just finished the PM loop at Optum Digital in Q1 2026. targeting a senior PM role on one of their member-facing products. there's almost nothing written about this process so here's what I can share.
five rounds total, two of which surprised me.
round 1: recruiter screen (30 min) standard. comp, timeline, "why healthcare PM." have a real answer for the last one. they're not looking for passion theater but they do want to see that you've thought about why healthcare is different from SaaS.
round 2: hiring manager screen (45 min) half background, half a product question. "how would you prioritize features on a member portal with 40 million users." not looking for a framework name-drop, they want to see how you think about competing signals from clinical outcomes data, engagement data, and regulatory constraints.
round 3: product case (60 min, live) they gave me a real-ish scenario: "Optum is seeing low adoption of a new care management feature. diagnose the problem and propose a 90-day plan." i worked through user segmentation, metrics I'd look at, hypotheses, experiment design. they pushed back on my experiment design which was good, meant they were engaged. the trick here is knowing that healthcare metrics aren't just DAU/MAU. clinical outcomes, cost of care, member satisfaction scores (CAHPS) are all in play.
round 4: behavioral (60 min, senior PM + eng manager) big emphasis on cross-functional influence and navigating ambiguity. "tell me about a product decision you made that turned out to be wrong and what you learned." and "how have you worked with legal or compliance to ship something on a deadline." that second one is very healthcare-specific.
round 5: stakeholder presentation (45 min) they asked me to prepare a 10-slide deck presenting a product strategy for a given area and present it to a panel. this felt like real work and it probably was. be crisp on the business case.
comp for senior PM came in at a base around $150K with bonus, which is below FAANG but above most mid-size companies. minneapolis is their hub; remote was negotiable for this role.
solid process. the healthcare context really does matter here.