Job Abstract

This high-impact, high visibility role leads the Enterprise Global Strategy team, aimed at evolving the supplier management function to deliver an industry-leading global transformation and strategic partnership framework.

This role leads with the priorities of the business, brings to the table strong business acumen, and anticipates business needs to lead a team of strategy partner experts to support the objectives and priorities of the enterprise and the customers we serve, placing work with the right partners, in the right locations, at the right value.

Serves as an enablement partner of organizational stakeholders across the enterprise regarding various aspects of the partner program(s) including, global strategy development and execution, initiation of contract discussions, evaluation of partner enterprise performance including measurement of service level agreements and KPIs.

This role leads a team to deliver industry knowledge, third-party risk management assessments, and relationship building to identify solutions for business objectives and priorities. Identifies emerging markets, technology opportunities, and solutions for business process efficiency. Provides guidance and sightline into the Global Service Partner (GSP) contracts and support GSP onboarding efforts, across 19 GSPs in 8 different countries across the globe.

This role partners with outsourced leadership to ensure that GSPs are motivated and receive proper direction and context to achieve top performance against quality, operational efficiency, adherence to policy, procedure and defined customer process, delivering a seamless customer experience.

The successful candidate will be able to leverage previous business & vendor experience, as well as subject matter expertise, to lead a strategic team, and navigate a complex landscape of matrix partners and leaders. 

Role Components and Responsibilities

• Sets priorities for the organization and stakeholders to ensure business priority delivery and strategy execution with enterprise operational leaders.
• Develops, implements, and manages supplier governance strategy execution and frameworks. Utilizes supplier relationship management best practices to ensure a consistent and high-quality delivery of services and products, adherence and compliance with corporate policies and procedure, and appropriate alignment/engagement at various levels of the organization.  
• Consult and advise the business on how to maximize their strategic partnerships and how they can leverage them to execute on their business priorities
• Work with the operations teams and other colleagues such as procurement, third party risk management, and legal to deliver and execute an optimal on-going sourcing strategy and an efficient use of supplier resources
• Lead and direct the proactive management and understanding of industry best practices, assist benchmarking efforts and provide insights to internal operations teams. 
• Strategic oversight of vendors and governance of the quality of their delivery to the enterprise.
• Develop, nurture and deliver collaborative partnerships with vendors, operations teams, project control teams, and other internal teams.
• Proactive communication at the Executive level to create transparency and the identification of risk, impacts and mitigation.
• Provide trending, analysis and resolution of issues impacting system performance and business continuity.
• Effectively communicate the Cigna vision and help create and drive a culture that’s aligned with Cigna's brand
• Drive innovation and pilot projects to increase efficiency, drive savings, reduce risk and maximize value for the business
• Assist in driving total cost of ownership reductions and operational improvement efforts
• Facilitate the constructive handling or resolution of conflict both internally and externally with our external entities/suppliers
• Foster strategic relationships with internal and external customers 

QUALIFICATIONS AND COMPETENCIES:

• 5 + Years of experience in Sourcing Strategy, Operations Strategy, leading global operations teams, vendor management, or procurement
• Bachelors degree or 10 years of professional experience, MBA preferred
• Proven experience in creating and managing operational metrics
• Medicare/Medicaid, general healthcare/PBM industry, and business process outsourcing knowledge a plus.
• Able to define and establish new processes with appropriate controls
• Experience working in a highly complex, matrixed environment
• An appetite for acting courageously and challenging the status quo
• Strong partnership and team building skills
• Proven track record in motivating team members to achieve goals.
• General understanding of destination country labor laws and local nuances needed to support excellent operational performance
• Very strong communication skills - written, verbal, and presentation skills
• Able to conduct data analytics to generate business intelligence and drive informed business decisions
• Financial experience, with an understanding of Ariba invoicing, a plus
   

