250 jobs coming to San Diego, another 40 to Carlsbad, as Optum Rx expands

By BRADLEY J. FIKES bfikes@nctimes.comNorth County Times

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CARLSBAD ---- San Diego County is getting 250 new jobs by the end of 2013, pharmacy benefits manager OptumRx announced Friday. Statewide, the Irvine-based company is adding 600 employees.

The employees will staff a new order processing center in Mission Valley, said Dirk McMahon, Optum's CEO, speaking at the Irvine-based company's mail service pharmacy in Carlsbad.

About 40 job openings will be created at the Carlsbad location, said R. J. Correia, senior vice president of pharmacy services, who oversees the location. About 500 employees work in the Carlsbad center, he said. Optum is a unit of health insurer UnitedHealth Group, Minnesota-baed publicly traded company.

"We're actually expanding to a building (at the Carlsbad location) just across the parking lot," Correia said. "We have some positions that have moved to Mission Valley, so we are opening up some positions here. So there will be some opportunities here as well, as we start transferring people to the new buildings."

Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, and Rep Darrell Issa, R-Vista, attended the event to praise the job creation in California. The state is still recovering from the recent recession, with unemployment remaining in double digits.

Carlsbad is in Issa's district under the new boundaries drafted after the census. It was removed from the district after the previous census in 2000, Issa said, remarking that he's happy to be representing Carlsbad again.

Newsom said the job additions indicate "something is going right" in California, namely its highly trained people.

"We still convey more talent ---- you, human capital ---- than any other state in the nation," Newsom said.

"We're excited to be in California, we're excited about the future prospects of our business across the country, and we believe in the California workforce," McMahon said. "It's treated us well and we look forward to success for years to come."

Those interested in applying for jobs at Optum should visit its Web site at www.optumrx.com. Go to the bottom of the page and click on the "Careers" link.

250 jobs coming to San Diego, another 40 to Carlsbad, as Optum Rx expands