OverviewThe Vice President, Program Management is a senior executive responsible for the overall health, performance, and strategic direction of the ConnectiveRx client portfolio, with accountability spanning client relationships, operational performance, financial stewardship, talent, and execution. The Vice President converts Program Management strategy and expectations into disciplined execution and measurable business and client outcomes, ensuring consistent governance, proactive management of risk and opportunity, strong financial performance, and the appropriate level of leadership engagement across the portfolio.
The Vice President establishes clear accountability for portfolio performance while driving consistency, scalability, and operational discipline across Program Management. The role identifies systemic risks and recurring challenges, advances standardization and continuous improvement, strengthens leadership capability, and ensures proven practices are adopted consistently across teams. As the senior Program Management executive for assigned clients, the Vice President builds and maintains relationships with key client executives and serves as the senior escalation point for significant client, operational, financial, organizational, and delivery matters. The Vice President partners closely with Operations, Product, Technology, Analytics, Finance, Quality, Compliance, Legal, Business Development, and other enterprise leaders to resolve cross-functional challenges, strengthen execution, and improve client and business outcomes. While primarily focused on strategic leadership and portfolio oversight, the Vice President is expected to engage directly and decisively in critical client, operational, or organizational matters when executive leadership is required.
Responsibilities
Executive Client Strategy, Escalation & Retention
- Owns executive-level relationship health across assigned client portfolios, ensuring strategic and high-risk accounts have the appropriate level of executive engagement, governance, and relationship management.
- Holds Senior Directors accountable for proactive management of client relationships and escalations, including early identification of concerns, timely communication, clear ownership, and resolution before issues materially affect client confidence, delivery, or financial performance.
- Requires a structured assessment and recovery plan for material client escalations, including defined business and client impact, root cause, corrective and preventive actions, accountable owners, target dates, communication plans, and measurable criteria for resolution. Monitor significant escalations through closure and validate that corrective actions are sustained.
- Coaches and challenges Senior Directors on complex executive client matters, including difficult client conversations, service recovery, expectation management, contractual or delivery concerns, and decisions that could materially affect the long-term client relationship.
- Serves as executive sponsor and senior escalation leader for strategic, complex, or at-risk client relationships, directly engaging client executives when the significance of the issue, relationship risk, or required decision exceeds the Senior Director's authority or requires executive intervention.
- Owns Program Management's contribution to client retention, renewals, and expansion, partnering with Business Development and other functional leaders to develop account strategies, identify risks and opportunities, support RFPs and renewal efforts, and confirm that proposed commitments can be successfully delivered.
- Represents Program Management in executive client governance and strategic meetings when portfolio significance, client risk, growth opportunity, or decision-making requirements warrant VP-level participation. Ensure resulting decisions and commitments have clear ownership and are carried through execution.
- Validates significant client commitments before they are made, ensuring proposed scope, service levels, timelines, financial assumptions, and delivery expectations are aligned with operational capacity, contractual obligations, organizational priorities, and responsible business practices.
- Escalates or prevent commitments that cannot be responsibly delivered, requiring alignment with the appropriate Operations, Product, Technology, Finance, Legal, Compliance, or other functional leaders before Program Management commits the organization to material scope, timing, performance, or financial obligations.
Enterprise Portfolio Leadership & Client Health
- Owns the performance of assigned portfolios, including achievement of client KPIs and SLAs, fulfillment of contractual commitments, effective governance, implementation and launch readiness, ongoing delivery performance, financial results, and timely resolution of escalations.
- Establishes clear performance expectations and routinely review results with Senior Directors, requiring corrective action when client, operational, financial, or contractual performance falls below expectations.
- Ensures leadership capacity, resources, and executive attention are appropriately aligned based on account complexity, strategic importance, financial impact, client needs, and business risk. Escalate or address resource and organizational gaps that threaten successful delivery.
- Establishes and maintain a consistent portfolio risk-management process that identifies emerging client, operational, financial, and delivery risks early; assigns clear ownership; and requires documented mitigation, recovery, and escalation plans for material risks.
- Maintains effective account strategies, governance structures, executive relationships, and proactive client engagement, including clear plans for strengthening client health, managing risk, and identifying opportunities for improvement or growth.
- Serves as the executive sponsor and senior escalation leader for strategic, complex, or high-risk client relationships, taking direct ownership of executive-level intervention and recovery efforts when issues exceed the authority or responsibility of the Senior Director.
- Identifies recurring issues and trends across the portfolio and convert them into enterprise-level action, escalating systemic risks and partnering with functional leaders to address underlying process, technology, resource, product, or organizational issues.
Leadership, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness
- Leads, coaches, and develops a team of Senior Directors responsible for client portfolios, business segments, or functional areas.
- Establishes clear performance expectations, accountability, and decision rights throughout the Program Management leadership structure.
