Sr. Mgr.- Strategic Outsourcing

Awarded a Healthiest Employer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona aims to fulfill its mission to inspire health and make it easy. AZ Blue offers a variety of health insurance products and services to meet the diverse needs of individuals, families, and small and large businesses as well as providing information and tools to help individuals make better health decisions.

This position is remote within the state of AZ only. This remote work opportunity requires residency, and work to be performed, within the State of Arizona.

Purpose of the job

Oversight and management of all business partners (vendors) supplying outsource services to the organization while collaborating with internal business stakeholder to oversee the strategy of all outsourcing. Strategic partner with the business, strategizing and formulating plans with Business areas on the feasibleness of outsourcing functions and creating and executing the corresponding implementation plans. Performs ongoing vendor management to ensure that business partners meet or exceed their contractual obligations by delivering quality services on time.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

Required Work Experience

• 5 years of leadership and process management experience
• 5 years of business operations experience
• 5 years of experience in business/systems analysis, technical implementations, or implementing corporate projects
• 3 years of experience in Health Insurance field

• 2 years of experience in project management and process improvement
• 2 years of experience in contract management

Required Education

• High-School Diploma or GED in general field of study

Required Licenses

• N/A

Required Certifications

• N/A

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

Preferred Work Experience

• 10 years of leadership and process management experience
• 10 years of business operational experience
• 7 years of experience in business/systems analysis, technical implementations, or implementing corporate projects
• 5 years of experience in Insurance field

Preferred Education

• Bachelors Degree in Business, Administration or related field

Preferred Licenses

• N/A

Preferred Certifications

• Six Sigma Green Belt Certification

ESSENTIAL job functions AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Develop and implement strategies for outsourcing that support the companys overall business objective. Ensure there is a financial payback and a sound vision and plans are in place.
• Ensure that all outsourcing arrangements comply with legal, regulatory, and company standards.
• Work closely with other departments, such as Customer Care Center, Claims Administration, Client and Member Administration, Finance, etc. to ensure a seamless integration of outsources services.
• Seek opportunities to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of outsourcing arrangements, including leveraging new technologies, methodologies, or practices that can enhance outcomes.
• Develop and execute the sourcing strategies for the identification, evaluation and selection of qualified vendors. Coordinate with other teams to define the technical and operational requirements and criteria for vendors and manage the RFI/RFP process.
• Decompose and build process excellence into each function before outsourcing to assure the most cost effective and highest quality outcome.
• Drive all strategic planning activities for the Outsource Management teams to achieve BCBSAZ goals and ensure future success.
• Align vendor agreements and service level agreements to achieve business performance and cost objectives.
• Lead all activities related to the tactical planning, implementation and management of all new functions being outsourced or the expansion of existing functions
• Assure statistically valid audits are performed on all functions outsourced and are in accordance with contractual obligations
• Co-manage vendor leadership in partnership with service operations functional leadership.
• Assure that outsource vendor audit and reporting is completed by established deadlines and early warning flags are embedded in core processes
• Assure that proper change management protocols are followed to maximize benefit and alleviate unnecessary disruption in the organization and to our customers
• Develop and implement tactical and operational plans for all system releases affecting any procedural changes the vendor partners perform on our behalf.
• Develop and maintain vendor performance scorecards and monitor performance results to ensure that SLAs and other contract terms are met. Track and monitor performance issues and ensure corrective actions are timely and effective. Ensure vendor accountability for performance improvement and solving issues.
• Ensure all the correct reporting and metrics are available so that early indicators of issues create a clear line of sight for internal management. Work with the vendor partners to create proactive solutions to avoid missing service levels or degradation in quality.
• Monitor the financial viability and management stability of vendors, including quarterly risk management assessments to review vendors quarterly results, corrective actions, compliance with contract requirements and turnover.
• Regularly report progress on key vendor relationships and the effectiveness of outsource arrangements. Create communication forums internally to provide transparency and documentation of vendor performance issues and solicit ideas for improvement.
• With vendor partners, develop and implement processes to enable continuous improvement in performance, efficiency and value delivery. Identify Contract and SLA improvement opportunities and collaborate with vendors and internal business areas to implement improvement plans.
• Build and maintain strong, collaborative relationships with external vendors and partners.
• Coordinate with Finance and business owners on vendor contract payment terms and provide oversight to the review, reconciliation, approval and payment of vendor invoices, including applying vendor credits/penalties when necessary. Manage outsource spend against spend objectives and targets.
• Manage demand forecasts and keep vendors informed on developments in the organization or market conditions that may affect demand for vendors services. Coordinate with vendors so that they can integrate their own production schedules with the organizations requirements, improving efficiency and reducing the risk of excess capacity or supply shortages.
• Coordinate with Corporate Integrity and Information Security Services on risk identification and mitigation related to items such as privacy, security and business continuity related to services provided. Coordinate annual assessment of vendor practices to assure ongoing compliance with requirements.
• Lead the development and implementation of a BPO Center of Excellence to share best practices, provide a common set of policies, procedures and tools and drive consistency in vendor management practices that enable business owners to maximize vendor performance and value, and to identify, mitigate and manage vendor risk.
• Represent Outsource Management in a professional manner, encouraging operational improvement.
• Maintain effective working relationships to ensure teamwork in achieving corporate goals.
• Perform as a "change agent," constantly challenging conventional thinking, approach, and current ways of doing business.

