Director of Payer Partnerships

Centre For Neuro Skills • Bakersfield, CA

7d • $125,000 - $170,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

The Director of Payor Partnerships manages working-level payer relationships across California commercial health plans, especially Network Management, Provider Relations, UM, Case Management, provider data, and delegated IPA/MSO contacts. The Director supports senior payer strategy by using disciplined account development and consultative sales skills to keep CNS visible, uncover access and referral opportunities, remove operational friction, and connect payer stakeholders to the right CNS leaders.

With traumatic brain injury, life changes in an instant. For us, there is no greater reward than easing human suffering and helping people put their lives back together. CNS helps people with brain injury find hope, independence, and return to a meaningful life - and you play a critical role in their journey.

At CNS, we are a community of “Pathfinders” who work together to find every path possible for our patients to reach their maximum independence and quality of life. We create a supportive work environment through selflessness, innovation, and hard work. We take work very seriously, but we also enjoy a great atmosphere of fun and professional development, and we are committed to promoting a rich environment for each other to thrive through collaboration and empowerment.

Requirements

• Bachelor's Degree, preferably in marketing or communications required.
• Minimum of five years in payer relations, provider relations, network management, managed care, business development, admissions, or healthcare account management.
• Commercial health plan experience or direct payer-facing provider experience required.
• Strong knowledge of authorizations, referrals, network status, provider directories, claims friction, and payer issue resolution required.
• Must exhibit confidence engaging payer operators without overstepping executive relationship ownership.
• Demonstrated sales/account development discipline, including follow-up cadence, contact mapping, opportunity tracking, and persuasive value messaging required.
• Must have consultative selling skills related to discovery, value framing, stakeholder mapping, objection handling, and disciplined follow-up.
• Must have and demonstrate ability to translate clinical value into payer language of avoiding long-term care costs, functional recovery, complex case management, discharge alternatives, and member/family impact.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in a related field of study preferred.
• Experience inside a health plan, IPA/MSO, or delegated medical group preferred.
• Experience working with both provider and payer organizations is preferred.
• California commercial payer relationships, especially Network Management or Provider Relations preferred.

Responsibilities

• Front-line payer relationship management: Builds and maintains relationships with Network Managers, Provider Relations reps, UM managers, case management leaders, provider data teams, delegated IPAs/MSOs, and regional plan contacts. Completes contact maps and develops and/or maintains active front-line relationships across priority California payer accounts.
• Consultative sales and account development: Applies sales discipline to payer engagement: account planning, prospecting into relevant departments, persuasive value messaging, follow-up cadence, stakeholder mapping, objection handling, CRM documentation, and referral opportunity tracking. Coordinates payer engagement activities, including education meetings, site visits, new stakeholder introductions, CRM updates, and clearly documents next steps.
• Payer education and value positioning: Positions CNS as a solution for high-cost stroke, TBI, and complex neuro cases. Explains how CNS differs from SNF, home health, outpatient therapy, and standard post-acute options.
• Access and issue resolution: Identifies barriers related to referral routing, authorizations, network status, provider directories, single-case agreements, claims friction, or payer process confusion; coordinates the right CNS owner for resolution. Reduces unresolved payer issues, provider directory/network status problems. Creates and promotes clearer escalation paths and faster internal follow-up.
• Cross-functional connection building: Creates direct working connections between payer contacts and CNS Admissions, UR, Contracting, Revenue Cycle, Clinical Leadership, Operations, Marketing/BD, and Analytics.
• Market intelligence and reporting: Captures payer feedback, competitor activity, network adequacy concerns, referral trends, staffing changes, process changes, and recurring barriers; reports actionable patterns to the Sr. Director of Payer Partnerships and Chief Strategy Officer.
• Increases qualified commercial referrals for stroke, TBI, and complex neuro cases from targeted payer accounts; improved referral-to-admission conversion.

Benefits

• paid time off
• extended sick leave
• medical, health, dental, and life insurance starting the 1st of the month after hire
• holiday pay including a floating Personal Observance Day
• 401(k)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director