Product Strategist, Consultant - Small Business

Blue Shield of California•El Dorado, AR

5d•Hybrid

About The Position

The Product Strategy team drives product strategy development and execution for the Small Business market. The role reports to the Senior Manager, Product Strategy. The Product Strategist, Consultant supports the assigned lines of business, translating market insights, business objectives, customer needs, and regulatory requirements into actionable product strategies. This role is responsible for portfolio direction, product roadmaps, and strategic recommendations that drive growth, retention, affordability, and member experience. 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.

Requirements

Requires bachelor's degree or equivalent experience
Requires at least 7 years of experience in product strategy, product management, portfolio management, health plan products, or related fields
Requires experience developing product strategies, roadmaps, and business cases
Requires deep understanding of health plan products, market dynamics, and regulatory environments
Requires extensive knowledge of ACA guidelines and health plan product management
Demonstrated experience in project management
Demonstrates strong ownership and problem-solving in ambiguous situations
Proven ability to translate complexity into action
Strong analytical, strategic thinking, and problem-solving abilities
Demonstrated ability to influence stakeholders and lead cross-functional initiatives
Excellent executive communication and presentation skills
Experience with competitive intelligence, financial analysis, and strategic planning

Nice To Haves

experience with Small Business markets strongly preferred

Responsibilities

Support the development, maintenance, and execution of product portfolio strategy, roadmap development, and prioritization for assigned lines of business.
Translate strategic direction into actionable initiatives, business requirements, and implementation plans that support portfolio objectives.
Identify opportunities to improve growth, retention, operating income, member experience, and affordability.
Evaluate market trends, emerging customer needs, competitive activity, and regulatory developments to inform strategic recommendations.
Recommend product enhancements, modifications, new offerings, or product exits.
Establish success metrics and monitor performance against strategic objectives.
Present product recommendations, business cases, tradeoffs, and risks to senior leadership.
Manage the day-to-day maintenance of assigned product portfolios, including strategic, regulatory, and market-driven updates to product designs, benefits, cost shares, and customer experience offerings.
Serve as the primary point of contact for product cycle activities, coordinating cross-functional stakeholders to ensure portfolio activities remain aligned with approved strategies, business objectives, and implementation timelines.
Monitor portfolio performance, market trends, regulatory developments, and customer feedback to identify opportunities for product enhancements and provide recommendations to leadership.
Coordinate portfolio governance and execution activities, including preparing materials, documenting decisions, tracking dependencies, and ensuring initiatives progress through established governance and decision-making processes.
Prepare strategic initiatives for implementation and support post-launch monitoring by ensuring accurate product information across systems, filings, communications, and operational processes while identifying and addressing performance or implementation issues.
Serve as the Product Strategy lead for annual regulatory filing activities, ensuring key deadlines, requirements, and milestones are met.
Evaluate regulatory changes, emerging mandates, and policy developments to identify risks, opportunities, and impacts to product strategy.
Partner with Legal, Regulatory, Actuarial, Product Consultants, and filing teams to ensure product strategies, plan designs, and supporting materials are compliant, accurate, and market competitive.
Identify and escalate filing risks, compliance concerns, operational impacts, and timeline challenges, providing recommendations and executive-ready status updates to leadership.
Maintain institutional knowledge of filing requirements, processes, and historical decisions while supporting regulatory reviews, discussions, and strategic recommendations throughout the filing cycle.
Lead market assessments and competitive research efforts for assigned portfolios.
Evaluate competitor products, pricing strategies, networks, benefit offerings, and market positioning.
Identify emerging trends, market opportunities, customer demands, and industry disruptions.
Conduct scenario planning and assess impacts of competitive and market changes.
Develop strategic recommendations and business cases supported by market insights and performance data.
Present competitive intelligence findings and implications to leadership and stakeholders.
Identify and help resolve operational issues impacting the portfolio.
Own risk and issue resolution management, including cross-functional meetings, risk mitigation and corrective action plans, and status reporting.
Coordinate across teams to drive timely resolution and escalate risks as needed.
Identify and support development of processes and controls to prevent recurring issues.