your experience will depend heavily on the leadership you report to - Data Scientist Optum Employee Review

1.0
11 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

My early years at the company were genuinely strong — smart colleagues, meaningful analytical work, and leaders who understood both the technical and business context. Those years set a high bar for what the culture could be.

Cons

In more recent years, leadership turnover introduced managers who lacked the technical grounding needed to define roles, evaluate work, or provide stable direction. As a result, priorities shifted frequently, expectations changed without explanation, and roles expanded quietly to absorb whatever gaps emerged. Much of the decision making moved into the hands of leaders who were uncomfortable engaging with technical detail, which led to misaligned goals, avoidable rework, and a growing reliance on formal processes instead of straightforward conversations. This created an environment where strong contributors spent more time navigating ambiguity than doing meaningful work. Job descriptions often read like a historical list of everything the previous person touched rather than a coherent, well scoped role. Candidates should be aware that posted responsibilities may not reflect the actual expectations once inside the team.

Explore other reviews about Optum

5.0
20 June 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Work from home - no travel

Cons

Pay is not competitive- compared to many

3.0
4 June 2026
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Some very talented people give so much of themselves to the company, the clients and their co-workers. I work with (and have worked with) some excellent, smart, supportive people.

Cons

Too many layoffs. Upper management is clueless about how the day to day work gets done, what it takes to make certain changes to processes, and how to treat employees. Some are great. Mostly, they just look at numbers. So many of us have been doing our jobs long enough to know what is needed for certain requests. But we don't get a voice. We just have to do it and suck it up. They are firing ('reduction in force') all of the seasoned staff and let the rest deal with the fall-out. So many teams are losing good people but those people are training their off-shore replacements before they are told about being cut. So how is that a reduction in force? It's just a reduction in payroll numbers. Everyone is on edge just waiting for the next axe to fall. And we have to try and learn or teach another role with less experienced people and more work. It's crazy. On milestone anniversaries, they send an email recognition but once the milestone gets to over 15 years, you are a target. Pay and benefits are fine by me. Raises are practically non-existent, even after layoffs and asking employees to take on more responsibility. that's messed up. They talk about work/life balance but that doesn't trickle down to the actual workers who are so stressed they fear for their jobs if they don't do the extra mile. Many of us are just hanging on instead of quitting so we can at least get some severance. Others are actively looking.

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