Associate Director, Managed Care Payer Contracting

How You’ll Spend Your Day
All areas of responsibility listed below are essential to the satisfactory performance of this position by any incumbents with reasonable accommodation if necessary. Any non-essential functions are assumed to be included in other related duties or assignments.
Payer Contracting & Government Program Leadership:
• Serve as the contract subject matter expert for Medicaid organizations and government payer initiatives.
• Lead and execute upon the Medicaid bid submission process as aligned with Medicaid brand strategies.
• Develop and maintain the Medicaid contracting playbook, tools, and best practices to support consistent execution, knowledge sharing, and continuous process improvement.
• Partner with Government Affairs, Government Pricing, Account Management, Value and Access Strategy, and Legal to assess the impact of federal and state policy changes on contract bids and execution; e.g. GENEROUS, IRA.
• Lead execution and implementation of approved contracting strategies across assigned commercial health plans, regional payers, pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs), group purchasing organizations (GPOs), Medicare, Managed Medicaid organizations, and state Medicaid programs.
• Collaborate with payer account teams in support of customer negotiations, strategic planning, and contract implementation.
Contract Development & Lifecycle Management:
• Lead drafting, review, negotiation support, approval, execution, and implementation of managed care agreements. Translate negotiated business terms into clear, accurate, and compliant contractual language.
• Manage contract lifecycle activities from initiation through execution, amendment, renewal, and termination.
• Partner with Legal and Compliance teams to maintain contract standards, templates, and clause libraries.
• Identify opportunities to streamline contract development processes and enhance operational effectiveness.
Cross-Functional Leadership, Compliance & Business Planning:
• Sheperd the development of contract business cases and facilitate bid approval materials by coordinating insights and analyses from cross-functional stakeholders, including Contract Analytics, Value and Access Strategy, Finance, Government Pricing, and other functional partners as appropriate; translating those inputs into recommendations for approval discussions, document meeting outcomes and approval decisions in compliance with established governance processes.
• Support contract compliance activities, audits, payment reconciliations, and dispute resolution efforts as needed.
• Lead strategic cross-functional initiatives related to contracting process improvement.
• Provide mentorship and guidance to contracting team members and support development of contracting best practices across the organization.
• Lead cross-functional decision-making on complex contracting issues and serve as a key stakeholder in strategic access planning and contracting governance activities.

Your Skills and Experience
Any equivalent combination of education, training, and experience that fulfills the requirements of the position will be considered.
Education/Certification/Experience:
• Bachelor's degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Public Health, Health Policy, Life Sciences, Law, or a related field required (MBA, JD, MPH, or other advanced degree preferred).
• Minimum of 7 years of progressive experience in payer contracting, market access, payer strategy, pharmaceutical contracting, healthcare consulting, or health plan management, including experience within pharmaceutical/biotechnology organizations, managed care organizations, PBMs, multi-state purchasing pools, Medicaid MCOs, or healthcare consulting environments.
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing contracts across Medicaid and commercial payer segments.
• Experience supporting state Medicaid contracting initiatives, including supplemental rebate agreements, Preferred Drug List (PDL) processes, managed care procurement cycles, reimbursement strategies, and state-specific access programs.
• Experience in Medicaid-specific contractual provisions, including rebate arrangements, formulary access strategies, utilization management requirements, and reimbursement methodologies.
Skills/Knowledge/Abilities:
• Deep knowledge of Medicaid, commercial and Medicare payer environments.
• Expertise in Medicaid contracting, state Medicaid reimbursement systems, multi-state purchasing pools and Medicaid Managed Care Organizations (MCOs).
• Knowledge of Medicaid Preferred Drug List (PDL) processes, supplemental rebate arrangements, utilization management programs, and Medicaid drug reimbursement methodologies.
• Strong understanding of government pricing methodology.
Travel Requirements:
• Approximately 10-20% domestic travel.