Project Manager - United Concordia Dental

Job description

Company : United Concordia Dental Job Description : JOB SUMMARY **Due to Department of Defense (DOD) contract requirements, the incumbent who fills this position must be a US citizen, and must also pass a background check** ROLE PURPOSE Lead complex initiatives from definition through transition by creating delivery clarity, coordinating cross-functional execution, maintaining reliable evidence, and enabling timely sponsor decisions. The Project Manager is accountable for the disciplined planning, coordination, execution, monitoring, and closure of complex initiatives. The role converts approved business objectives into an actionable delivery structure and leads cross-functional teams toward agreed scope, schedule, cost, quality, readiness, and outcome commitments. The Project Manager partners with the project sponsor, business owner, Program Manager, Business Analysts, technology partners, operational leaders, vendors, and subject-matter experts. The role establishes and maintains the integrated project plan, facilitates productive working and governance forums, manages risks, issues, assumptions, dependencies, decisions, and changes, and provides transparent evidence of delivery health. Within the PMO operating model, the Project Manager owns initiative-level execution. The Program Manager provides the broader portfolio context, governance connection, dependency visibility, coaching, and escalation support. The Project Manager is expected to lead proactively, surface difficult information early, frame recommended actions, and maintain momentum without substituting administration for leadership. ESSENTIAL RESPONSIBILITIES Project Definition, Planning, and Initiation Establish a clear, realistic, and controlled foundation for delivery. Partner with the sponsor and business owner to clarify the business need, intended outcomes, success measures, scope boundaries, assumptions, constraints, and acceptance expectations. Develop and maintain fit-for-purpose project charters, integrated plans, schedules, milestone maps, resource needs, and delivery assumptions. Confirm roles, responsibilities, decision rights, governance forums, escalation paths, and working agreements. Identify internal and external dependencies and incorporate them into planning, sequencing, and commitments. Align the delivery approach and level of control to initiative complexity, risk, regulatory exposure, and business need. Execution and Integrated Delivery Management Lead day-to-day delivery with structure, urgency, and accountability. Coordinate cross-functional execution across business, technology, operations, clinical, regulatory, finance, data, vendors, and other delivery partners as applicable. Facilitate working sessions and project meetings with clear purpose, agendas, decisions, owners, due dates, and follow-through. Track progress against approved scope, schedule, cost, quality, readiness, and delivery commitments. Maintain delivery momentum by resolving routine barriers, reinforcing accountability, and escalating constraints that cannot be resolved within the project team. Validate that deliverables meet documented requirements and acceptance criteria before milestones or phase transitions are considered complete. Coordinate implementation, stabilization, transition-to-operations, and project closure activities. RAID, Dependencies, and Decision Management Create early visibility and active ownership of conditions that could affect outcomes. Identify, document, assess, and actively manage project risks, issues, assumptions, and dependencies in a current RAID log. Define owners, mitigation or resolution actions, target dates, contingency plans, and escalation thresholds. Manage interdependencies with other initiatives, teams, vendors, platforms, and operational commitments. Maintain a traceable decision log and ensure decisions are translated into updated plans, commitments, and communications. Escalate material risks, issues, dependencies, and decision needs early, with clear context, impact, options, and a recommended course of action. Distinguish facts, assumptions, emerging concerns, and confirmed impacts in project reporting and discussions. Scope, Schedule, Financial, and Change Control Protect the integrity of approved commitments while enabling informed adaptation. Establish and maintain approved baselines for scope, schedule, milestones, cost, and quality as applicable. Assess proposed changes for impact to outcomes, benefits, resources, dependencies, readiness, timing, cost, and risk. Ensure material changes follow the appropriate review and approval path before commitments are revised. Communicate approved changes and update project evidence, forecasts, and stakeholder expectations promptly. Monitor project financial health and partner with accountable leaders to address variances, funding concerns, or vendor impacts. Governance, Reporting, and Portfolio Evidence Provide accurate, decision-useful information at the project, domain, and portfolio levels. Produce concise and timely status reporting that reflects actual delivery health, accomplishments, upcoming milestones, risks, issues, dependencies, decisions, changes, and support needed. Prepare sponsors and governance bodies for decisions by framing implications, options, recommendations, and requested action. Provide the Program Manager with current delivery evidence, dependencies, decisions, capacity concerns, and portfolio implications. Participate in domain or portfolio governance when project impact, escalation, or a leadership decision requires it. Maintain project artifacts as current working controls rather than static documents created only for compliance. Adhere to applicable project lifecycle, governance, audit, documentation, and records-management requirements. Stakeholder and Sponsor Leadership Build shared understanding, timely decisions, and sustained accountability. Develop and maintain a stakeholder and communication approach appropriate to the initiative. Build productive relationships with sponsors, business owners, team members, delivery partners, and vendors. Clarify stakeholder responsibilities, decision expectations, readiness obligations, and acceptance criteria. Communicate clearly, concisely, and at the appropriate level for executives, governance groups, and delivery teams. Use active listening, confirm shared understanding, surface difficult information constructively, and close the loop following decisions or changes. Influence outcomes and resolve conflict professionally without relying on positional authority. Change Readiness, Adoption, and Benefits Support Connect technical or project completion to operational readiness and intended value. Identify stakeholder, process, technology, policy, operational, clinical, contractual, and support impacts as applicable. Integrate readiness, communications, training, adoption, acceptance, stabilization, and transition activities into the project plan. Confirm accountable owners for operational readiness, sustained adoption, and post-delivery outcome measurement. Track readiness criteria separately from