Director, Research & Development, Commercial Growth Initiatives

Vizient; Chicago (IL); On-site; USD 102,400 - 179,000; Full time

Job summary

Vizient is seeking a strong individual contributor for upstream strategy and product growth within the CGI team of the R&D group in Chicago. You will identify, shape, and de-risk new growth opportunities by connecting unmet healthcare needs with Vizient's assets and market position.

You will work to determine whether emerging problems are real, valuable, fundable, and credible enough to pursue, translating research and interviews into clear opportunity narratives for executive decision-making.

Qualifications

• MBA or graduate business training is a plus.
• 7+ years of healthcare-focused venture analysis, management consulting, or health system operations.
• Experience in product or growth strategy in health tech, fintech, or AdTech is a plus.
• Healthcare fluency from provider operations, healthcare consulting, health tech, payer/provider strategy, or healthcare analytics.
• Ability to distinguish a compelling problem from an interesting idea and define the evidence that makes it a defensible opportunity.
• Willingness to travel.

Responsibilities

• Support early-stage growth by understanding healthcare problems and shaping solutions leveraging Vizient's assets, relationships, data, and market position.
• Develop product and business theses by connecting customer pain, market dynamics, operational reality, economic value, and Vizient's strategic position.
• Bring an external market perspective to early-stage ideas, including how health systems make decisions and what buyers value.
• Conduct research, interviews, and working sessions with internal stakeholders and external market participants.
• Build the evidence base for whether an opportunity is meaningful, fundable, differentiated, and credible for Vizient R&D to pursue.

Skills

Healthcare market analysis

Strategic thinking

Customer discovery

Executive communication

Problem solving

Education

MBA or equivalent

Job description

Excited to grow your career?

We value our talented employees and instill an environment where you feel engaged, satisfied and able to contribute your unique skills and talents while living and working as your authentic self. We provide extensive opportunities for personal and professional development, building employee competence and organizational capability to fuel exceptional performance through an inclusive environment both now and in the future.

Our people make all the difference in our success.

Summary:

The Commercial Growth Initiatives (CGI) team sits within Vizient's Research & Development (R&D) group and leads upstream innovation and product strategy: identifying, shaping, and de-risking new growth opportunities that help healthcare organizations solve complex, high-impact problems. We connect unmet healthcare needs with Vizient's distinctive assets, shaping credible solution concepts and determining which opportunities are strong enough for R&D to pursue.

We're looking for a strong individual contributor to execute innovation and product strategy for early-stage opportunities, helping determine whether an emerging problem is real, valuable, fundable, strategically credible, and capable of becoming a strong growth opportunity for Vizient. This is not a product management, implementation, or program delivery role. It is hands‑on upstream strategy work that combines healthcare judgment, structured analysis, customer discovery, market assessment, and clear synthesis to help Vizient R&D decide what to pursue further.

Reporting to the VP of Commercial Growth Initiatives, you'll work at the point where unmet healthcare needs, market signals, and Vizient's unique assets come together to shape what R&D pursues next. This is a high-leverage role for someone who wants to help build conviction through evidence, translate ambiguity into clear opportunity cases, and contribute to a pipeline of opportunities that solve important healthcare problems and expand where Vizient can create durable value.

Responsibilities:

• Support early-stage growth work by deeply understanding healthcare problems and helping shape solutions that take advantage of Vizient's unique assets, relationships, data, and market position.
• Develop product and business theses by connecting customer pain, market dynamics, operational reality, economic value, and Vizient's strategic position.
• Bring an external market perspective to early-stage ideas, including how health systems make decisions, what buyers value, where budgets may sit, and how alternatives compete.
• Conduct research, interviews, and working sessions with internal stakeholders, health system leaders, operators, subject matter experts, and external market participants.
• Build the evidence base for whether an opportunity is meaningful, fundable, differentiated, and credible enough for Vizient R&D to pursue further.
• Identify the core assumptions, risks, and open questions that should determine whether an opportunity advances, changes direction, or stops.
• Translate research, interviews, market analysis, and internal expertise into concise problem statements, opportunity narratives, and recommendation materials.
• Maintain meticulous documentation of evidence, assumptions, stakeholder input, decisions, and open questions so recommendations can be reviewed, challenged, and handed off cleanly.
• Work across internal and external partners to keep assessment work grounded, practical, and moving.
• Help improve how the team evaluates, communicates, and prioritizes early‑stage commercial growth opportunities as the function scales.

Qualifications:

• Relevant degree preferred. MBA or equivalent graduate business training is a plus.
• 7 or more years of experience required.
• Experience in healthcare-focused venture analysis or management consulting, or extensive health system operations highly preferred.
• Experience in product or growth strategy in health tech, fintech, or AdTech is a plus.
• Healthcare fluency from provider operations, healthcare consulting, health tech, payer/provider strategy, or healthcare analytics.
• Experience evaluating early-stage ideas, new offerings, emerging markets, customer problems, or investment cases before formal build or delivery.
• Ability to distinguish a compelling problem from an interesting idea and define the evidence that makes it a defensible opportunity.
• Skill in turning ambiguous ideas into structured questions, research plans, and analysis.
• Experience building market maps, value models, customer discovery summaries, problem statements, competitive assessments, decision memos, and investment recommendations.
• Comfort moving between market research, customer discovery, economic logic, operational reality, and executive synthesis.
• Customer-centered mindset.
• Practical judgment, intellectual honesty, and a collaborative approach to navigating ambiguity and differing perspectives.
• Initiative to anticipate issues and keep work moving without perfect direction.
• Willingness to travel.

Career Framework:

Professional - Lead Associate (P4)

Estimated Hiring Range:

At Vizient, we consider skills, experience, and organizational needs in our compensation approach. Geographic factors may adjust the range estimate and hires typically fall below the top range. Compensation decisions are tailored to individual circumstances. The current salary range for this role is $102,400.00 to $179,000.00.

This position is also incentive eligible.

Vizient has a comprehensive benefits plan! Please view our benefits here:

http://www.vizientinc.com/about-us/careers