• Influential Leadership: Work collaboratively with the CSO senior leadership team and with leaders across the enterprise to ensure alignment on execution against the most critical initiatives across the enterprise and measures of success. Enables the model for Operational leaders to be end-to-end business owners of their operation, inclusive of GSP performance. – Is skilled at getting individuals, teams, and an entire organization to perform at a higher level and to embrace change; negotiates skillfully to achieve a fair outcome or promote a common cause; communicates a compelling vision and is committed to what needs to be done; inspires others; builds motivated, high-performing teams; understands what motivates different people.
• Communication: Successful in communicating with a wide variety of audiences both horizontally and vertically from executive leadership, matrix partners, operational leaders, and global service partners. 
• Strategic Vision and Agility - Ability to think strategically across multiple lines of business and operations, anticipate future consequences and trends, bring market insight and trends into shaping strategic priorities and execution of global service partner relationships. Is able to come up with the next great breakthrough thing to do; is creative, a visionary, and can manage innovation; is an effective strategist full of ideas and possibilities; sees multiple futures; has broad interests and knowledge; can both create and bring exciting ideas to market; comfortable speculating about alternative futures without all of the data.
• Negotiation – Can negotiate skillfully in tough situations with both internal and external groups; can settle differences with minimum noise; can win concessions without damaging relationships; can be both direct and forceful as well as diplomatic; gains trust quickly of other parties to the negotiations; has a good sense of timing.Negotiates professionally, using objective wording and an even tone; Argues convincingly for issues but knows when to concede; Uses ready understanding of others’ perspective to address issues with a successful mixture of empathy and logic; Brings disputes quickly to resolution by identifying the most critical needs of both parties and ensuring they are addressed; Recognizes when attempts to influence are ineffective and changes courseMay leave people-damage in his/her wake; may walk over people's feelings; may always need to win; may hang on to a position too long; may become overly accommodating and be reluctant to walk away; may need to smooth over everything; may take too long to get things decided.
• Matrix Management/Relationship Building – Enterprise thinker with proven ability to influence across a matrix environment.  Ability to develop strong relationships across all levels of the organization, and with external partners. 

• Emotional Intelligence – Demonstrated strong EQ as evidenced by the ability to understand other people, what motivates them and how to work cooperatively with them. Proven track record of resilience, empathy, strong listening skills and the ability to work through challenging business situation in a highly collaborative way to drive the right business outcomes.  Possesses strong self- awareness and curiosity. 

• Business Acumen - Strong business acumen and ability to make connections with broad experience within the Operations ecosystem. Demonstrated ability to influence across a matrixed organization and develop trusting working partnerships with internal and external business partners.

• Drive for Results - Proven track record of exceeding goals and a bottom-line orientation; evidence of the ability to consistently make good decisions through a combination of analysis, wisdom, experience, and judgment; high level of business acumen, the ability to balance the delivery of programs.

• Leadership and Organization - Exceptional capacity leading and influencing cross-functional teams; ability to connect staff both on an individual level and in large groups; capacity to enforce accountability, develop and empower top-notch leaders from the bottom up, cultivate entrepreneurship, and learn the strengths and weaknesses of the team so as to put people in a position to succeed.

• Customer Focus – Is dedicated to meeting the expectations and requirements of clients, customers, providers, and GSPs; gets first-hand end-user information and uses it for improvements in products and services; acts with the end-user in mind.

• Action Oriented - Enjoys working hard in a fast paced, dynamic environment; able to act and react as necessary, even if limited information is available; not afraid to take charge of a situation; can overcome resistance to leadership

This role is also anticipated to be eligible to participate in an annual bonus and long term incentive plan.

We want you to be healthy, balanced, and feel secure. That’s why you’ll enjoy a comprehensive range of benefits, with a focus on supporting your whole health. Starting on day one of your employment, you’ll be offered several health-related benefits including medical, vision, dental, and well-being and behavioral health programs. We also offer 401(k) with company match, company paid life insurance, tuition reimbursement, a minimum of 18 days of paid time off per year and paid holidays. For more details on our employee benefits programs, visit Life at Cigna Group.

About The Cigna Group

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.

If you require reasonable accommodation in completing the online application process, please email: SeeYourself@cigna.com for support. Do not email SeeYourself@cigna.com for an update on your application or to provide your resume as you will not receive a response.

The Cigna Group has a tobacco-free policy and reserves the right not to hire tobacco/nicotine users in states where that is legally permissible. Candidates in such states who use tobacco/nicotine will not be considered for employment unless they enter a qualifying smoking cessation program prior to the start of their employment. These states include: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nebraska, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, Vermont, and Washington State.