Key Insights
- Deep Healthcare Specialization: Optum Advisory Services sits inside one of the world's largest health services organizations, giving consultants access to the most expansive healthcare dataset available anywhere.
- Mission-Driven Work: The advisory practice focuses on helping health plans, hospitals, and government agencies deliver better care at lower cost, making it a strong fit for candidates motivated by healthcare impact alongside professional growth.
- Structured Entry Paths: The Consulting Development Program offers a defined on-ramp for post-graduate candidates, with rotational assignments across healthcare operations, strategy, and technology.
Optum Advisory Services is a healthcare management consulting practice within Optum, a UnitedHealth Group company. The practice helps health plans, hospital systems, employers, and government agencies tackle their most complex operational and strategic challenges in healthcare. From improving care quality and closing cost gaps to navigating regulatory shifts and modernizing clinical operations, Optum Advisory Services delivers consulting solutions built on proprietary data, deep domain expertise, and decades of healthcare industry experience. The firm's advisory experts focus on achieving sustainable results by helping clients grow revenue, deliver improved care outcomes, and increase operational efficiency.
Firm Key Stats
| Website | business.optum.com/advisory |
| Headquarters | Eden Prairie, Minnesota |
| Employees | 300,000+ (Optum overall) |
| Offices | 150+ countries |
| CEO, Optum | Patrick Conway |
| Annual Revenue | ~$226B (Optum segment, 2023) |
Optum Advisory Services Careers
Optum Advisory Services careers attract candidates who want to do serious consulting work within one of healthcare's most resource-rich environments. You're not at a boutique working with limited data. You have access to the world's largest healthcare database, a global network of clinical and operational experts, and client relationships that span virtually every segment of the industry, including health plans, hospitals, government agencies, and employers. The work is demanding and the problems are real. You'll be helping organizations that collectively touch hundreds of millions of patient lives each year.
The firm offers competitive benefits, remote and hybrid flexibility for many roles, strong internal mobility across Optum's broader business lines, and a culture that rewards people with both clinical and business backgrounds. Employees highlight the mission-driven environment and a learning culture that ties directly to improving healthcare outcomes. If you're looking for healthcare consulting work that carries genuine scale and impact, Optum Advisory Services careers represent a strong option. Learn more on their careers page.
Optum Advisory Services Internship
The Optum Consulting Development Program is a key entry path for post-graduate candidates, emphasizing professional development across healthcare processes, operations, product, and technology. The program welcomes participants from diverse academic backgrounds and includes challenging project assignments, strong mentoring, and exposure to senior leadership.
Summer internship programs also exist at the undergraduate level through campus recruiting, typically running 10 to 12 weeks. The Optum internship process often begins with a digital behavioral interview conducted via HireVue, followed by technical or HR rounds depending on the role. Target schools include leading public and private universities with strong healthcare, business, and policy programs.
Optum Advisory Services Jobs
Optum Advisory Services jobs span roles in strategy consulting, technology transformation, actuarial consulting, pharmacy advisory, government health programs, and health system operations. Open roles range from entry-level analyst to senior director and SVP positions. You can search current Optum Advisory Services jobs on the MC Job Board for the latest postings.
Practice Areas
Optum Advisory Services practice areas span the full range of healthcare business challenges. Key areas include:
- Sustainable growth and margin consulting
- Care quality improvement
- Operational efficiency
- Health management and operations
- Government programs (Medicaid, Medicare)
- Technology and digital transformation
- EHR and clinical technology implementation
- Pharmacy advisory and benefits optimization
- Actuarial and trend analytics
Industries
Optum Advisory Services serves employers, federal government agencies, health systems and hospitals, payers, providers, and state governments. Specific industry verticals include:
- Health plans and managed care organizations
- Hospital systems and academic medical centers
- Integrated delivery networks (IDNs)
- Employer-sponsored health programs
- Federal agencies (CMS, VA, DoD)
- State Medicaid programs
- Life sciences and pharmaceutical companies
- Physician groups and outpatient practices
Optum Advisory Services Locations
Optum Advisory Services operates across the United States with a distributed workforce model. Major hubs include:
- Eden Prairie, Minnesota (HQ)
- Washington, D.C.
