Program Manager, Health Policy & Data Initiatives (Hybrid)

West Health; Washington (District of Columbia); Hybrid; USD 110,000 - 125,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Annual Bonus

Hybrid schedule

Comprehensive benefits package

Premium coverage for employee benefits

Dependent coverage benefit

5% retirement plan match

Professional development reimburse

PTO & holidays

Job summary

West Health seeks a Program Manager to serve as the operational backbone for its Health Care Cost and Affordability portfolio. You will own planning infrastructure across research, policy, and communications initiatives, building systems from scratch and maximizing existing tools to keep teams on track.

You will collaborate with internal teams to move work from inception to completion, balancing complex stakeholder needs with rigorous project management.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree (e.g., MPH, MPA, MBA) preferred.
• PMP certification is highly preferred or strong demonstrated technical project management rigor, preferably in support of healthcare and health policy efforts.
• 5–7 years of project management experience, ideally in a healthcare, policy, research, or nonprofit setting.
• Demonstrated experience building project management systems and tools from the ground up.
• Proficiency with project management platforms (e.g., Asana, Monday.com, Smartsheet, Jira) and productivity tools (Microsoft 365, SharePoint).
• Demonstrated ability to leverage AI tools (e.g., Claude, ChatGPT, Microsoft Co-Pilot) to accelerate work product; skilled at prompt construction, output evaluation, and iterative refinement.
• Exceptional organizational skills and the ability to manage multiple concurrent workstreams with competing deadlines.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills; able to translate complex, technical content for diverse audiences.
• Experience with digital and web development/engineering processes and methods, preferred.
• Familiarity with healthcare policy is a plus but not required.
• High degree of discretion and sound judgment in a fast-paced, matrixed environment.
• Ability to work both independently and within a team environment.
• Effective time management skills.
• Excellent problem-solving skills.
• Experience with legal contracting a plus.
• Must believe in public health and science.

Responsibilities

• Own end-to-end project tracking for the portfolios, including milestones, deliverables, dashboards, dependencies, and risks – surfacing opportunities and adjacencies across the body of work.
• Design and maintain project management infrastructure from the ground up—building dashboards, timelines, status trackers, and workflow tools tailored to each portfolio’s needs.
• Audit and maximize use of existing project management tools (e.g., Smartsheet, Asana, Monday.com, SharePoint, or equivalent); identify gaps and implement improvements.
• Facilitate recurring portfolio reviews, including agenda development, pre-read preparation, meeting facilitation, and action item tracking.
• Proactively flag timeline slippage, resource constraints, and interdependencies to portfolio leads and senior leadership.
• Develop and maintain a portfolio calendar integrating key internal deadlines, external publication windows, congressional calendars, and partner timelines.
• Coordinate across research, policy, communications, and external partners to ensure smooth handoffs and aligned expectations.

Skills

Project management

PMP certification

Communication

Organizational skills

Problem solving

Time management

Team collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s degree

MPH/MPA/MBA preferred

Tools

Asana

Monday.com

Smartsheet

Jira

Microsoft 365

SharePoint

Claude

ChatGPT

Co-Pilot

Job description

West Health seeks a Program Manager to serve as the operational backbone for its Health Care Cost and Affordability portfolio. You will own planning infrastructure across research, policy, and communications initiatives, building systems from scratch and maximizing existing tools to keep teams on track.

You will collaborate with internal teams to move work from inception to completion, balancing complex stakeholder needs with rigorous project management.