Director, Finance AI SME, Record-to-Report Transformation - Remote

Director, Finance AI SME, Record-to-Report Transformation

UnitedHealth Group is a health care and well-being company that's dedicated to improving the health outcomes of millions around the world. We are comprised of two distinct and complementary businesses, UnitedHealthcare and Optum, working to build a better health system for all. Here, your contributions matter as they will help transform health care for years to come. Make an impact with a team that shares your passion for helping others. Join us to start Caring. Connecting. Growing together.

The Director, Finance AI SME, Record-to-Report Transformation will serve as a senior controllership and accounting subject matter expert embedded within Finance AI transformation pods. This leader will partner with Finance, Controllership, Data, Technology, Risk and Controls, Internal Audit, and business stakeholders to blueprint current-state and future-state record-to-report processes and help develop proof-of-concept AI systems that can be validated, governed, and scaled.

This role is designed for a senior accounting and controllership leader with a solid public accounting foundation and deep experience across the financial close, journal entries, reconciliations, consolidations, intercompany, external reporting, statutory reporting, technical accounting, SOX/ICFR, and audit readiness. The person will bring the judgment required to determine where AI can safely automate or augment record-to-report work, where human review remains non-negotiable, and how future-state processes should be designed to improve speed, quality, traceability, and control.

The Senior Director will operate in a cross-functional pod model, working side by side with data engineers, solution architects, forward deployed engineers, AI/ML resources, risk and controls partners, accounting leaders, and business finance teams. This is a hands-on transformation role. The individual will be expected to lead blueprinting sessions, define R2R process requirements, identify control dependencies, validate prototype outputs, challenge data and accounting logic, and help determine whether proof-of-concept systems are ready to be refined, scaled, or transitioned into the AI Factory for productization.

The ideal candidate combines audit discipline, enterprise controllership experience, process redesign capability, and practical curiosity about AI. They must be able to translate accounting and reporting requirements into agent-ready workflows that are accurate, auditable, explainable, and acceptable to Finance leadership, Internal Audit, external auditors, and regulators.

Role Purpose

The purpose of this role is to provide senior-level R2R expertise to Finance AI pods that are redesigning core accounting and reporting processes and developing proof-of-concept AI systems. The Senior Director will help move Finance from manual, calendar-driven, spreadsheet-heavy close processes toward a more continuous, exception-based, data-enabled, and AI-supported controllership model.

The role has three integrated mandates:

• Blueprint the current state. Understand and document how R2R activities operate today across journal entries, reconciliations, close management, intercompany, consolidation, reporting, technical accounting, statutory reporting, controls, data flows, and audit evidence
• Design the future state. Partner with Finance, Technology, Data, Risk, and business stakeholders to define how R2R should operate when people, AI agents, governed data, controls, and accounting judgment are designed together from the beginning
• Develop and validate AI proof-of-concept systems. Translate accounting requirements into clear prototype designs, help build and test R2R agents, validate outputs against accounting standards and source data, and determine whether solutions are ready for additional testing, productization, or scale

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.

Primary Responsibilities:

• R2R Finance SME Leadership in Pod Delivery
• Current-State Blueprinting
• Future-State Design and Agent-Ready Workflow Development
• AI POC Development and Validation
• Record-to-Report Transformation
• Controls, and Audit Readiness
• Data, Systems, and Governance
• Stakeholder Engagement and Adoption

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:

• Bachelor's degree in Accounting, Finance, Business, Economics, Information Systems, or a related field
• CPA
• 10+ years of progressive accounting, controllership, audit, financial reporting, finance transformation, or R2R experience
• Big 4 public accounting experience, preferably with audit experience serving large, complex, publicly traded or regulated companies
• Significant experience with financial close, journal entries, account reconciliations, consolidation, intercompany, external reporting, SOX/ICFR, audit evidence, and management review controls
• Demonstrated ability to lead or materially contribute to process redesign, operating model transformation, automation, financial systems, or accounting modernization initiatives
• Proven solid understanding of accounting controls, financial statement assertions, auditability, evidence requirements, and external auditor expectations
• Ability to map complex current-state processes and translate them into simplified, controlled, future-state operating models
• Proven solid analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to evaluate process gaps, data issues, accounting logic, control implications, and operational risks
• Proven solid executive communication skills, including the ability to synthesize complex accounting and technology topics into clear recommendations
• Ability to operate in ambiguity, influence across a matrixed organization, and move work forward with urgency and discipline

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience in controllership, corporate accounting, SEC reporting, technical accounting, statutory reporting, consolidation, or accounting policy
• Experience with large enterprise ERP, consolidation, reconciliation, planning, reporting, workflow, or close management systems
• Experience with PeopleSoft, Oracle, SAP, BlackLine, OneStream, Workiva, Snowflake, Azure, Power BI, or similar enterprise finance/data platforms
• Experience leading finance transformation, close acceleration, global process ownership, shared services, automation, or digital accounting programs
• Experience working in a regulated environment with SOX, SEC reporting, NAIC statutory reporting, external audit, model governance, regulatory exams, or Internal Audit involvement
• Familiarity with AI, machine learning, agentic AI, LLM-enabled workflows, retrieval-augmented generation, prompt evaluation, human-in-the-loop controls, and AI output validation
• Experience working in a product-oriented or agile delivery model, including POCs, pilots, MVPs, product roadmaps, acceptance criteria, testing protocols, and adoption measurement

*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.

UnitedHealth Group 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.

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