Principal Healthcare Consultant

The Principal Healthcare Consultant will play a central role in helping our clients to execute strategies to help them compete and win. We partner with health plans to adapt their product strategies to the evolving needs of their clients, creating offerings that strengthen and sustain their competitive advantage. The Principal works alongside plan client leaders in product management and line-of-business leadership to deliver on this opportunity: designing competitively differentiated benefits and services products for employer groups with highly tailored needs and finding where such investments can create leverage across books of business.

The Principal then leads engagements alongside our other consultants to execute this strategy, translating it into technology and operational designs, and enabling them within the plan's ecosystem. Strategic product thinking paired with practical execution is what sets us apart from traditional consulting firms. The Principal will be instrumental in achieving this balance, advising executive clients to set product strategies that can win share in the market, while ensuring that client staff and NASCO successfully execute the strategy to achieve desired goals.

• →Advises health plan executives on product strategy and innovation, helping them decide what to bring to market, when, and for which segments
• →Leads product strategy engagements from framing through executive readout, including portfolio review, product concept definition, and prioritized roadmaps
• →Defines and designs competitive health plan products, including benefit and plan design, network and pricing constructs, and funding arrangements, working with plan product, actuarial, finance, and sales partners to balance cost, value, and feasibility
• →Helps plans respond to highly tailored employer group needs, identifying where group requirements can be met through configurable offerings rather than one-off builds and where product investments create leverage across books of business through shared capabilities and sequencing that reduce costs and shorten time to market
• →Assesses market, regulatory, and competitive dynamics, including national carrier positioning, to shape offerings that differentiate rather than follow
• →Translates product strategy into executable plans, targets, success measures, and timelines aligned to plan years, rate filings, and bid cycles
• →Leads engagement on strategic work, directing the contributions of other consultants who take plans through operational design, configuration, and enablement within the plan's ecosystem
• →Participates in strategic pre-sales pursuits alongside commercial leaders, leading executive discoveries, framing customer problems, and establishing the value case before solutions are positioned
• →Develops practice points of view and reusable frameworks on health plan product strategy and innovation, working with the Market Intelligence team to ground them in current market data, and builds our reputation as a strategic partner by sharing them through customer forums, industry events, and published perspectives, including case studies and proof points of customer outcomes
• →Shares customer and market insight with product management to inform roadmap priorities and positioning

• Consulting or advisory experience serving health plans
• Experience at a Blue Cross Blue Shield plan or national carrier, or familiarity with Blues plan operations and inter-plan programs
• Product leadership across multiple lines of business, including Medicare Advantage product development and bid experience
• Familiarity with core payer administration platforms and how platform capabilities enable or constrain product design
• Published perspectives, industry speaking, or recognized thought leadership in health plan product strategy

• Master’s degree in business administration, Healthcare Administration, Public Health, or a related field
• Advanced coursework or formal training in innovation, portfolio management, or healthcare transformation

• 10 years of experience in healthcare payer operations, product management, product strategy, healthcare consulting, or related leadership roles
• 5 years of experience leading complex strategic initiatives or consulting engagements
• 5 years of experience working on or with health plans
• 8 years in consulting, strategy or solution design
• Experience engaging with executive stakeholders and influencing strategic business decisions
• Experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving multiple business functions and stakeholder groups

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, Business Administration, Public Health, Finance, Marketing, or a related field or equivalent experience

• Remote home office
• Requires frequent interaction with internal and external stakeholders
• Travel up to 20% may be for customer workshops, executive sessions, and industry events
• Must be able to use workstation at least 8 hours a day