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Chicago, Illinois
- Nashville, Tennessee
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Dallas, Texas
- San Francisco, California
Optum operates across 150 countries as part of UnitedHealth Group's global footprint. For a full list of office locations, visit Optum's careers site.
Career Path
The Optum Advisory Services career path follows a fairly standard consulting progression: Analyst, Consultant, Senior Consultant, Manager, Director, and Senior Vice President. Promotion timelines vary by practice area and performance, but most analysts can expect to advance to consultant within two to three years. The firm does not operate a strict "up or out" policy in the way that some top-tier strategy firms do. There is more tolerance for employees who prefer to grow in a specialist track rather than pursuing partner-equivalent leadership. Internal mobility across Optum's broader business lines, including OptumHealth, OptumRx, and OptumInsight, also gives advisory professionals options that many pure-play consulting firms can't match.
Exit Opportunities
Optum Advisory Services exit opportunities are strongest in healthcare-specific roles. Given the firm's deep ties to payers, providers, and government health programs, alumni commonly move into:
- Health plan strategy and operations roles
- Hospital system executive leadership
- Health technology companies and digital health startups
- Federal and state government health agencies
- Other healthcare consulting firms
- Private equity-backed healthcare companies
The brand carries significant weight within healthcare circles, particularly among organizations that are already Optum clients or part of the UnitedHealth Group ecosystem.
Notable Alumni
Notable Optum Advisory Services alumni and current leaders include:
- Preston Raulerson, SVP of Technology Consulting, Optum Advisory
- Mylynn Tufte, Population Health and Health Strategy Leader, Optum Advisory
- Eric Young, Health System Finance and Margin Consulting Lead, Optum Advisory
Target Schools
Optum Advisory Services target schools are not publicly ranked in the way MBB firms publish school lists. However, the firm actively recruits from graduate programs in public health, health administration, business, and policy. Schools with strong pipelines include:
- University of Minnesota (Twin Cities)
- Georgetown University
- George Washington University
- Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
- University of Michigan (Ross School of Business)
- Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- Northwestern University (Kellogg)
- Washington University in St. Louis (Olin)
The Consulting Development Program specifically targets candidates completing post-graduate degrees in business-related fields.
Diversity Programs
UnitedHealth Group and Optum maintain a strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion across their workforce. Optum sponsors multiple Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) covering gender, race, LGBTQ+ identity, veterans, and disability. The firm also participates in diversity-focused recruiting events at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Candidates interested in diversity-focused entry paths should check Optum's careers site directly for current programs, as these offerings are updated regularly.
Optum Advisory Services Culture
Optum Advisory Services culture reflects the broader Optum mission: make the health system work better for everyone. That sounds like a tagline, but it shapes the day-to-day reality of working there. You're surrounded by colleagues who came from health plans, hospital systems, government agencies, and academia. The work is collaborative and cross-functional by design, since most client engagements require pulling expertise from multiple practice areas. Employees highlight the values of integrity, compassion, innovation, and performance as central to how teams operate.
The firm leans toward a mission-first culture, which can be energizing if you care about healthcare impact. If you're chasing the pure prestige of a top-tier strategy firm name, this might not be your first choice. But if you want to work on real problems at scale, with access to the best healthcare data anywhere, Optum Advisory Services offers something most consulting firms simply can't replicate.
Optum Advisory Services History
Optum was formally organized as a unified brand within UnitedHealth Group, bringing together its data and analytics, health services, and operations businesses under one umbrella. The advisory practice grew substantially in 2017 when Optum acquired the healthcare division of The Advisory Board Company, a firm with over three decades of research and consulting history in the industry. The Advisory Board Company had served more than 4,000 healthcare member organizations, combining research, technology, and consulting to improve performance across health systems and hospitals.
