Blue Shield Of California

Sr. Director, Health Plan Strategy

Blue Shield Of California$150K — $200K *
Healthcare
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree required; graduate degree preferred.
  • 12+ years of experience in healthcare strategy, particularly in health plan or consulting.
  • 6+ years of people management experience in a relevant field.
  • Deep understanding of health plan economics and value-based care models.
  • Experience in formulating enterprise-level strategic recommendations and managing portfolios.
  • Proven track record in launching and scaling strategic initiatives or new offerings.
  • Ability to synthesize complex insights into actionable recommendations for executive decision-making.

Responsibilities

  • Define strategic position through competitive trend analysis and market needs assessment.
  • Direct strategy standards to ensure actionable and comparable recommendations for executives.
  • Drive alignment and influence with cross-functional stakeholders and communicate recommendations to senior leadership.
  • Serve as a thought leader on trends impacting health plans; guide market analysis and growth decisions.
  • Oversee execution of strategic initiatives, ensuring clarity and alignment on objectives and milestones.
  • Monitor strategic objectives, adjusting strategies based on insights and market changes.
  • Lead and develop a high-performing Health Plan Strategy team, establishing best practices.

Benefits

  • Hybrid workplace model with flexible in-office requirements.
  • Opportunities for professional growth and development.
  • Focus on creating a high-performing team culture.
  • Involvement in high-impact strategic decision-making processes.
Full Job Description
Job Description

Your Role

The Health Plan Strategy is a new team that will define and drive Blue Shield's strategic position in the market. It ensures strategic recommendations translate into actionable plans aligned with our mission and long-term growth goals. The team's core capabilities - strategic planning, market research, and competitive intelligence - support executive decision-making and help maintain Blue Shield's differentiated, future-ready position

In this role, you will lead the development of health plan strategies that drive growth, profitability, and distinctive value for our members and provider partners. You will integrate product, network, clinical, and financial strategy to ensure alignment with long-range organizational goals and evolving regulatory and market dynamics. A key responsibility is synthesizing competitive trends, market research, and additional insights into clear, prioritized recommendations for executive leadership. You will also lead cross-functional initiatives to execute strategic priorities and ensure successful implementation in partnership with teams across the enterprise.

The Sr. Director, Health Plan Strategy will report to the VP, Products and Health Plan Strategy.

Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow - personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.

Responsibilities

Your Work

In this role, you will:
  • Define Blue Shield's strategic position by directing analysis of competitive trends, regulatory shifts, and customer and market needs; lead development of clear enterprise point of view and recommended actions for executive leadership
  • Direct decision-quality strategy standards (problem framing, assumptions, options, risks, and tradeoffs) to ensure recommendations are consistent, comparable, and ready for executive decision-making
  • Drive executive alignment and influence by communicating recommendations through concise executive narratives; facilitate cross-functional stakeholder alignment where priorities conflict and ensure leaders understand implications, choices, and next steps. Provide executive-level updates and strategic recommendations to senior leadership and the Board
  • Serve as a thought leader on emerging trends like value-based reimbursement models, artificial intelligence, and partnership strategies. Direct market analysis, competitor assessments, and portfolio optimization to inform growth and investment decisions
  • Oversee execution of strategic initiatives from concept development through senior-leader ratification and approval, ensuring clarity of scope, milestones, and success measures
  • Monitor performance against strategic objectives and proactively adjust strategies based on data, insights, and market changes. Ensure all strategies support sustainable growth, regulatory compliance, and exceptional member experience
  • Lead, mentor, and develop a high-performing Health Plan Strategy team, establishing best practices for strategic planning, insights generation, and analytical rigor


Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience
  • Requires a bachelor's degree required; graduate degree strongly preferred
  • Requires at least 12 years of experience in health plan strategy, enterprise strategy, or healthcare consulting, with deep expertise in the payer landscape, competitive dynamics, regulatory drivers, and market needs
  • Requires at least 6 years of people management experience, including developing high-performing teams
  • Requires deep understanding of health plan economics, cost-of-care drivers, network strategy, and value-based care models
  • Requires experience developing enterprise-level strategic recommendations, including competitive analysis, investment prioritization, portfolio optimization, and long-term strategy roadmaps
  • Requires experience launching and scaling strategic initiatives or new offerings
  • Demonstrated ability to synthesize complex market, regulatory, and financial insights into executive-ready recommendations that drive decision-making at senior leadership, operating committee, and Board levels
  • Strong executive influence skills, with the ability to align cross-functional leaders around competing priorities
  • Management healthcare consulting experience is strongly preferred


Hybrid

This role requires employees to be in-office based on our hybrid workplace model, balancing purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility. For most teams, this means coming into the office two days each week.

Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location will work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.

#LI-AD3

Physical Requirements:

Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail.

About Blue Shield Of California

Blue Shield of California is a not-for-profit health plan provider that has been providing Californians with access to high-quality healthcare for over 80 years. The company offers a range of health insurance products and services to individuals, families, and employers. Blue Shield of California is committed to improving the health and wellbeing of its members and the communities it serves. The company is also committed to sustainability and has implemented a number of initiatives to reduce its environmental impact.
Learn more about Blue Shield Of California
Size
7,000 employees
Industry
Founded
1981

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