Privacy Program Specialist, Principal - Stellarus

Stellarus; California; On-site; USD 138,000 - 207,000; Full time

Job summary

Stellarus is seeking a Principal Privacy Program Specialist to help shape and strengthen the company’s privacy program. You will translate complex privacy requirements into actionable guidance, partnering across the organization to manage privacy risks and embed privacy into business initiatives.

You will lead the development of privacy policies, governance documents, and educational tools while coordinating privacy incident response and risk mitigation to protect PHI and ensure regulatory

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or HS diploma with 4 years of relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
• 10 years of prior relevant experience.
• Extensive experience in healthcare, legal services, privacy, audit, or investigative services.
• Mastery knowledge of state and federal privacy laws (HIPAA/HITECH, CMIA, TCPA).

Responsibilities

• Serve as operational partner to the Chief Privacy Officer to administer and improve Stellarus's privacy program.
• Oversee compliance with federal and state privacy laws, HIPAA/HITECH, CMIA, TCPA.
• Develop, update, and enforce privacy policies, governance and advisory guides.
• Lead privacy investigations, root-cause analysis, and remediation efforts.
• Perform privacy reviews with vendors, BAAs, and data-sharing agreements with Legal and business stakeholders.
• Monitor developments in privacy laws and implement updates across the program.
• Coordinate monitoring, audits, and maintenance of privacy program documentation and metrics.
• Collaborate with Information Security, Compliance, Legal and other stakeholders to address privacy risks.

Skills

Privacy governance

Risk management

Stakeholder engagement

Privacy by design

Data handling policy

Education

Bachelor's degree or HS Diploma/GED

Privacy Certification preferred

Job description

Your Role

The Stellarus Privacy Office is part of the legal organization and oversees the companies privacy program to support compliance with applicable privacy laws, business associate agreements, and health plan client obligations. It provides strategic advice on privacy by design and privacy support for products and services, establishes privacy policies, advises on appropriate data handling, monitors privacy risks, and coordinates privacy incident response. The Privacy Program Specialist, Principal will report to the Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer of Stellarus. In this role, you will help shape and strengthen Stellarus’s privacy program, translating complex privacy requirements into practical guidance and processes. You will partner across the organization to identify and manage privacy risks, embed privacy considerations into business initiatives, and support responsible use of data. Your work will help build trust and advance a culture of privacy, accountability, and compliance.

Job Description

The Stellarus Privacy Office is part of the legal organization and oversees the companies privacy program to support compliance with applicable privacy laws, business associate agreements, and health plan client obligations. It provides strategic advice on privacy by design and privacy support for products and services, establishes privacy policies, advises on appropriate data handling, monitors privacy risks, and coordinates privacy incident response. The Privacy Program Specialist, Principal will report to the Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer of Stellarus. In this role, you will help shape and strengthen Stellarus’s privacy program, translating complex privacy requirements into practical guidance and processes. You will partner across the organization to identify and manage privacy risks, embed privacy considerations into business initiatives, and support responsible use of data. Your work will help build trust and advance a culture of privacy, accountability, and compliance.

