Product Strategist, Principal - ASO

Blue Shield of California; California (MO); Hybrid; USD 149,000 - 223,000; Full time

Job summary

Blue Shield of California is seeking a Senior Product Strategist, Principal to lead ASO modernization and scalable product capabilities. You will translate client and market needs into prioritized capabilities, measurable outcomes, and executable roadmaps that enable profitable self-funded growth.

The role emphasizes leadership across product strategy, design, and analytics, partnering with internal and external teams to drive portfolio growth.

Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Requires at least 10 years of prior relevant experience
• Requires at least 5 years of product management, product strategy, product implementation, management consulting, health plan operations, or related experience
• Requires experience translating ambiguous business problems into product capabilities, requirements, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes
• Requires experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives that require coordination across internal and external partners
• Requires experience with healthcare payer operations, self-funded/ASO products, funding and payment models, benefit configuration, health and care navigation vendor integrations, claims, eligibility, billing, or related health plan capabilities
• Experience with health plan platforms or configuration systems preferred
• Experience with network customization and benefit design preferred
• Experience working with external vendor data sharing and integration preferred
• Graduate degree, PMP, SAFe, CSPO, Lean, product management, health care administration, informatics, or related certification preferred

Responsibilities

• Evolve business line portfolios to deliver membership/OI targets and design a competitive portfolio
• Architect product strategy/plan designs based on benefit intent and function as a central resource through implementation
• Guide creation and interpretation of business product performance analytics for portfolio management
• Ensure delivery of innovation pipeline submissions and translate strategy to business requirements
• Track benefit design, implementation, and filing updates in collaboration with Product Lifecycle Management
• Collaborate with market-facing and Product Strategy teams to translate feedback into prioritized capabilities
• Coordinate with internal and external partners to resolve dependencies and move capabilities to execution readiness

Skills

Product strategy

Product management

Roadmaps

Cross-functional leadership

Healthcare payer operations

Management consulting

Health plan capabilities

Ambiguity translation

Vendor data integration

Certification preferred

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience

Job description

Your Role

The New Product Development team advances scalable product capabilities that support Blue Shield’s self-funded ASO growth, operational efficiency, and market competitiveness . The Product Strategist, Principal will report to the Senior Manager, Product Strategy . In this role you will lead ASO modernization efforts across current and future roadmap priorities, including data integration, client-specific network needs and plan design, billing modernization, and reusable platform capabilities. In this role, you will translate employer, broker, member, operational, and market needs into prioritized capabilities, measurable business outcomes, and executable roadmaps that improve ease of doing business and enable profitable self-funded growth .

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

• Be accountable for evolving business line portfolios to deliver membership/OI targets and designing a competitive portfolio, accounting for acquisition, retention, and performance improvement
• Architect product strategy/plan designs based on benefit intent and functions as a central resource as products/plan designs move through the implementation life cycle
• Guide/supervise creation and interpretation of business product performance analytics to drive ongoing portfolio management and strategy
• Ensure delivery of innovation pipeline submissions from product line management, facilitating translation of product strategy to formal business requirements
• Track benefit design, implementation, and filing updates/impacts in collaboration with Product Lifecycle Management and elevate/resolve reported issues on behalf of the business line General Manager
• Partner with market-facing and Product Strategy teams to translate feedback into prioritized capabilities that drive growth
• Partner with internal and external partners to resolve dependencies, align decision rights, and move complex capabilities from concept through implementation readiness

Qualifications

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
• Requires at least 10 years of prior relevant experience
• Requires at least 5 years of product management, product strategy, product implementation, management consulting, health plan operations, or related experience
• Requires experience translating ambiguous business problems into product capabilities, requirements, roadmaps, and measurable outcomes
• Requires experience leading complex cross-functional initiatives that require coordination across internal and external partners
• Requires experience with healthcare payer operations, self-funded/ASO products, funding and payment models, benefit configuration, health and care navigation vendor integrations, claims, eligibility, billing, or related health plan capabilities
• Experience with health plan platforms or configuration systems preferred
• Experience with network customization and benefit design preferred
• Experience working with external vendor data sharing and integration preferred
• Graduate degree, PMP, SAFe, CSPO, Lean, product management, health care administration, informatics, or related certification 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.

About Us

About Blue Shield of California

As of January 2025, Blue Shield of California became a subsidiary of Ascendiun. Ascendiun is a nonprofit corporate entity that is the parent to a family of organizations including Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan; Altais, a clinical services company; and Stellarus, a company designed to scale healthcare solutions. Together, these organizations are referred to as the Ascendiun Family of Companies.

At Blue Shield of California, our mission is to create a healthcare system worthy of our family and friends and sustainably affordable. We are transforming health care in a way that genuinely serves our nonprofit mission by lowering costs, improving quality, and enhancing the member and physician experience.

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.

Blue Shield is a U.S. News Best Company to work for, a Deloitte U.S. Best Managed Company and a Top 100 Inspiring Workplace. We were recognized by Fair360 as a Top Regional Company, and one of the 50 most community-minded companies in the United States by Points of Light. Here at Blue Shield, we strive to make a positive change across our industry and communities – join us!

Our Values:

• Honest. We hold ourselves to the highest ethical and integrity standards. We build trust by doing what we say we're going to do and by acknowledging and correcting where we fall short.
• Human. We strive to listen and communicate effectively, showing empathy by understanding others' perspectives.
• Courageous. We stand up for what we believe in and are committed to the hard work necessary to achieve our ambitious goals.

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.

The Company reserves the right to require more presence in the office based on business needs, and requirements are subject to change with periodic reviews.

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.

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, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.

JOB INFO

Job Identification : 20261483

Job Category : Marketing and Product Management

Posting Date : 2026-08-07T16:03:27+00:00

Job Schedule : Full time

Locations :

• Oakland, CA, United States
• CA, United States
• Long Beach, CA, United States
• El Dorado Hills, CA, United States
• Lodi, CA, United States
• Rancho Cordova, CA, United States
• Redding, CA, United States
• San Diego, CA, United States
• Woodland Hills, CA, United States

Pay Range for California : $148940.00 to $223300.00

Pay Range for Bay Area : $167896.00 to $251720.00

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