Staff Vice President, Quality Oversight & Vendor Management

Centene is transforming the health of our communities one person at a time.  As an Executive on our team, you could be the one who changes everything for our 28 million members.
 

Position Purpose:
Provides leadership and direction over the strategic sourcing process for all externally purchased goods and services and oversees the procurement standards and activities within Centene. This role will manage high-level relationships with internal stakeholders and strategic suppliers, ensuring mutually beneficial opportunities are created. It is accountable for developing and implementing programs to manage vendor risk and performance, confirming process validation and compliance with internal and external audit and regulatory requirements. Responsible for the quality assurance process and its integration with the business and Compliance, as well as for maintaining and enhancing the organization's vendor oversight program. Further, this position drives the research and analysis of strategic options/recommendations, partners with business and Compliance teams to identify trends and support improvement activities, provides deep industry expertise, thought leadership and consultative insights around best in class practices.

• Directs the upgrading of operational processes and creates a continuous improvement environment; continually evaluates new products, technology and processes that will enhance overall service
• Works with senior management to develop and manage strategic sourcing plans across the company to drive quality service and leverage buying power to achieve cost efficiencies and compliant outcomes
• Maintains and improves quality, performance and risk mitigation; develops and implements comprehensive risk assessment processes to monitor new and existing vendors which include an objective scoring criteria against financial, operational, regulatory, reputational, and technology risks, as appropriate
• Manages the quality assurance monitoring and reporting of operational results and compliance metrics
• Produces meaningful and actionable data and analytics from quality assurance audits; partners with Business and Compliance to leverage data for improvement activities
• Leads the development and implementation of new quality processes and procedures with a strong focus on trend identification, early issue detection and alignment with compliance requirements
• Ensures that the processes and methodologies for purchasing decisions are compliant with company goals and State and Federal Laws
• Ensures purchasing policies are aligned with business objectives
• Oversees the development and quality of all RFIs/RFPs to ensure customer satisfaction and compliance with all required policies and procedures
• Responsible for monitoring the operational aspects of the vendor relationship through spearheading the design, and execution of audits and evaluations of financial and operational performance that will confirm that contract terms, standards and expectations are met, which includes Internal operations (Claims, Appeals & Grievances, and Membership)
• Partners with Compliance to develop new or modify current audit processes that will enhance quality controls in areas of compliance risk
• Promotes effective monitoring of key vendors in order to reduce disruptions to the business; identifies and establishes audit tools and performs audits of at-risk vendors; tracks and improves noncompliance with suppliers
• Ensures that vendors adhere to all applicable legal, regulatory and accreditation mandates
• Manages the relationship governance process to ensure compliant operations and monitors fulfillment of contract obligations
• Responsible for service level management and reporting; publishes and manages performance and/or KPI monitoring
• Provides effective leadership to staff (direct and indirect) with particular attention to the effective recruitment, mentoring and ongoing leadership of the team
• Responsible for associates’ work climate and provides leadership for initiatives to improve/maintain a positive climate
• Performs other duties as assigned
• Complies with all policies and standards

Education/Experience:
Bachelor's Degree or equivalent experience required
Master's Degree in Business Administration or related field preferred
10+ years experience in vendor management, strategic sourcing and supply chain management required
Previous experience with internal demand/process analysis, external supply chain analysis, total system cost modeling, supply strategy selection, supplier selection and integration and relationship structuring/maintenance
Previous experience in developing benchmark performance and service levels