Behavioral Health Strategy Principal

Become a part of our caring community and help us put health first

The Behavioral Health Strategy Principal is responsible for leading strategies to improve serious mental illness, geriatric neurocognitive health (e. g. , dementia), substance use and other mental health outcomes for seniors, serving as a behavioral health (BH) strategy, program and operations expert, and advancing BH goals through innovative, data-driven interventions. This includes implementing quality initiatives, managing vendor partnerships, and aligning operational and strategic objectives with primary care organizational goals. The position formulates national goals and strategies, benchmarks best practices, drives program design and implementation, evaluates program effectiveness, and develops actionable plans to drive programmatic growth. Collaborating with key stakeholders and clinical teams, the role ensures alignment on program goals, system improvements, and feedback loops while leveraging data systems to guide decisions and performance improvement strategies. Additional responsibilities include developing BH policies, facilitating communication strategies, and producing work plans and reports to monitor progress and impact, in partnership with the Complex Care strategic leadership team and the relevant cross-functional Analytics, Medical Economics and Finance teams.

The Behavioral Health Strategy Principal is responsible for leading strategies to improve serious mental illness, geriatric neurocognitive health (e. g. , dementia), substance use and other mental health outcomes for seniors, serving as a behavioral health (BH) strategy, program and operations expert, and advancing BH goals through innovative, data-driven interventions. This includes implementing quality initiatives, managing vendor partnerships, and aligning operational and strategic objectives with primary care organizational goals. The position formulates national goals and strategies, benchmarks best practices, drives program design and implementation, evaluates program effectiveness, and develops actionable plans to drive programmatic growth. Collaborating with key stakeholders and clinical teams, the role ensures alignment on program goals, system improvements, and feedback loops while leveraging data systems to guide decisions and performance improvement strategies. Additional responsibilities include developing BH policies, facilitating communication strategies, and producing work plans and reports to monitor progress and impact, in partnership with the Complex Care strategic leadership team and the relevant cross-functional Analytics, Medical Economics and Finance teams.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Lead strategies to improve mental health, geriatric neurocognitive health, and substance use outcomes for seniors.

• Drive data-driven interventions by analyzing trends and KPIs to inform strategy and improve patient outcomes.

• Leverage data systems to guide decisions and implement BH performance improvement strategies.

• Create project work plans, timelines, and reports with measurable benchmarks for evaluation.

• Innovate BH programs by implementing quality initiatives and managing key vendor partnerships.

• Engage with multiple in-house behavioral health resources and vendor behavioral health partners to drive integrated program development and delivery

• Align operational and strategic objectives with primary care organizational goals.

• Formulate national objectives, goals, and strategies (clinical and economic), benchmark best practices, and evaluate program effectiveness.

• Develop BH policies and procedures to support program implementation.

• Establish collaborative relationships with clinical teams and care integration leadership to align on program goals and system improvements.

• Develop communication strategies to inform internal and external stakeholders of BH initiatives and progress

• Build feedback loops and monitoring mechanisms with primary care teams to identify opportunities for improvement.

• Serve as a behavioral health (BH) expert to provide guidance and advance BH goals.

Knowledge/Skills/Abilities/Competencies

• Strong leadership skills with the ability to gain buy-in and engagement in complex teams

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to communicate effectively with stakeholders at all levels.

• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to develop and implement metrics to measure the effectiveness of care transitions.

• Understanding of clinical operations and ability to guide priorities, process development and implementation.

• Understanding of quality and value drivers in full risk care delivery, ideally in Medicare/seniors

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with clinical and operational leaders across a complex health care organization.

• Knowledge of health care regulations and policies related to behavioral health

• Computer skills in word processing, database management, spreadsheets, and report writing.

• Proficiency in tracking and evaluating process/system outcomes and performing and monitoring rapid cycle process improvement.

• Excellent project and program management skills

• Demonstrated ability for assessing evidence-based approaches to complex clinical decision making

Use your skills to make an impact

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree

• A minimum of five years of strategy and operations experience, with a focus on building programs and implementation in behavioral health for seniors

• A minimum of two years of project/people leadership experience

• Experience in programs focus on senior behavioral health that is inclusive of serious mental illness, substance use disorder and geriatric neurocognitive health

• Experience in a large, highly matrixed company, with proven ability to influence leaders and key stakeholders in such an environment

• Excellent qualitative and quantitative analytic skills, with the ability to ask the right question to attack the root causes of problems to be addressed

• Excellent collaboration capabilities and high EQ; integrator, can connect the dots and understand how to optimize system-level processes

• Curious, quick learner, innovator but data- and evidence-driven

• Experience in managing change by leading and energizing others, modeling adaptability, and inspiring strong organizational performance through periods of transformation, ambiguity, and complexity.

• Excellent relationship-building skills and proven ability to work collaboratively through various departments and functional areas, promoting a culture of proactive teamwork.

• Excellent oral and written communications skills, including the polish, poise, and executive presence that will ensure effective interact.