Administrative

• Oversee day-to-day departmental administration by coaching and motivating departmental personnel to make maximum use of experience and skills.
• Assume responsibility for identifying resources and training needs while fostering opportunities for staff growth. Promote and support the overall strategy for moving operations to a lower cost structure externally.

• The position requires a full-time work schedule. Full-time is defined as working at least 40 hours per week, plus any additional hours as requested or as needed to meet business requirements.
• Perform all other duties as assigned.

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES

Required Job Skills

• Strong oral and written communication skills including developing and delivering presentations to senior management.
• Ability to coordinate with stakeholders across the company and manage occasionally competing interests.
• A demonstrated understanding of sourcing and procurement methodologies.
• Proficiency in planning and project management.
• Effective organizational skills and attention to detail.
• Intermediate PC proficiency.
• Intermediate proficiency in spreadsheet, database, presentation, and word processing software.

Required Professional Competencies

• Strong customer relationship management skills, both external and internal.
• Solid creative judgment and ability to think tactically but not lose sight of overall strategy.
• Possesses expertise in the use of formal and informal communications and has the ability to give persuasive and credible presentations that effectively communicate goals, ideas and concepts.
• Strong skills in influence, persuasion, negotiation and problem resolution.
• Ability to create win/win situations with vendor partners and internal operations management.
• Strong analytical skills. Ability to use data to make operational decisions and drive improvement and to monitor and review vendors financial and operational performance.
• Strong experience with performance management, contract management and financial management
• Strong hands-on experience developing, aligning and implementing strategies

Required Leadership Experience and Competencies

• Demonstrates political awareness and a proven track record of building effective working relationships with senior level business partners both internally and externally.
• Ability to work with others collaboratively in a constantly changing environment.
• Ability to motivate and empower associates at all levels and encourages innovation and risk taking.
• Resource management skills with the ability to develop an enthusiastic and positive work climate.
• Ability to communicate effectively, particularly in challenging circumstances. Able to stand up to vendors and internal constituents and have difficult conversations almost daily, whether it is telling the vendor that work isnt satisfactory or telling internal constituents that their demands of the vendor are unrealistic.
• Ability to effectively cope with multiple priorities, high customer expectations and bridge the demands between internal customers and external vendor partners.
• Leadership and matrix management skills.
  

PREFERRED COMPETENCIES

Preferred Job Skills

• Strong vendor management skills.
• Knowledge of internal controls, risk assessment and vendor due diligence.
• In-depth understanding of technical capabilities.
• Knowledge of healthcare industry.
• Advanced PC proficiency.
• Advanced proficiency in spreadsheet, database, presentation, and word processing software.

Preferred Professional Competencies

• Demonstrated understanding of outsourcing business strategies and best practices.
• Thorough knowledge of the companys needs, policies and culture.
• Understands the nuances of contracts and holding vendors accountable to turn around problem relationships.

Preferred Leadership Experience and Competencies

• N/A

Our Commitment

AZ Blue does not discriminate in hiring or employment on the basis of race, ethnicity, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other protected group.

Thank you for your interest in Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona. For more information on our company, see azblue.com. If interested in this position, please apply.