Good WLB, Poor Product Principles - Senior Product Manager Optum Employee Review

2.0
Jul 2, 2022
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

- Good WLB, work can start at ~9 and ends ~5 - Large impacting work and learn the "corporate talk" - Join if you want a cushy and "safe" (dependent on dept.) job

Cons

- As a Sr. PM, you are an order taker.. The % in which YOU can affect YOUR teams roadmap is only about 10%. - No good product framework for focusing on REAL USER ISSUES. Corporate loves to talk about NPS as data points but it's so generic. - All the product management principles, mindset, and design-think go out the window... Not used here because no one cares. Just take orders, do this project, and that's it - So much red tape and budget requirements for projects it's exhausting - A Sr. PM is a glorified proJECT manager - Mile-long email threads when you're looking for someone responsible for something else you're not responsible for. Everyone passes the potato and no one knows anything, ever. - Below average pay for a Sr. PM position compared to market, I'd say below about $40k what others are paying. - Benefits aren't even all that, honestly - Areas are so large that it's too big to fail. You can take forever doing something and no one will notice and no one says anything. Meaning that many departments do JUST ENOUGH to scrape by, because they can - It's laughable the mental gymnastics the "diversity and inclusion" group goes through when talking about government policy yet they don't even give Juneteenth as a holiday (and I'm a conservative)

Explore other reviews about Optum

5.0
Apr 25, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

Great Pay. Great Benefits. Great People. awesome front line management. Frequent meals and employee input.

Cons

Worked like a cog machine.

3.0
Jun 4, 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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