Sr. Manager, Program and Project Management - Vendor and Contract Management

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. 

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.

Please click here for further physical requirement detail. 

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

Your Role

The Pharmacy Vendor Management team supports Pharmacy Strategy and Operations in managing the vendor contracting process, vendor governance model, vendor performance, vendor escalations, and various operational level processes. The Senior Manager, Program and Project Management - Pharmacy Vendor Management will report to the Director of Pharmacy Performance. In this role you will be responsible for the development and management of the Pharmacy vendor governance model, management of the Pharmacy vendor contracting process, driving the regulatory filing of vendor contracts, oversight of vendor performance, and managing vendor escalations as well as other operational processes to ensure excellence in our contracted services.  This position works closely with the Pharmacy Strategy and Operations team, cross-functionally with other teams within Blue Shield of California (BSC) including Legal, Privacy, and Global Business Services, as well as our external vendor partners to ensure timely, accurate, and flawless delivery of our vendored services. 

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.
 

Your Work 
In this role, you will:

• Operate at a strategic business level to ensure projects/programs are in line with BSC strategic goals  
• Consult with all levels including senior management, make recommendations, and influence decision-making
• Determine key business issues, develop effective action plans and implement to successful conclusion
• Lead cross-functional meetings and foster teamwork; drive escalation and resolution of issues, while promoting collaboration and coordination across broad categories of stakeholders
• 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 
• Oversee and manage the Pharmacy Vendor Management team, assign and monitor work within the team’s scope and provide guidance and leadership to team members  
• Own the Pharmacy vendor governance model including the management of vendor escalations and oversight of vendor performance to ensure vendor is meeting contractual obligations  
• Own the end-to-end Pharmacy Vendor Management contract management process including timeline planning, ticket generation and tracking, drafting of contract documentation, contract negotiation and execution, and managing the regulatory filing for Pharmacy vendor contracts  
• Serve as a Pharmacy liaison and partner with Pharmacy business, Legal, Privacy, Global Business Services, Regulatory, and Compliance to ensure alignment with company goals, standards, and requirements
• Lead a medium-sized team of program managers and business analysts in support of the delivery of the Pharmacy Vendor Management sub-portfolio
• Perform other duties as assigned

Your Knowledge and Experience

• Requires a college degree or equivalent experience
• Requires 10 years of prior relevant experience, including 4 years of management experience
• Experience managing external vendors and establishing governance models
• Experience writing Statements of Work (SOW) for business service agreements  
• Experience with regulatory entities and the regulatory filing process 
• Experience driving strategic projects and partnering cross-functionally as well as with external vendor partners to achieve successful outcomes
• Strong negotiation skills and ability to successfully interact with all levels of management both internally and externally
• Expert knowledge and experience using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Adobe Acrobat

 

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.