Senior Manager of Behavioral Strategic Initiatives

MassHealth is seeking qualified applicants for the position of Senior Manager of Behavioral Health Strategic Initiatives within the Office of Accountable Care and Behavioral Health (ACBH).

MassHealth's Behavioral Health Policy team leads and supports the design, implementation, and ongoing evolution of behavioral health policy across the continuum of behavioral health services, including mental health and substance use disorder services. The Behavioral Health Policy team partners across MassHealth, the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS), members, providers, managed care entities, advocates, and other collaborators to ensure MassHealth members receive high-quality, outcome-oriented behavioral health care from a diverse and sustainable behavioral health care provider network.

The Senior Manager serves as a cross-cutting resource for the Behavioral Health Policy team, providing analytical, operational, financial, and strategic support across a diverse portfolio of initiatives. Unlike other Behavioral Health Policy positions that focus on a specific service area, this role works flexibly across the team's priorities—helping develop strategic analyses, solve complex problems, coordinate financial processes, strengthen leadership communications, respond to emerging issues, and provide additional capacity wherever it is needed most. Successful candidates will be comfortable quickly learning new policy areas, synthesizing complex information, and balancing strategic analysis and problem-solving with the coordination, planning, and execution needed to advance complex policy initiatives within a large public organization.

Duties and Responsibilities (these duties are a general summary and not all inclusive):

Strategic Analysis, Financial Coordination & Decision Support

• Analyze behavioral health utilization, expenditure, operational, and other data to identify trends, explain underlying policy and system drivers, and develop recommendations that inform behavioral health policy, strategic planning, and leadership decision-making.

• Interpret information from dashboards, reports, claims analyses, and other data sources; conduct targeted analyses to address emerging questions; and support inputs into budget development, rate setting, financial impact calculations, and leadership requests.

• Coordinate recurring financial processes across Behavioral Health Policy initiatives, including tracking financial assumptions, timelines, deliverables, budget inputs, and other requests.

• Develop recurring visualizations, strategic readouts, templates, frameworks, and other resources that help leadership monitor utilization, spending, system performance, and the impact of behavioral health policies and programs.

Flexible Strategic Support

• Serve as a flexible resource across the Behavioral Health Policy team by independently leading or advancing high-priority initiatives that span multiple policy areas or arise from evolving organizational priorities, leadership requests, or capacity needs.

• Quickly develop working knowledge of new behavioral health policy areas to resolve policy and operational issues, evaluate potential solutions, and independently move work forward in a fast-paced environment.

Strategic Communications & Collaboration

• Develop and support presentations, talking points, and other written and visual communications by synthesizing policy, financial, operational, and analytical information into clear recommendations for leadership and other audiences.

• Support internal collaboration and external engagement by coordinating cross-functional communications, gathering feedback, preparing materials for diverse audiences, and participating in meetings, as appropriate.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Knowledge of behavioral health care policy and programs, including Medicaid and Managed Care programs.

• Excellent communication skills to interact effectively with internal and external stakeholders and to deliver clear, concise communication material.

• Comfortable leading effective meetings and work sessions, with all levels of staff and leadership.

• Excellent PowerPoint and Excel skills and experience analyzing datasets using Microsoft Excel.

• Excellent time management skills.

• Ability to analyze and determine the applicability of behavioral health financial and programmatic data to draw conclusions and make appropriate recommendations.

• Ability to determine proper format and procedure for calculating information and presenting information accurately.

• Communication and presentation skills to interact with leadership, staff, providers and other stakeholders.

• Ability to exercise good judgement, attention to detail, and strategic thinking.

To Apply:

Please upload both Resume and Cover Letter for this position when applying. First consideration will be given to those applicants that apply within the first 14 days.

About MassHealth:

MassHealth is the Commonwealth's Medicaid and Children's Health Insurance Program, providing comprehensive healthcare coverage and services to approximately two million Massachusetts residents. Through partnerships with providers, health plans, community organizations, and government agencies, MassHealth works to improve health outcomes, reduce disparities, strengthen care coordination, and ensure access to high-quality, person-centered care. As one of the largest Medicaid programs in the country, MassHealth plays a critical role in advancing healthcare innovation, promoting health equity, and supporting the well-being of individuals, families, and communities across the Commonwealth.

Learn more: MassHealth

Pre-Offer Process:

A criminal and tax history background check will be completed on the recommended candidate as required by the regulations set forth by the Executive Office of Health and Human Services prior to the candidate being hired. For more information, please visit http://www.mass.gov/hhs/cori  

 Education, licensure and certifications will be verified in accordance with the Human Resources Division’s Hiring Guidelines.

 Education and license/certification information provided by the selected candidate(s) is subject to the Massachusetts Public Records Law and may be published on the Commonwealth’s website.

 If you require assistance with the application/interview process and would like to request an ADA accommodation, please click on the link and complete the ADA Reasonable Accommodation Request Form.

 For questions, please the contact the Office of Human Resources at 1-800-510-4122 and select option #4.

MINIMUM ENTRANCE REQUIREMENTS:

Applicants must have at least (A) five (5) years of full-time or, equivalent part-time, professional, administrative, supervisory, or managerial experience in business administration, business management, public administration, public management, clinical administration or clinical management of which (B) at least one (1) year must have been in a project management, supervisory or managerial capacity or (C) any equivalent combination of the required experience and substitutions below.

Substitutions:

I. A certificate in a relevant or related field may be substituted for one (1) year of the required (A) experience.

II. A Bachelor's degree in a related field may be substituted for two (2) years of the required (A) experience.

III. A Graduate degree in a related field may be substituted for three (3) years of the required (A) experience.

IV. A Doctorate degree in a related field may be substituted for four (4) years of the required (A) experience.

Salary placement is determined by a combination of factors, including the candidate’s years of directly related experience and education, and alignment with our internal compensation structure as set forth by the Human Resources Division’s Hiring Guidelines. For all bargaining unit positions (non-management), compensation is subject to the salary provisions outlined in the applicable collective bargaining agreement and will apply to placement within the appropriate salary range.

Comprehensive Benefits

When you embark on a career with the Commonwealth, you are offered an outstanding suite of employee benefits that add to the overall value of your compensation package. We take pride in providing a work experience that supports you, your loved ones, and your future.

Want the specifics? Explore our Employee Benefits and Rewards!

An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Employer.  Females, minorities, veterans, and persons with disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Commonwealth is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, sex, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, age, disability, national origin, veteran status, or any other basis covered by appropriate law.  Research suggests that qualified women, Black, Indigenous, and Persons of Color (BIPOC) may self-select out of opportunities if they don't meet 100% of the job requirements.  We encourage individuals who believe they have the skills necessary to thrive to apply for this role.