Optum committed to preserving the objectivity and research quality of Advisory Board while expanding its range of advisory and technology capabilities for healthcare clients. That acquisition transformed Optum Advisory Services from a complementary service line into a full-scale consulting practice capable of competing with top healthcare consulting firms. Patrick Conway became CEO of Optum in April 2025.
Optum Advisory Services Interview
The Optum Advisory Services interview process differs from what you'd experience at MBB or top-tier strategy firms. It is not a traditional case interview process. You won't be working through structured market sizing problems or profit/loss cases in the McKinsey or Bain format. Instead, interviews lean heavily on behavioral questions, healthcare domain knowledge, and your ability to discuss real-world problem-solving in a healthcare context.
That said, don't assume the process is a formality. Interviewers at Optum Advisory Services are experienced healthcare operators. They will probe your analytical thinking, your understanding of how healthcare organizations work, and your ability to translate data into actionable recommendations.
Common Optum Advisory Services interview questions include:
- Tell me about a time you drove a process improvement in a complex organization.
- How would you approach reducing care variation across a multi-hospital health system?
- Walk me through a situation where you had to influence stakeholders without direct authority.
- What do you know about value-based care, and how is it changing provider economics?
- How do you prioritize competing project demands when resources are limited?
- Describe a time you used data to change a decision-maker's mind.
- Why do you want to work in healthcare consulting specifically?
If you're targeting any consulting role, including those at Optum Advisory Services, structured interview preparation still matters. Understanding how to frame a problem, break it into components, and communicate a clear recommendation is valuable in any consulting context. Our Black Belt program is the market-leading case interview coaching resource, built and delivered by former MBB consultants who have helped 15,000+ candidates land offers at top consulting firms. Even for healthcare-focused roles, the structured thinking skills you build through case prep translate directly into stronger interview performance.
Firm Interview Process
The Optum hiring process takes an average of 25 days from application to offer. For advisory and consulting roles specifically, the typical sequence is:
- Resume and application screening through Optum's careers portal or campus recruiting channels
- Digital behavioral interview via HireVue or a similar platform
- One or two rounds of structured interviews with practice leads or senior consultants, focused on behavioral questions and healthcare scenario discussions
- Final HR or leadership round
For advisory and consulting roles, expect interviews to be more substantive, given the seniority of the people you'll be working alongside on day one.
Optum Advisory Services Salary
Optum Advisory Services salary figures vary by level, location, and practice area. Based on the data:
- The average Advisory Services Consultant salary at Optum is approximately $129,000 per year.
- Management Consultant total compensation at Optum ranges from approximately $104,000 to $153,000 per year, depending on level and location.
- Senior consultants, managers, and directors will see compensation increase substantially above these figures, particularly when factoring in bonuses and UnitedHealth Group equity.
Benefits include comprehensive health insurance (particularly relevant at a healthcare company), 401(k) with matching, paid parental leave, and generous PTO. For a full view of what consulting firms across the industry pay at every level, see our current Consulting Salaries Report.
Optum Advisory Services: Is It Right for You?
If you're serious about building a career in healthcare consulting, Optum Advisory Services is one of the strongest platforms available. You'll work on meaningful problems, supported by unmatched data resources, inside an organization that serves virtually every corner of the healthcare system. The career path is structured, the exit opportunities are rich within healthcare, and the mission is genuine.
The single biggest thing candidates underestimate is the importance of healthcare domain knowledge going in. Do your homework on value-based care, payer-provider dynamics, and the regulatory environment. If you're preparing for interviews, build your structured thinking skills alongside your healthcare fluency. That combination is what separates competitive candidates from the rest. Start with our Case Interview Guide to sharpen your analytical framework, and check our Consulting Salaries Report to make sure you negotiate the offer you deserve.