Sr. Manager, Program and Project Management (Pharmacy Operations and Stabilization)

Blue Shield of California; Long Beach (CA); Hybrid; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

The Sr. Manager, Program and Project Management at Blue Shield of California leads end-to-end pharmacy production stabilization initiatives, coordinating with cross-functional teams and external vendors to ensure timely, accurate resolutions and executive-level reporting.

The role drives readiness activities and builds capable teams focused on affordable care. This hybrid position requires in-office collaboration two days per week, with flexibility and strong stakeholder management to achieve

Qualifications

• Requires a Bachelor's degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree.
• Requires 8 years of prior relevant experience.
• Requires 4 years of prior people management experience with direct responsibility for supervising, coaching, and evaluating direct reports.
• Advanced knowledge of pharmacy operations at the health plan level.
• Experience driving strategic projects and partnering cross-functionally as well as with external vendor partners to achieve successful outcomes.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills that exhibit a solution-oriented approach.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated leadership, project management, and program evaluation skills.

Responsibilities

• Partner with business drivers to execute on sub-portfolio delivery including schedule, scope, resource management, financials, benefit tracking, knowledge of emerging technologies and issue/risk management to ensure successful completion of all projects and programs in support of the business strategies
• Partner with managers to manage intake, ROM estimation and demand/capacity to ensure projects within the program meet cost, resource, environment, schedule, and other constraints within their domain
• Provide oversight and direction of all the projects and releases within the sub portfolio (schedule, issues/risks, budget, resources, and PPM/PWA adherence)
• Oversee and manage Program Managers, Project Managers, and Analysts in support of the delivery of the sub portfolio
• Be accountable for ensuring overall program and project delivery, schedule and budget attainment, and effective management of leadership expectations in achieving overall desired outcomes, results, and deliverables
• Provide direction, ownership, and oversight over the end-to-end BSC production stabilization process, including BSC and vendor specific incidents to assure that production stabilization issues that are partially or fully caused by contracted vendors and affiliated companies are resolved timely and accurately
• Own intake, assignment, direction, and resolution on pharmacy production stabilization issues and solutions that affect the BSC book of business, including collaboration with stakeholders at all levels, identification of downstream impacts to ensure that issues are fully remediated without unintended negative consequences and identifying production stabilization issue trends, operational improvement opportunities, and providing expert recommendations to stakeholders and vendors
• Assure that all production stabilization incidents have complete documentation from root cause analysis, impact reports, solution alternatives, decisions, communication plan, and implementation
• Oversee and manage activities related to supporting the Pharmacy Annual Readiness and Command Center (RxARCC) team
• Oversee and manage activities related to maintaining the pharmacy business continuity plan including annual reviews and audits
• Oversee and manage activities related to Quality Assurance and Testing to ensure accurate benefit implementation
• Perform other duties as assigned

Skills

Leadership

Project management

Communication

Analytical

Problem solving

Cross-functional collaboration

Vendor management

Education

Bachelor's degree or HS diploma with 4 years experience

Job description

Your Role

The Pharmacy Operations and Stabilization team provides management and end to end oversight of all Pharmacy benefit intent, quality assurance, testing, and production stabilization activities ensuring benefit changes are clearly defined, accurately validated, and effectively managed from issue identification through resolution within a matrixed environment.

The Sr. Manager, Program and Project Management (Pharmacy Operations and Stabilization team), will report to the Director of Pharmacy Operations. In this role you will be responsible for the management and ownership of the end-to-end activities needed to bring all pharmacy production stabilization issues to full resolution, develop executive level communications and reporting to keep key stakeholders informed of status, and support annual readiness activities. Leading a team of professionals, you will drive processes and business efficiencies in support of our culture of affordability. This position will work closely with the Pharmacy Strategy and Operations team, cross-functionally with other teams within Blue Shield of California (BSC) and Stellarus, as well as with our external vendor partners to ensure timely and accurate resolution of pharmacy production stabilization issues.

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

• Partner with business drivers to execute on sub-portfolio delivery including schedule, scope, resource management, financials, benefit tracking, knowledge of emerging technologies and issue/risk management to ensure successful completion of all projects and programs in support of the business strategies
• Partner with managers to manage intake, Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimation and demand/capacity to ensure projects within the program meet cost, resource, environment, schedule, and other constraints within their domain
• Provide oversight and direction of all the projects and releases within the sub portfolio (schedule, issues/risks, budget, resources, and PPM/PWA adherence)
• Oversee and manage Program Managers, Project Managers, and Analysts in support of the delivery of the sub portfolio
• Be accountable for ensuring overall program and project delivery, schedule and budget attainment, and effective management of leadership expectations in achieving overall desired outcomes, results, and deliverables
• Provide direction, ownership, and oversight over the end-to-end BSC production stabilization process, including BSC and vendor specific incidents to assure that production stabilization issues that are partially or fully caused by contracted vendors and affiliated companies are resolved timely and accurately
• Own intake, assignment, direction, and resolution on pharmacy production stabilization issues and solutions that affect the BSC book of business, including collaboration with stakeholders at all levels, identification of downstream impacts to ensure that issues are fully remediated without unintended negative consequences and identifying production stabilization issue trends, operational improvement opportunities, and providing expert recommendations to stakeholders and vendors
• Assure that all production stabilization incidents have complete documentation from root cause analysis, impact reports, solution alternatives, decisions, communication plan, and implementation
• Oversee and manage activities related to supporting the Pharmacy Annual Readiness and Command Center (RxARCC) team
• Oversee and manage activities related to maintaining the pharmacy business continuity plan including annual reviews and audits
• Oversee and manage activities related to Quality Assurance and Testing to ensure accurate benefit implementation
• Perform other duties as assigned

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 8 years of prior relevant experience
• Requires 4 years of prior people management experience with direct responsibility for supervising, coaching, and evaluating direct reports
• Advanced knowledge of pharmacy operations at the health plan level
• Experience driving strategic projects and partnering cross-functionally as well as with external vendor partners to achieve successful outcomes
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills that exhibit a solution-oriented approach
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving skills
• Demonstrated leadership, project management, and program evaluation skills

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 the Team

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

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