- Builds leadership capability, organizational depth, and succession readiness across Program Management. Regularly evaluate organizational structure, leadership capacity, account assignments, spans of control, and deployment of talent, and recommend changes to the SVP to ensure alignment with business needs.
- Identifies capability and knowledge gaps and implement development, succession, cross-training, and knowledge-transfer strategies.
- Establishes a culture of ownership and accountability in which leaders proactively identify problems, recommend solutions, and drive issues through resolution.
- Ensures performance concerns are identified and addressed consistently and in accordance with company practices.
Operational Excellence, Standardization & Scalability
- Owns implementation and sustained adoption of Program Management operating standards across assigned portfolios, ensuring Senior Directors and their teams consistently execute the strategy, standards, and expectations established by the SVP.
- Holds Senior Directors accountable for adherence to established SOPs, governance requirements, client-management practices, escalation protocols, documentation standards, reporting requirements, and operating rhythms. Require corrective action when established standards are not being followed or are producing inconsistent results.
- Establishes routine mechanisms to measure and review adherence to Program Management standards, identify performance or compliance gaps, assign clear ownership for remediation, and monitor corrective actions through resolution.
- Identifies material variation in how Program Management teams execute common responsibilities and determine where standardization, process simplification, automation, training, or clearer accountability is required to improve consistency and scalability.
- Leads corrective and continuous-improvement efforts for Program Management-owned processes, establishing defined outcomes, accountable owners, implementation plans, and measures of effectiveness.
- Identifies practices that are producing stronger results within individual accounts or teams and translate them into recommendations for broader Program Management adoption. Present proposed standards, process changes, or operating-model improvements to the SVP for approval and drive implementation once approved.
- Owns Program Management's role in addressing systemic, cross-functional execution issues, partnering with Operations, Product, Technology, Analytics, Finance, Quality, Compliance, and other functional leaders to define root causes, clarify ownership, implement corrective actions, and prevent recurrence.
- Drives adoption of approved tools, technology, reporting, processes, and operating models across assigned portfolios, holding leaders accountable for implementation and escalating material barriers that prevent adoption or expected results.
- Uses portfolio-level operating and performance data to identify recurring issues, execution gaps, and opportunities for improvement, and convert those insights into specific actions that improve quality, productivity, visibility, client experience, and scalability.
Financial & Commercial Stewardship
- Partners with Finance, Operations, and Business Development to identify and address revenue leakage, billing issues, staffing inefficiencies, unfavorable scope expansion, and other financial risks.
- Supports pricing, investment, renewal, and commercial decisions by balancing client value, delivery requirements, organizational capacity, and financial sustainability.
- Ensures material financial risks, trends, and opportunities are appropriately identified and escalated.
Enterprise Leadership, Strategy & Continuous Improvement
- Translates SVP and executive leadership priorities into clear Program Management objectives, measures, accountability, and execution plans. Partner with Program Management and cross-functional leaders to ensure priorities and operating practices are aligned align priorities and operating practices with broader ConnectiveRx objectives.
- Uses portfolio performance data and trends to identify systemic risks, organizational constraints, recurring client concerns, and opportunities for improvement. Sponsor cross-functional initiatives that improve client experience, operational performance, quality, efficiency, and scalability.
- Provides consolidated executive visibility into portfolio health, material risks, financial trends, talent requirements, and decisions requiring executive intervention.
- Represents Program Management in enterprise planning, governance, financial, operational, transformation, and strategic forums as assigned.
Additional Responsibilities
- Champions a culture focused on client ownership, proactive leadership, operational excellence, data-informed decision-making, and continuous improvement.
- Remains willing to engage directly in critical client, operational, or organizational situations requiring executive leadership.
- Performs other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Education/Degree Requirements/Certifications
- Bachelor's degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Management, Marketing, Communications, Management Information Systems, or a related field, or equivalent relevant professional experience required.
- MBA or other advanced degree preferred.
- Relevant project, program, operational, or leadership certification preferred.
Experience
- 12+ years of progressive client-facing program management, account management, operations, or related healthcare leadership experience.
- 7+ years of formal people management experience, including leading leaders of managers and leading through multiple levels of management.
- Significant leadership experience within pharmaceutical patient services, specialty pharmacy, specialty reimbursement, affordability/copay, HUB services, or a related healthcare environment strongly preferred.
- Demonstrated experience leading multiple complex client portfolios, executive client relationships and escalations, organizational change and process standardization, and portfolio financial management.
Knowledge
- Advanced knowledge of pharmaceutical patient services and specialty reimbursement operations, including benefit verification, prior authorization, affordability/copay, buy-and-bill, HUB services, and related patient-support models.
- Strong knowledge of portfolio management, client strategy, organizational leadership, operating models, governance, risk management, financial management, and organizational design.
- Strong understanding of contractual commitments, KPIs, SLAs, scope management, quality, compliance, and operational controls.