Responsibilities

Your Work

In This Role, You Will

• Serve as a key operational partner to the Chief Privacy Officer in administering and continuously improving Stellarus's privacy program, including privacy governance, compliance oversight, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and day-to-day privacy operations
• Be responsible for the oversight of compliance with federal and state privacy laws, including the privacy component of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the HITECH Act) of 2009
• Implement, interpret, operationalize, support, and enforce Stellarus’ Privacy Program; assist in updates and revisions to the Privacy Program as needed or required by law to ensure Stellarus’s compliance with federal and state privacy laws; implement, support, and enforce best practices to protect the privacy of client members’ protected health information (PHI); promote a corporate culture that understands and values privacy compliance
• Lead the development and implementation of the following privacy-related tasks: privacy policies, privacy advisory guides, privacy governance framework of accountability documents, and other communication and educational tools
• Respond to complex privacy complaints and incidents reported to the Privacy Office, lead escalated privacy investigations, timely and accurately document case files, direct investigation into root cause analysis, address mitigation, and work with impacted business units to develop and complete corrective action for remediation and to minimize risk of recurrence
• Respond toescalated and complexprivacy-related inquiries
• Perform privacy reviews related to vendors, subcontractors, business partners, and data-sharing arrangements, including HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) and other contractual privacy requirements, in partnership with Legal and business stakeholders
• Monitor developments in privacy laws, regulations, and industry practices and coordinate implementation of required privacy program updates and process improvements
• Conduct and support privacy compliance monitoring, risk assessments, audits and audit responses, regulatory inquiries, corrective action plans, and maintenance of privacy program documentation, reporting metrics, tracking systems, and evidence of privacy compliance
• Partner with Information Security, Compliance, Legal, and other stakeholders to address privacy and data protection risks, support enterprise compliance initiatives, and promote a culture of privacy and compliance across the organization

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a bachelor’s degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
• Requires 10 years of prior relevant experience
• Requires extensive experience in healthcare, legal services, privacy,audit,or investigative services
• Requires mastery level knowledge of and understanding of state and federal privacy laws, including HIPAA/HITECH, CMIA, and privacy related consumer protections laws, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
• Privacy Certification such as CHPC, CIPP/US, or similar credentials preferred
• Experience working in a healthcare technology environment preferred
• Experience with privacy-by-design, product privacy, data governance, or privacy technology preferred

About Us

About Stellarus and the Ascendiun Family of Companies

Stellarus, launched in January 2025, is designed to scale innovative healthcare solutions that support customers in creating a health care experience deserving of their family, friends, and neighbors.

Stellarus is part of a family of organizations that is overseen by a nonprofit corporate entity named Ascendiun. The Ascendiun Family of Companies also includes Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan and Altais, a clinical services company.

Stellarus’ vision is to empower its customers to create a healthcare experience that is worthy of their family, friends, and neighbors. Stellarus’ objective is to offer innovative, modern, scalable solutions that challenge the health care status quo. This very closely aligns with Blue Shield of California’s vision by using innovation to improve quality, affordability, and experience for members.

To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.

Our Values

At Stellarus, our core values of agility, trust, drive, courage and service shape our approach to developing innovative product offerings.

Our Workplace Model

We believe in fostering a workplace environment that balances purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility - providing clear expectations while respecting the diverse needs of our workforce. Our workplace model is designed around intentional in-person interaction, collaboration, connection, creativity and flexibility:

• For most teams, this means coming into the office two days per week.
• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location, out of state employees, and employees in certain member-facing roles should work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.
• For employees with medical conditions that may impact their ability to work in-office, we are committed to engaging in an interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to ensure their work environment is conducive to their success and well-being.

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.

Equal Employment Opportunity

External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.

JOB INFO

Job Schedule

Full time

Locations

• Oakland, CA, United States
• WA, United States
• OH, United States
• DC, United States
• CA, United States
• Long Beach, CA, United States
• AZ, United States
• CO, United States
• CT, United States
• FL, United States
• GA, United States
• MD, United States
• MN, United States
• NV, United States
• OR, United States
• El Dorado Hills, CA, United States
• San Diego, CA, United States
• Woodland Hills, CA, United States
• AL, United States
• IL, United States
• VA, United States
• WI, United States
• TX, United States
• NY, United States

Pay Ranges

Pay Range for California : $137720.00 to $206690.00

Pay Range for Bay Area : $155248.00 to $232996.00

Note

Please note that this range represents the pay range for this and many other positions at Blue Shield that fall into this pay grade. Blue Shield salaries are based on a variety of factors, including the candidate experience, location (California, Bay Area, or outside California), and current employee salaries for similar roles.

Role can be filled by a candidate requiring sponsorship

No