Sr. Medical Director-Medical Cost Optimization Strategy

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield; Newark (NJ); Hybrid; USD 240,000 - 334,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Comprehensive health benefits

Retirement plans

Generous PTO

Tuition reimbursement

Job summary

Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey is seeking a Senior Medical Director for Medical Cost Optimization Strategy in Newark, NJ. This physician leader will spearhead the MCO program portfolio, guiding affordability, quality, and outcomes across the enterprise.

The role requires an MD/DO with active board certification and 3+ years in managed care, with travel within NJ/NY/PA as needed. Hybrid work arrangement in Newark, NJ, with a comprehensive benefits package and leadership

Qualifications

• Requires an MD or DO with a current unrestricted license to practice medicine.
• Requires American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) board certification.
• Requires a minimum 3 years of management experience.
• Requires knowledge of medical cost optimization and managed care operations.

Responsibilities

• Define a multi-year Medical Cost Optimization (MCO) strategy to drive affordability and implement it with cross-functional teams.
• Partner with leaders to identify MCO opportunities and improve processes for measurable outcomes.
• Oversee data tracking and reporting to support ROI analyses and business cases for MCO programs.
• Communicate MCO strategy and results across Horizon BCBSNJ and externally to providers and trade organizations.

Skills

Executive presence

Strategic thinking

Communication skills

Leadership

Managed care

Education

MD or DO

Board certification (ABMS)

Medical license

Tools

MS Office

Job description

## Sr. Medical Director-Medical Cost Optimization StrategyApply: Newark, NJ - Hybrid: Full time: Posted 2 Days Ago: End Date: November 27, 2026 (30+ days left to apply): 2026-0307**Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey** empowers our members to achieve their best health. For over **90 years**, we have been New Jersey’s health solutions leader driving innovations that improve health care quality, affordability, and member experience. Our members are our neighbors, our friends, and our families. It is this understanding that drives us to better serve and care for the **3.5 million** people who place their trust in us. We pride ourselves on our best-in-class employees and strive to maintain an innovative and inclusive environment that allows them to thrive. When our employees bring their best and succeed, the Company succeeds.**About the Role**The Senior Medical Director for Affordability is a physician leader and the clinical lead for Horizon BCBSNJ’s medical cost optimization (MCO) efforts. This leader is accountable for identifying, investigating, and launching MCO programs in collaboration with the MCO strategy and execution teams. They provide support and expertise to proactively outreach to, and address inquiries from, providers, facilities, clients, medical societies, and others on MCO initiatives. They provide clinical support for all Horizon BCBSNJ teams related to MCO programs.**What You'll Do****Job Responsibilities:*** Define a multi-year Medical Cost Optimization (MCO) strategy to drive affordability based on Horizon BCBSNJ experience, external data, competitive intelligence and implement this strategic vision, in collaboration with the MCO Strategy Lead.* Partner with leadership across Horizon BCBSNJ business units to identify MCO opportunities and drive progress toward operational process improvements to ensure continual, measurable improvement of the quality, compliance, and speed of execution of MCO initiatives.* Work collaboratively with the Clinical Analytics, Medical Economics, Finance, and other teams to source and validate the sizing and clinical efficacy of MCO business cases.* Oversee tracking, analysis and reporting of data related to MCO to support the building of business cases, ROI analyses and measurement of progress toward MCO goals.* Direct MCO work to guide opportunity and solution evaluation and prioritization using the principles of the MCO Committee governing framework to ensure achievement of multi-year affordability, quality, and clinical outcome targets.* Facilitation of, and participation in, MCO Committee meetings.* Facilitate prioritization of MCO solutions in need of funding through the CPLT and DRIVE processes.* Partner with the Medical Cost Action Planning (MCAP), Finance and Actuary teams on tracking and reporting of enterprise MCO and MCAP performance.* Communicate MCO strategy, activity and results across HNS and the enterprise.* Communicate MCO efforts externally to network providers and their respective trade organizations.* Educate Horizon BCBSNJ staff on MCO tools, strategies, and programs.* Manage, develop and train staff; develop and monitor goals; conduct annual performance reviews, and administers salaries for the staff.**Disclaimer:** This job summary has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by colleagues within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of colleagues assigned to this job.**What You Bring****Education/Experience:*** Requires an MD or DO with a current unrestricted license to practice medicine.* Requires American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) board certification.* Requires a minimum 5 years of clinical practice experience.* Requires a minimum of 3 years of experience in managed care/medical management.* Requires proficiency working with a Windows based environment including MS Office products.* Requires 3 years of management experience.* Requires knowledge of clinical operations within a managed care organization.* Requires experience with utilization management, quality, payment integrity, case management, and/or medical policy.* Requires knowledge of medical cost optimization.* Requires broad clinical skills to understand medical issues.**Additional licensing, certifications, registrations:*** Active, unrestricted MD or DO license required, NJ license preferred.* No CMS sanctions or sanctions by other regulatory agencies or boards.* Must be board certified by a specialty recognized by the American Osteopathic Association or the American Board of Medical Specialties.**Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:*** Be adept at influencing and challenging senior management and staff.* Manage, and lead through influence, in a highly matrixed environment.* Developing Self and Others – Must be able to develop staff and leverage team capabilities for optimal outcomes.* Communicate with Impact – Must be able to present and interact with senior leadership as necessary.* Adaptability – Must be able to tailor communication and messages to diverse audiences.* Executive Presence - Advocates for the organization, inspiring confidence among peers regarding reliability and capability, inspiring senior leadership expectations on potential for outstanding outcomes and achievements.* Develop Horizon BCBSNJ staff’s competences related to medical cost optimization (MCO) and executive decision-making skills.* Requires the ability to exercise independent judgment in making decisions.* Requires the ability to interpret and apply state and federal regulations, hospital and provider contracts and medical policy to provide guidance related to MCO.* Must have effective verbal and written communication and presentation skills and demonstrate the ability to work well within a team.* Requires a proven ability to innovative, be goal oriented, possess strong critical thinking skills, and exercise sound judgment.**Travel %:*** Travel within NJ/NY/PA required as needed.**Why Horizon?**At Horizon, you’ll do meaningful work that directly improves lives—while being supported by a mission‐driven organization that values expertise, collaboration, and growth. We believe that when our people thrive, our communities do too. If you are passionate about making an impact, we’d love to hear from you!**Salary Range:**$240,200 - $334,110This compensation range is specific to the job level and takes into account the wide range of factors that are considered in making compensation decisions, including but not limited to: education, experience, licensure, certifications, geographic location, and internal equity. This range has been created in good faith based on information known to Horizon at the time of posting. Compensation decisions are dependent on the circumstances of each case. Horizon also provides a comprehensive compensation and benefits package which includes:* Comprehensive health benefits (Medical/Dental/Vision)* Retirement Plans* Generous PTO* Incentive Plans* Wellness Programs* Paid Volunteer Time Off* Tuition Reimbursement**Disclaimer:**Horizon BCBSNJ employees must live in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut or Delaware. This job summary has been designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed by colleagues within this classification. It is not designed to contain or be interpreted as a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of colleagues assigned to this job.