Optum Profile & Preferences:
Designing an Enterprise Profile Layer

Industry

Healthcare

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

Design, Product, Engineering

Timeline

2 years

Platforms

iOS & Android

Tools

Figma, FigJam

The Challenge

Member information was fragmented.
The experience didn’t have to be.

01

Profile data lived across systems

Identity, contact information, preferences, and personal information were managed across disconnected products and data sources.

02

Experiences operated independently

Products interpreted and surfaced the same member information differently, creating inconsistency across Optum.

03

Personalization couldn't scale

Each experience had to solve profile management independently instead of building on a shared foundation.

WHAT WE HAD TO LEARN

Before designing a shared profile layer, we had to understand how profile data moved through the enterprise.

01

Where profile data lived

Map the systems, products, and sources responsible for employee identity, preferences, and personal information.

02

Where experiences diverged

Understand how products interpreted, stored, and surfaced the same information differently.

03

What could become shared infrastructure

Identify the common profile capabilities that could serve products across the enterprise.

Industry

Healthcare

Role

Senior Product Designer

Team

Design, Product, Engineering

Timeline

2 years

Platforms

iOS & Android

Tools

Figma, FigJam

The Challenge

Member information was fragmented.
The experience didn’t have to be.

01

Profile data lived across systems

Identity, contact information, preferences, and personal information were managed across disconnected products and data sources.

02

Experiences operated independently

Products interpreted and surfaced the same member information differently, creating inconsistency across Optum.

03

Personalization couldn't scale

Each experience had to solve profile management independently instead of building on a shared foundation.

WHAT WE HAD TO LEARN

Before designing a shared profile layer, we had to understand how profile data moved through the enterprise.

01

Where profile data lived

Map the systems, products, and sources responsible for employee identity, preferences, and personal information.

02

Where experiences diverged

Understand how products interpreted, stored, and surfaced the same information differently.

03

What could become shared infrastructure

Identify the common profile capabilities that could serve products across the enterprise.

THE APPROACH

Design the profile as a platform,
not a collection of settings.

Create a shared member model

Organize profile information consistently across products rather than around individual product structures.

Separate data from experience

Define what information belongs to the member profile independently from where and how it appears.

Design for reuse

Create patterns and capabilities that could support multiple Optum experiences without redesigning profile management each time.

Where we had to pivot

A dashboard
wasn't the answer.

Product initially pushed toward a dedicated profile dashboard. I challenged that direction because it would create another destination competing with the host product instead of making profile capabilities available where members actually needed them.


We didn’t want our organizational architecture to become the member’s information architecture.

Design model

A shared profile layer.
Built once. Used everywhere.

MEMBER
ENTERPRISE PROFILE

A shared source of truth for member information and preferences.

Identity

Personal info

Preferneces

Optum experiences

Web

Mobile

Support

Care

A shared profile foundation gives every experience consistent access to member context—creating the infrastructure for more connected, personalized experiences.

Bringing Member Information Into One Place

We translated profile data from disparate systems into a consistent member model—clarifying what information Optum holds, how it’s used, and what members can manage themselves.

A Shared Data Model Doesn’t Mean a Shared Interaction Model

Sensitive identity information required a different level of transparency than standard profile data. We explained why information was being collected and how it could be used before asking members to make a choice.

Giving Members Control Over How They Identify

Sensitive identity information required more than standard profile controls. We designed clear, optional ways for members to self-identify—giving them control over what they share and how they’re represented, and the ability to update those choices over time.

Turning Preferences Into Meaningful Choices

We translated communication, privacy, and sharing preferences into clear member controls—turning complex policies and permissions into choices members could understand and manage themselves.

Impact

One profile foundation.
More connected experiences.

EPMP established a shared model for member information and preferences—giving teams reusable capabilities instead of requiring each product to solve profile independently.

01

A reusable profile foundation

Common patterns and capabilities could be shared across experiences, reducing the need to recreate profile management product by product.

02

Greater consistency across Optum

A shared member model created a more consistent way to represent and manage identity, personal information, and preferences across experiences.

03

A foundation for personalization

Centralizing member context and preferences created the groundwork for experiences to respond more intelligently to who a member is and the choices they’ve made.

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