Senior Behavioral Health Program Manager, SHP

NC Health Affiliates; North Carolina; Hybrid; USD 130,000 - 170,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental, and vision coverage

Parental leave and adoption/surrogacy

Tuition reimbursement and career dev.

401k match with company contribution

Work-life balance and flexibility

Job summary

Blue Cross NC is seeking a Sr. Behavioral Health Program Manager for the State Health Plan.

You will own the BH portfolio, lead governance, drive integration of ASD/ABA services, and ensure parity and compliance across multiple teams while delivering measurable outcomes in access, quality, and affordability. You will partner with clinical leaders, enterprise teams, and vendors to optimize operations, monitor performance, and advance a member-centered care model in a hybrid-flex environment in

Qualifications

• Experience leading behavioral health or health plan operations programs.
• Knowledge of ASD/ABA services, MHPAEA concepts, NCQA standards.
• Strong governance, risk and cross-functional facilitation skills.
• Clinical BH background or PMP certification is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Own the SHP BH portfolio and multi-year roadmap aligned to contractual commitments and BCBSNC strategy.
• Lead governance, RAID management, and leadership reporting; maintain BH policies across UM, CM, Navigation, Appeals, Claims, and Customer Service.
• Lead implementation, process improvement, and change management through matrix teams.
• Monitor ABA utilization, spend, and outcomes in collaboration with BH staff.
• Support BH navigation processes with closed-loop referrals across digital partners, CS, and Care Management.
• Partner on parity, compliance, and accreditation with MHPAEA experts; lead audit readiness for NCQA, NCDOI, and state/federal requirements.
• Represent BCBSNC with SHP, consultants, vendors, and providers; manage BH vendors with KPI monitoring and escalation paths.
• Define and track BH metrics for access, utilization, timeliness, outcomes, and cost of care with analytics teams.

Skills

Program governance

Leadership

Change management

Stakeholder management

Analytics

Education

Bachelor's degree or advanced degree

Job description

Job Description

The Sr. Behavioral Health Program Manager, State Health Plan (SHP), owns the SHP Behavioral Health (BH) program portfolio, including BH Utilization Management, Case Management, Care Navigation, and the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) program. The role integrates these into a single member-centered model, translates SHP contractual commitments into sustainable operations and governance, and partners across clinical, enterprise, compliance, network, and vendor teams to improve access, maintain Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) alignment, and deliver measurable clinical, member-experience, and affordability outcomes.

What You Bring

• Program Ownership and Governance: Own the SHP BH portfolio and its multi-year roadmap aligned to SHP contractual commitments and BCBSNC strategy. Lead governance, RAID management, and leadership reporting; maintain SHP-specific BH policies and workflows across UM, CM, Navigation, Appeals, Claims, and Customer Service; and lead implementation, process improvement, and change management through matrix teams.
• ASD/ABA Program Support: Support the integrated ABA UM and CM model with the BH clinical leaders and ABA staff and monitor ABA utilization, spend, and outcomes.
• Access, Navigation, and Integrated Care: Support BH navigation processes with closed-loop referrals across digital partners, Customer Service, and Care Management.
• Parity, Compliance, and Accreditation: Partner with Compliance, Legal, and enterprise MHPAEA experts on parity and NQTL analyses, including the BH impact of medical/surgical designs such as tiering and gold carding. Lead audit readiness for NCQA, NCDOI, and federal and state requirements.
• Vendor, Provider, and Stakeholder Partnership: Represent BCBSNC with SHP, consultants, vendors, and providers. Manage BH vendors and delegated entities through KPI monitoring, operating reviews, and corrective action, and maintain clear escalation paths for issue resolution.
• Performance and Financial Stewardship: Define and track BH metrics for access, utilization, authorization timeliness, ABA outcomes, member experience, and cost of care with the SHP Sr. Business Operations Advisor and analytics teams.

What You Bring

• Bachelor's degree or advanced degree (where required)
• 5+ years of experience in related field. In lieu of degree, 7+ years of experience in related field.

Bonus Points(Preferred Qualifications)

• Experience leading programs in behavioral health, health plan operations, care management, or utilization management, with demonstrated ownership of ongoing program performance.
• Working knowledge of ASD and ABA services, MHPAEA and NQTL concepts, NCQA standards, and North Carolina regulatory requirements.- Experience managing vendor or delegated-entity relationships, including performance and service-level oversight.
• Strong skills in program governance, risk and change management, and cross-functional facilitation, with the ability to translate complex information into clear recommendations for executive, clinical, and client audiences.
• Behavioral health clinical background or licensure (for example, LCSW, LCMHC, LPA, BCBA, or RN with BH experience) and/or PMP certification is a plus.

What You'll Get

• The opportunity to work at the cutting edge of health care delivery with a team that's deeply invested in the community
• Work-life balance, flexibility, and the autonomy to do great work
• Medical, dental, and vision coverage along with numerous health and wellness programs
• Parental leave and support plus adoption and surrogacy assistance
• Career development programs and tuition reimbursement for continued education
• 401k match including an annual company contribution

Where You'll Work

Our Hybrid-Flex approach is built on presence with a purpose - giving you flexibility to work remotely with intentional in-person connection - that supports a workplace that's flexible, connected, and future focused.

In a Hybrid-Flex role, you'll work in the office at least two days a week for collaboration and connection. In a Remote-Flex role, you'll work virtually, with a few in-office visits each year for meaningful moments that matter.

Whether your role is Hybrid-Flex or Remote-Flex depends on the nature of the work and distance from our Durham headquarters. We welcome candidates from outside the local area and in any states listed on this job posting. Onsite expectations will be discussed during the interview process.

Salary Range

At Blue Cross NC, we take great pride in a fair and equitable compensation package that reflects market-price and our starting salaries are typically planned near the middle of the range listed. Compensation decisions are driven by factors including experience and training, specialized skill sets, licensure and certifications and other business and organizational needs. Our base salary is part of a robust Total Rewards package that includes an Annual Incentive Bonus*, 401(k) with employer