Director, Product Strategy and Operations

The Director will focus on supporting strategy and operations across the Product Design and Support department that encompasses product development, product management, sales, marketing, business development and partnerships. They will advance our work at a tactical, strategic and operational level, often handling the oversight of projects that do not neatly fit within the organizational chart or which fall between departments or leaders' areas of responsibility. They will have an immediate impact on our productivity, streamlining strategic initiatives, overseeing program management, and communicating objectives between departments. The ideal candidate will have proven experience in a business management role, with a special focus on executive-level advising and interdepartmental collaboration. They will work with outside organizations as well as NCQA staff to improve our understanding of and responsiveness to customer needs. This position reports to the Chief Product Officer (CPO). There is no direct staff management but this person will need to independently lead and mentor staff within the department as well as across departments on relevant aspects of strategic initiatives.

Primary Responsibilities:

• Oversee strategic business initiatives from development through successful execution under the guidance of senior leadership and departmental heads.
• Drive timely and effective completion of high priority projects and initiatives of the CPO, identifying any obstacles and working towards resolution, and regularly communicating initiative status to the CPO and Leadership Team.
• Identify and take on ad hoc strategic projects (for example, executing key initiatives or closing any operational gaps)
• Interface with governance committees to provide analyses and updates to foster transparency, alignment and timely decision-making. Share and apply learnings from successes/failures.
• Manage improvement efforts for current processes and coordinate organizational procedures for optimized efficiency and productivity.
• Facilitate change management initiatives around culture, capabilities, and performance.
• Lead assessment of current organizational capabilities and help frame build, borrow, buy strategies to support new organizational competencies.
• Represent NCQA in meetings with current and potential customers, pilot participants, partners, and stakeholders.
• Gather and share intelligence internally and externally, supporting executives in decision-making, program management, and initiative implementation.
• Identifies opportunities to diffuse knowledge, reduce silos, cross-fertilize ideas, create sharing opportunities, and facilitate organization-wide collaboration and creativity.
• Maintain an organized approach, clarity of purpose, and goal orientation in a rapidly changing environment involving multiple stakeholders of various levels from throughout the organization.

• Collaborate with Human Resources to integrate agile principles and digital transformation into the design, implementation and evaluation of training and certification initiatives that build organizational capacity as a competitive advantage.
• Collaborate across functions (e.g., IT (Information Technology), PM (Performance Measurement), Ops) to develop and refine strategic plans and actions that include state of the art applications and activities.
• Collaborates with Communications to implement tools and scientific strategies that build and continuously reinforce organizational identity.

Requirements:

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree (e.g. MBA, MSc) or higher preferred.
• 7+ years of business development, corporate strategy, program development, customer relationship management, operations and change management
• 3+ years in a business or executive management role with record of accomplishment of organizing and directing teams and departments
• Strong organizational skills, conflict management skills, problem solving skills and ability to juggle multiple concurrent priorities at one time with flexibility, agility and patience, being organized and disciplined, showing attention to detail, and following up doggedly to ensure the right results.
• Business savvy, including an understanding of the marketplace, competitors, and technology and what is required for sustained operating results.
• Experience developing strategic vision and transforming vision into an operational model.
• Effective communication to help refine the leader's message and ensure that it is understood by the right audiences.

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

NCQA is a drug free workplace. NCQA recruits, hires, trains and promotes individuals, and administers any and all personnel actions, without regard to race, color, religion, national origin, age, sex, pregnancy, citizenship, familial status, disability status, veteran status, genetic information, or other protected statuses under applicable state and federal laws.

NCQA will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c).