Senior Manager, Client Services – CalAIM Operations Leader

San Diego Wellness Collaborati; San Diego (CA); On-site; USD 85,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

Valid8 Financial, Inc. seeks a Senior Manager Client Services to lead two teams within California’s CalAIM framework, overseeing ECM and CS housing services for Medi-Cal members. The role requires high-touch leadership, rapid decision-making, and collaboration with MCPs, housing navigators, and partners.

You will coach two Team Managers, manage referrals and authorizations, and drive process improvements while ensuring compliance and quality across operations.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of progressive experience in healthcare, managed care, social services, or community-based operations, including 2+ years of people management.
• Knowledge of California Medi-Cal, CalAIM, ECM and/or CS housing-related services.
• Experience managing referral, authorization, or care coordination workflows with MCPs and external partners.
• Ability to lead teams through ambiguous, high-pressure, time-sensitive situations with sound judgment.
• Strong interpersonal and communication skills with cross-team collaboration.
• Excellent organizational and problem-solving skills with multiple priorities.
• High-touch leadership— accessible to managers and coordinators.
• Sound judgment and ownership of outcomes.
• Partner fluency with MCPs, subcontractors, and community partners.
• Operational rigor balancing responsiveness with compliance, quality, and process discipline.

Responsibilities

• Directly supervise, coach, and support two Team Managers, serving as their first point of escalation and a steady source of guidance on complex member situations.
• Provide hands-on leadership across both teams’ coordinators, ensuring they feel supported in high-pressure, time-sensitive casework.
• Hold regular check-ins with each Team Manager to surface bottlenecks, anticipate workload pressures, and resolve issues before they escape to the Director.
• Foster a collaborative, resilient team culture across both functions, particularly given the emotionally and operationally demanding nature of the work.
• Act as the go-to resource for navigating complex, ambiguous, or uncharted situations that fall outside established workflows.
• Make timely, compliance-aligned decisions on pending referrals, authorizations, and implementation challenges, exercising judgment when no clear precedent exists.
• Partner with the teams to troubleshoot member-specific obstacles in real time, balancing urgency with compliance and quality.
• Identify recurring escalation patterns and translate them into improved processes, documentation, or training.
• Serve as a key liaison between the two internal teams, the subcontracted housing navigation partner workforce, managed care plans, and community referring parties.
• Support the housing deposit benefits team in coordinating with housing navigators to deliver housing deposit support for Medi-Cal members through Community Supports.
• Support the intake/referrals team in fielding incoming community referrals, securing authorizations from MCPs, and connecting authorized members with their paired navigators.
• Strengthen working relationships and communication channels with external partners to keep time-sensitive cases moving.
• Monitor the flow of referrals, authorizations, and implementations across both teams to ensure timeliness, accuracy, and adherence to MCP and Medi-Cal/CalAIM requirements.
• Develop, refine, and document standard operating procedures, especially for complex scenarios that previously lacked clear guidance.
• Track key operational metrics and surface trends, risks, and opportunities to the Director.
• Ensure consistency, compliance, and quality standards are maintained across both functions.
• Supporting the Director of Business Operations: Function as the operational extension of the Director, reducing the need for day-to-day case-level decisions.
• Keep the Director informed of significant issues, risks, and partner concerns with clear, prioritized communication.
• Contribute to operational planning and process improvement initiatives and represent Business Operations in cross-departmental discussions as needed.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Time management

Healthcare knowledge

CalAIM/ECM/CS familiarity

Referral/Authorization workflows

Decision making under pressure

Relationship building

Organization skills

Problem solving

Calm under pressure

Job description

Valid8 Financial, Inc. seeks a Senior Manager Client Services to lead two teams within California’s CalAIM framework, overseeing ECM and CS housing services for Medi-Cal members. The role requires high-touch leadership, rapid decision-making, and collaboration with MCPs, housing navigators, and partners.

You will coach two Team Managers, manage referrals and authorizations, and drive process improvements while ensuring compliance and quality across operations.