Director, Clinical Performance and Operations - Cigna Healthcare - Hybrid

Position Summary

Reporting into the Office of the Chief Medical Officer, this role is a critical member of the Clinical Strategy and Operations leadership team and serves as a critical program execution partner for high-priority, cross-functional clinical initiatives—translating CMO and enterprise priorities into coordinated plans, clear governance, and measurable results. The Director, Clinical Performance and Operations, drives disciplined execution, accountability, and communication across teams; prepares executive-ready briefing materials for CEO engagements; and ensures timely follow-through on decisions and action items. Operating comfortably at a dynamic pace, the role acts as a central liaison to drive clarity, alignment, and momentum on enterprise priorities and will report to the Managing Director, Enterprise Clinical Strategy and Operations.

Key Responsibilities

Program & Initiative Oversight

• Drive high-priority, cross-functional initiatives across the Office of the Chief Medical Officer; ensure execution, accountability, and communication across teams.
• Own end-to-end process for initiatives from intake through closeout: scope, schedule, dependencies, risks, decisions, outcomes, and value realization.
• Oversee the development and use integrated project plans, roadmaps, and delivery artifacts (e.g., charters, RACIs, milestones, dashboards) to ensure clear accountability and on-time execution.
• Proactively manage risks, issues, and dependencies; drive mitigation strategies and timely resolution across stakeholders.
• Partner with stakeholders to manage scope changes and assess impacts to timelines, resources, and outcomes.
• Prioritize needs across multiple initiatives simultaneously in a fast-paced, evolving environment; operate effectively with ambiguity and minimal direction.

CMO Briefings, Meetings & Follow-Through

• Prepare comprehensive briefing materials for CEO and team meetings—partnering with cross-functional stakeholders to synthesize key insights, risks, trade-offs, and recommendations.
• Develop concise, executive-ready reporting that communicates progress, risks, decisions required, and performance metrics.
• Ensure staff provide CMO meeting logistics and content flow (agenda, prereads, stakeholder inputs) and ensure timely follow-through on action items and commitments.
• Maintain a decision and action log; track ownership, due dates, and outcomes; escalate blockers to ensure momentum.
• Support leadership routines and governance forums (kickoffs, status reviews, risk/decision reviews, retrospectives), including facilitation support and documentation.

Stakeholder Management & Communications

• Act as a central liaison across teams, facilitating communication and driving clarity on priorities emerging from the Office of the Chief Medical Officer
• Serve as a connector across business units and functions to ensure consistent messaging, sequencing, and change management across initiatives.
• Lead on clinical L&D, along with community and culture-building initiatives
• Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders; foster collaboration, value other perspectives, and gain support and buy-in for recommendations.
• Craft internal communications (and partner on external communications as needed) to inform, educate, and facilitate adoption of priorities, strategy, and operating changes.
• Develop and maintain dashboards and KPI reporting tools to support performance management and transparent progress tracking.

Team Leadership

• Provide overall leadership and direction for the team , with full accountability for hiring, goal setting, coaching, performance management, and development to ensure strong individual and team performance.
• Effectively deploy and leverage team capabilities to achieve results , aligning skills and capacity to priorities, setting clear expectations, and holding the team accountable for delivering outcomes in support of business objectives.
• Drive sustained engagement and a high‑performance culture , fostering trust, inclusion, and collaboration while actively developing talent, addressing engagement drivers, and leading the team through change.

Portfolio, Strategy & Investment Support (as needed)

• Support development of annual and multi-year strategic roadmaps informed by market/competitive insights and enterprise priorities.
• Monitor and evaluate initiative performance; provide recommendations to improve impact, efficiency, and stakeholder experience.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required (Business, Project Management, Communications, Healthcare, or related field) or equivalent experience.
• 7+ years of program/project management experience delivering complex, cross-functional initiatives in a matrixed environment.
• Demonstrated proficiency in core program management disciplines: planning, scheduling, risk/issue management, dependency tracking, governance, and change control.
• Demonstrated experience leading and managing teams, with accountability for setting direction, driving results, and building a high‑performing, engaged organization.
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills, including preparation of executive-ready materials and presenting to senior leaders.
• Strong stakeholder management and influence skills; ability to move diverse teams toward a common outcome.
• Comfort with ambiguity, organizational agility, and a strong drive for results; disciplined follow-through and accountability orientation.
• Proficiency with project and collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft Office/Teams, SharePoint; program management tooling such as Wrike, Microsoft Project, or similar).

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree preferred (MBA, MHA, MPH) or equivalent experience.
• Experience supporting executive leaders or working in a Chief of Staff / executive operations role.
• Experience leading organizational transformation and applying change management principles, methodologies, and tools.
• Healthcare payer/provider, PBM, or integrated delivery system experience.
• Experience using AI-enabled productivity or project management solutions to accelerate planning, synthesis, and reporting.

If you will be working at home occasionally or permanently, the internet connection must be obtained through a cable broadband or fiber optic internet service provider with speeds of at least 10Mbps download/5Mbps upload.

About The Cigna Group

Doing something meaningful starts with a simple decision, a commitment to changing lives. At The Cigna Group, we’re dedicated to improving the health and vitality of those we serve. Through our divisions Cigna Healthcare and Evernorth Health Services, we are committed to enhancing the lives of our clients, customers and patients. Join us in driving growth and improving lives.

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 need a reasonable accommodation to complete the online application process, please email [email protected] for assistance. Please note that this email inbox is dedicated to accommodation requests only and cannot provide application updates or accept resumes.

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.

Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with all federal, state and local ordinances.