task completion and escalate unresolved ownership, adoption risk, or acceptance gaps before implementation. Connect project deliverables and acceptance criteria to intended outcomes and preserve evidence of changes that may affect the benefit case. Ensure the transition from project delivery to business outcome ownership is explicit at closure. Team Leadership and Continuous Improvement Create an organized, collaborative, and accountable delivery environment. Set clear expectations for team members and reinforce ownership of commitments, deliverables, decisions, and follow-up actions. Promote collaboration, inclusion, transparency, and professional conduct across matrixed teams. Adapt leadership and delivery practices to project complexity, team needs, and changing conditions. Apply structured problem-solving and facilitate timely resolution of conflict or ambiguity. Capture lessons learned and contribute reusable practices, templates, and improvements to PMO delivery standards. Use approved collaboration and portfolio tools to maintain transparent, accessible, and reliable project information. Perform other duties as assigned or requested. EDUCATION Minimum High School Diploma/GED Preferred Bachelor’s degree in business, technology, healthcare administration, operations, project management, or a related field, or equivalent relevant experience. Advanced education or professional development in project management, business, technology, healthcare administration, change management, or a related discipline. EXPERIENCE Minimum **Due to Department of Defense (DOD) contract requirements, the incumbent who fills this position must be a US citizen, and must also pass a background check** 1 - 3 years experience in a project manager role and/or in a project leadership role Preferred Five or more years of progressively responsible experience leading projects, initiatives, or complex cross-functional work. Demonstrated experience developing and maintaining project charters, integrated plans, schedules, RAID logs, decision logs, status reports, and stakeholder communications. Experience coordinating delivery across business and technical teams in a matrixed environment. Experience managing scope, schedule, dependencies, risks, issues, decisions, changes, and resource constraints. Demonstrated ability to communicate with sponsors and leaders, facilitate decisions, and present clear recommendations. Experience in healthcare, insurance, regulated operations, technology-enabled delivery, or another complex environment. Experience with structured project lifecycle, governance, audit, or compliance requirements. Experience with both business and technology initiatives and with predictive, agile, or hybrid delivery approaches. Experience coordinating vendors or external delivery partners. Experience using portfolio-management and collaboration platforms to support transparent project controls and reporting. LICENSES/CERTIFICATIONS Required None Preferred PMP certification or comparable project management training or certification. Change-management or agile certification is also valued where relevant. SKILLS Project planning and integrated schedule management RAID, dependency, decision, and change management Sponsor and stakeholder engagement Executive and delivery-team communication Meeting facilitation and action management Problem-solving, negotiation, and conflict resolution Financial and vendor coordination Change readiness, adoption, and transition planning Team leadership and accountability Strong organization, judgment, and follow-through What Success Looks Lik e Creates a delivery structure that the team understands and actively uses. Maintains reliable, current evidence of project health and does not allow key artifacts to become stale. Surfaces risks, issues, dependencies, and decision needs early enough for meaningful action. Brings sponsors clear implications, options, recommendations, and requested decisions. Keeps the project team focused on outcomes, commitments, readiness, and acceptance rather than activity alone. Balances process discipline with practical judgment and scales controls to the initiative’s complexity and risk. Protects delivery momentum while maintaining transparency when commitments are threatened. Completes an explicit, evidence-based handoff from project delivery to operational ownership and benefit follow-through. ROLE DISTINCTION The Project Manager owns initiative-level planning and execution. The role is more than meeting coordination and status administration: it requires active leadership of delivery, evidence, accountability, risk, decisions, readiness, stakeholder alignment, and transition to operations . PHYSICAL, MENTAL DEMANDS and WORKING CONDITIONS Position Type Remote Teaches / trains others regularly Occasionally Travel regularly from the office to various work sites or from site-to-site Rarely Works primarily out-of-the office selling products/services (sales employees) Never Physical work site required No Lifting: up to 10 pounds Constantly Lifting: 10 to 25 pounds Occasionally Lifting: 25 to 50 pounds Occasionally Disclaimer: The job description has been designed to indicate the general nature and essential duties and responsibilities of work performed by employees within this job title. It may not contain a comprehensive inventory of all duties, responsibilities, and qualifications required of employees to do this job. Compliance Requirement : This job adheres to the ethical and legal standards and behavioral expectations as set forth in the code of business conduct and company policies. As a component of job responsibilities, employees may have access to covered information, cardholder data, or other confidential customer information that must be protected at all times. In connection with this, all employees must comply with both the Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) as described in the Notice of Privacy Practices and Privacy Policies and Procedures as well as all data security guidelines established within the Company’s Handbook of Privacy Policies and Practices and Information Security Policy. Furthermore, it is every employee’s responsibility to comply with the company’s Code of Business Conduct. This includes but is not limited to adherence to applicable federal and state laws, rules, and regulations as well as company policies and training requirements. Pay Range Minimum: $68,400.00 Pay Range Maximum: $105,900.00 Base pay is determined by a variety of factors including a candidate’s qualifications, experience, and expected contributions, as well as internal peer equity, market, and business considerations. The displayed salary range does not reflect any geographic differential Highmark may apply for certain locations based upon comparative markets. Highmark Health and its affiliates prohibit discrimination against qualified individuals based on their status as protected veterans or individuals with disabilities and prohibit discrimination against all individuals based on any category protected by applicable federal, state, or local law. California Consumer Privacy Act Employees, Contractors, and Applicants Notice