Health vertical, and is based on the west coast because that is the geography you will be working in. It is basically a role up strategy for smaller physician shops (like <10 people). They don't really advertise this well, I came into the interview process thinking there would be larger responsibilities beyond this (i.e. working more broadly within Optum which is the faster/more innovative part of UHG). The team does have some strong background, but after talking with the head of the group, the strategy was too niche for me and seemed like a lot of the learning process was focused on the nuances of the industry thus making the experience less applicable to non-healthcare roles. I turned down the next round after this, and the comp expectations were lower than hoped.
The rest of the interview process sounded like your normal meetings with the other team members (more behavioral and resume type questions) and a case study.
Thank you for the color. This is helpful. I hope you do continue to love soccer. ❤️
You're welcome, and I'll always love the game, even when they put the crown jewel of soccer tournaments in fucking Qatar.
How was your reaction like when they sold Chelsea? My family was upset
I'm a Chelsea fan so it was kind of wild. On the one hand I get it probably isn't the best thing to have an oligarch as an owner from an off field perspective but it definitely helped on the field lol.
I have hope with the new owners seemingly trying to organize themselves similar to how City Football Group have done, just worried we can't compete anymore financially at the top end. We will see how it unfolds though.
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