Position Overview
The Project Manager - Strategic Initiatives sits within Strategic Enablement in the Payments Business Unit, supports the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), and reports to the Manager, Project Management.

This role provides strategic delivery leadership for high-priority initiatives that are critical to the organization's success. These initiatives involve ambiguity, cross-functional stakeholder management, executive visibility, operational transformation, and technical dependencies requiring disciplined execution, a strong bias towards action, and informed decision making. Project Managers on this team are accountable for shaping execution strategy, driving alignment, and guiding initiatives to successful outcomes at scale.

Strategic Initiatives projects are assigned to this team due to elevated organizational impact, delivery risk, stakeholder coordination requirements, or operational and technical transformation needs. Initiatives may be internally or externally facing and frequently involve close partnership with engineering, development, AI and automation, and technology teams.

What You'll Do

• Manage high-priority strategic initiatives with significant business impact, executive visibility, and cross-functional scope
• Drive execution across cross-functional and cross-domain environments, navigating complex stakeholder landscapes and ensuring alignment, accountability, and effective decision-making
• Operate effectively in ambiguous, high-risk environments by proactively identifying gaps, risks, and dependencies early, and driving clear, aligned paths forward with appropriate escalation
• Translate strategic goals into structured, scalable delivery approaches, framing problems, defining objectives, KPIs, constraints, and tradeoffs, and providing clear recommendations to support leadership decisions
• Establish and manage governance, communication, and reporting cadences, including stakeholder forums, executive updates, and portfolio level visibility
• Own stakeholder communication and executive reporting, synthesizing complex information into concise, decision-ready insights and materials
• Manage resource and capacity planning across initiatives, proactively identifying constraints, balancing priorities, and escalating conflicts as needed
• Lead end to end project lifecycle activities, including intake, kickoff, scoping, discovery, planning, RAID management, and charter development with clear ownership and success criteria
• Drive proactive risk, issue, and dependency management, including technical and integration considerations, with mitigation planning and timely escalation
• Lead communication and change management efforts aligned to stakeholder and operational impacts, ensuring clear documentation of decisions, roles, and next steps
• Maintain delivery health awareness, including tracking progress, capacity, and overall initiative performance
• Facilitate phase-level closeouts and post-mortems to capture outcomes, lessons learned, and continuous improvement opportunities
• Identify cross-initiative themes, systemic risks, and execution insights to inform leadership discussions and strategic direction

What You'll Bring to Zelis

• Bachelor's degree with 2-3 years of experience in project management, consulting, operations, or a related field
• Experience in Healthcare Technology, Payment Operations, or Financial Services is a plus
• PMP or related certification is preferred
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives in fast-paced, evolving, or technically complex environments
• Familiarity with change management, governance processes, and project delivery lifecycle management
• Develop executive-ready presentations that translate complex initiative updates, risks, and decisions into clear, concise, and actionable narratives for leadership audiences
• Adept at building strong relationships, driving alignment across teams, and influencing without direct authority
• Bias for action; able to move work forward despite ambiguity or dependencies
• Strong structured problem-solving, critical thinking, decision making, and sound judgment under pressure
• Balances strategic thinking with hands-on execution to drive outcomes
• Comfortable operating in technically complex environments and quickly building context around systems, workflows, integrations, and dependencies
• Experience using Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Office Suite, or similar project management and collaboration
• Delivers initiatives with clarity, discipline, and measurable impact
• Proactively identifies risks and helps guide complex decisions
• Keeps stakeholders aligned, informed, and accountable throughout delivery
• Continuously improves execution to drive scalable, repeatable results

Please note at this time we are unable to proceed with candidates who require visa sponsorship now or in the future.

Location and Workplace Flexibility

Zelis is headquartered in the U.S., with multiple locations across the country and in Hyderabad, India. Check out our locations to learn more about our offices. All employee work locations are based on the needs of the position and are determined by the Leadership team. In-office work and activities vary based on work and team objectives in accordance with Company policies.

While location expectations vary by role, candidates within approximately 50 miles of a U.S. office are generally preferred to support collaboration when needed. Our hybrid approach is flexible, and in-office presence is guided by team and business needs rather than a fixed weekly schedule.

Base Salary Range
$79,000.00 - $99,750.00

At Zelis we are committed to providing fair and equitable compensation packages. The base salary range allows us to make an offer that considers multiple individualized factors, including experience, education, qualifications, as well as job-related and industry-related knowledge and skills, etc. Base pay is just one part of our Total Rewards package, which may also include discretionary bonus plans, commissions, or other incentives depending on the role.

Zelis' full-time associates are eligible for a highly competitive benefits package as well, which demonstrates our commitment to our employees' health, well-being, and financial protection. The US-based benefits include a 401k plan with employer match, flexible paid time off, holidays, parental leaves, life and disability insurance, and health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage.