Project Manager, Strategic Projects

Zelis • St. Louis, MO

1d • $79,000 - $99,750 • Hybrid

About The Position

At Zelis, we Get Stuff Done. So, let’s get to it! A Little About Us Zelis is modernizing the healthcare financial experience across payers, providers, and healthcare consumers. We serve more than 750 payers, including the top five national health plans, regional health plans, TPAs and millions of healthcare providers and consumers across our platform of solutions. Zelis sees across the system to identify, optimize, and solve problems holistically with technology built by healthcare experts – driving real, measurable results for clients. At Zelis, AI is woven into the fabric of how we work. Every associate is expected - and empowered - to partner with AI to challenge the status quo, accelerate innovation, and amplify their impact. This is a place for builders with a growth mindset who act with agility, embrace change, and use modern technology to shape smarter solutions, exceptional experiences, and the future of our industry for our clients, customers, and our culture. A Little About You You bring a unique blend of personality and professional expertise to your work, inspiring others with your passion and dedication. Your career is a testament to your diverse experiences, community involvement, and the valuable lessons you've learned along the way. You are more than just your resume; you are a reflection of your achievements, the knowledge you've gained, and the personal interests that shape who you are. Position Overview The Project Manager – Strategic Initiatives sits within Strategic Enablement in the Payments Business Unit, supports the Enterprise Project Management Office (EPMO), and reports to the Manager, Project Management. This role provides strategic delivery leadership for high-priority initiatives that are critical to the organization’s success. These initiatives involve ambiguity, cross-functional stakeholder management, executive visibility, operational transformation, and technical dependencies requiring disciplined execution, a strong bias towards action, and informed decision making. Project Managers on this team are accountable for shaping execution strategy, driving alignment, and guiding initiatives to successful outcomes at scale. Strategic Initiatives projects are assigned to this team due to elevated organizational impact, delivery risk, stakeholder coordination requirements, or operational and technical transformation needs. Initiatives may be internally or externally facing and frequently involve close partnership with engineering, development, AI and automation, and technology teams.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree with 2-3 years of experience in project management, consulting, operations, or a related field
• Experience in Healthcare Technology, Payment Operations, or Financial Services is a plus
• PMP or related certification is preferred
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives in fast-paced, evolving, or technically complex environments
• Familiarity with change management, governance processes, and project delivery lifecycle management
• Develop executive-ready presentations that translate complex initiative updates, risks, and decisions into clear, concise, and actionable narratives for leadership audiences
• Adept at building strong relationships, driving alignment across teams, and influencing without direct authority
• Bias for action; able to move work forward despite ambiguity or dependencies
• Strong structured problem-solving, critical thinking, decision making, and sound judgment under pressure
• Balances strategic thinking with hands-on execution to drive outcomes
• Comfortable operating in technically complex environments and quickly building context around systems, workflows, integrations, and dependencies
• Experience using Smartsheet, Jira, Confluence, Microsoft Office Suite, or similar project management and collaboration
• Delivers initiatives with clarity, discipline, and measurable impact
• Proactively identifies risks and helps guide complex decisions
• Keeps stakeholders aligned, informed, and accountable throughout delivery
• Continuously improves execution to drive scalable, repeatable results

Responsibilities

• Manage high-priority strategic initiatives with significant business impact, executive visibility, and cross-functional scope
• Drive execution across cross-functional and cross-domain environments, navigating complex stakeholder landscapes and ensuring alignment, accountability, and effective decision-making
• Operate effectively in ambiguous, high-risk environments by proactively identifying gaps, risks, and dependencies early, and driving clear, aligned paths forward with appropriate escalation
• Translate strategic goals into structured, scalable delivery approaches, framing problems, defining objectives, KPIs, constraints, and tradeoffs, and providing clear recommendations to support leadership decisions
• Establish and manage governance, communication, and reporting cadences, including stakeholder forums, executive updates, and portfolio level visibility
• Own stakeholder communication and executive reporting, synthesizing complex information into concise, decision-ready insights and materials
• Manage resource and capacity planning across initiatives, proactively identifying constraints, balancing priorities, and escalating conflicts as needed
• Lead end to end project lifecycle activities, including intake, kickoff, scoping, discovery, planning, RAID management, and charter development with clear ownership and success criteria
• Drive proactive risk, issue, and dependency management, including technical and integration considerations, with mitigation planning and timely escalation
• Lead communication and change management efforts aligned to stakeholder and operational impacts, ensuring clear documentation of decisions, roles, and next steps
• Maintain delivery health awareness, including tracking progress, capacity, and overall initiative performance
• Facilitate phase-level closeouts and post-mortems to capture outcomes, lessons learned, and continuous improvement opportunities
• Identify cross-initiative themes, systemic risks, and execution insights to inform leadership discussions and strategic direction

Benefits

• 401k plan with employer match
• flexible paid time off
• holidays
• parental leaves
• life and disability insurance
• health benefits including medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug coverage

What This Job Offers

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