Senior Director, Implementation

Alignment Health•Remote CA Outside Bay Area, CA

4d•$149,882 - $224,823

About The Position

The Senior Director, Implementation is a strategic and operational leader responsible for translating implementation strategy, priorities, operating-model requirements, and governance standards into coordinated portfolio execution across regulatory, technology, vendor, and operational workstreams. The role directly leads the Implementation Manager, Technology & Vendor Integrations and the Sr. Regulatory Implementation Manager, and is accountable for team performance and development, capacity, portfolio delivery, reporting accuracy, readiness validation, risk escalation, and post-launch stabilization. The Senior Director leads the assigned portfolio within approved scope, schedule, quality, budget, regulatory, and operational-readiness expectations; participates in enterprise strategy and final operating-model design; and prepares investment approval materials for launch decisions made by the Vice President and executive governance bodies. The role establishes and oversees implementation governance, planning, reporting, readiness, escalation, and quality standards. It integrates cross-functional work, validates readiness evidence, provides documented go-live recommendations, oversees regulatory and technology/vendor implementation work, and ensures operational readiness, change adoption, stabilization, and transition to accountable operational owners. The Senior Director also manages assigned resources and budgets, provides executive-ready portfolio reporting, recommends priorities and investment decisions, and drives continuous improvement. The role typically has 2–6 direct reports and works with functional and vendor leaders through matrixed relationships; supervisory authority applies only to formally assigned reports.

Requirements

8–10 years of progressively responsible experience in implementation, program management, healthcare operations, regulatory implementation, technology delivery, vendor integration, or a related discipline.
4–5 years of people leadership experience, including direct leadership of managers, senior professionals, or complex matrixed teams.
Demonstrated experience translating executive strategy and governance requirements into coordinated, measurable portfolio execution.
Demonstrated success managing a complex cross-functional portfolio with regulatory, technology, vendor, operational, budget, and organizational-change dependencies.
Experience providing executive-level portfolio reporting, readiness recommendations, risk assessments, and recovery plans.
Experience managing resources, capacity, approved budgets, vendor relationships, and performance accountability in a regulated environment.
Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Information Systems, Project Management, Operations, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience consistent with company policy.
Advanced working knowledge of portfolio, program, and project management methods, including Agile, Waterfall, or hybrid approaches.
Working knowledge of operational readiness, change adoption, governance, risk and issue management, testing, stabilization, and transition-to-operations practices.
Working knowledge of healthcare compliance.
Leadership of leaders: sets direction and accountability for managers and senior professionals, coaches and develops them, and addresses performance effectively.
Portfolio execution: integrates multiple initiatives and workstreams, balances competing demands, and delivers within approved commitments.
Judgment and escalation: distinguishes execution issues from enterprise decisions and escalates material risks with practical recommendations.
Regulatory and operational readiness: understands how regulatory, operational, technology, vendor, data, and control requirements affect implementation readiness.
Executive communication: synthesizes complex information into concise, accurate, decision-ready reporting and recommendations.
Cross-functional influence: builds alignment and accountability across functions and external partners without relying solely on direct authority.
Financial and resource stewardship: manages approved budgets, forecasts, capacity, and resource tradeoffs with sound business judgment.
Data and reporting discipline: ensures portfolio information is complete, current, validated, and suitable for executive decision-making.
Change leadership: promotes adoption, accountability, collaboration, and continuous improvement through complex organizational change.
Problem solving: anticipates dependencies, identifies root causes, directs recovery, and drives issues to documented resolution.

Nice To Haves

Healthcare, managed care, health plan, or healthcare technology experience; Medicare Advantage or a comparably regulated environment is strongly preferred.
Experience with new-market, enterprise technology, regulatory, or delegated-entity implementations in a health plan.
Experience supporting CMS audit readiness, corrective action plans, NCQA accreditation, state regulatory readiness, or delegated oversight.
Experience leading managers with distinct regulatory and technology/vendor implementation accountabilities.
Master’s degree in Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, Information Systems, or a related field.
PMP, PgMP, or equivalent program/project management certification.
Formal change-management training or certification, such as Prosci or equivalent.
Training in healthcare compliance, regulatory implementation, audit readiness, or quality systems.

Responsibilities

Translate enterprise priorities into integrated portfolio plans, delivery commitments, resource assignments, milestones, dependencies, and measurable outcomes.
Own execution performance for the assigned portfolio, including scope, schedule, quality, budget adherence, regulatory readiness, operational readiness, adoption, stabilization, and transition to operations.
Directly lead the Implementation Manager, Technology & Vendor Integrations, the Sr. Regulatory Implementation Manager, and other implementation professionals assigned to the function.
Set team goals, priorities, decision rights, workloads, performance measures, development plans, succession plans, and continuity coverage; coach, evaluate, recognize, and hold team members accountable.
Integrate regulatory, technology, vendor, operational, and cross-functional activities into coordinated plans with clear ownership, dependencies, decision points, and handoffs.
Ensure manager functions follow common planning, governance, reporting, readiness, and escalation standards.
Establish and oversee implementation governance standards and methodologies, including intake, portfolio reviews, stage gates, change control, risk and issue management, readiness reviews, launch preparation, stabilization, and transition-to-operations requirements.
Consolidate readiness assessments, validate evidence, and provide documented go-live recommendations.
Hold the Sr. Regulatory Implementation Manager accountable for impact assessments, requirements traceability, implementation planning, evidence management, coordination, and readiness by required effective dates.
Ensure compliance gaps, audit findings, corrective actions, delegated-entity obligations, and regulatory risks are documented, monitored, and escalated.
Hold the Implementation Manager, Technology & Vendor Integrations accountable for vendor onboarding, integration planning, requirements coordination, testing, defect remediation, readiness, deployment, stabilization, and transition to operational owners.
Ensure implementations meet approved contractual, technical, privacy, security, data, operational, and regulatory requirements.
Ensure business owners develop and execute readiness plans covering workflows, procedures, staffing, training, communications, controls, testing, contingencies, adoption, and performance measures.
Oversee stabilization and formal transition to operations, including documented ownership and closure plans for residual items.
Provide the Vice President and senior stakeholders with accurate, timely, decision-ready reporting on milestones, dependencies, capacity, budget, regulatory readiness, risks, decisions, adoption, stabilization, and expected outcomes.
Escalate material risks with impact analysis, corrective options, and recommended action.
Develop team capacity and staffing plans, allocate approved resources across the portfolio, and manage assigned work within approved budget and resource parameters.
Anticipate capacity gaps, evaluate conflicting priorities and vendor support needs, and influence portfolio and investment decisions with evidence-based recommendations to the Vice President.
Establish and improve implementation tools, methodologies, procedures, controls, competencies, and quality standards.
Use performance results, quality reviews, stakeholder feedback, and lessons learned to improve execution effectiveness and organizational maturity.
Build relationships across Operations, Information Technology, Regulatory Affairs, Compliance, Product, Finance, Clinical Services, Network Management, Sales, Legal, Procurement, Information Security, business leadership, executive sponsors, vendors, and delegated entities.
Fulfill supervisory responsibilities in accordance with organization policies and applicable laws.
Recommend resource priorities, allocate approved resources, enforce delivery standards, direct recovery actions, and manage execution within approved scope and budget.
Validate readiness evidence, require remediation, and recommend go-live, delay, scope adjustment, or additional controls to the Vice President.
Resolve execution risks within delegated authority and escalate final launch approval to the Vice President or designated executive governance body.
Manage direct-report selection, development, performance, and accountability within organization policy and delegated authority.