Director of Market Management at UNITE HERE HEALTH – Oak Brook, Illinois

UNITE HERE HEALTH serves 200,000+ workers and their families in the hospitality and gaming industry nationwide. Our desire to be innovative and progressive drives us to develop impactful programs and benefits designed to engage our participants in managing their own health and healthcare. Our vision is exciting and challenging. Please read on to learn more about this great opportunity!

PURPOSE

The Director of Market Management is responsible for the overall performance, sustainability, and strategic positioning of the local plans within an assigned geographic market. This role serves as the market “owner,” accountable for monitoring cost, quality, and utilization performance against budget and strategic targets, diagnosing variances, and developing actionable recommendations to improve results.

Beyond performance management, the role plays a forward-looking strategic function —assessing regulatory, legislative, competitive, and provider market dynamics to anticipate healthcare cost trends and risks. The Market Management lead proactively identifies and advances partnerships, contracting strategies, and coalition-based approaches that strengthen the Fund’s position and apply collective market pressure to drive affordability, quality, and access.

ESSENTIAL JOB FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES

Market Performance and Financial Stewardship

• Own and monitor market-level performance against budget, including medical cost, utilization, quality, and access (future metric: member experience) indicators ensuring alignment with budget and strategic goals.
• Partner with analytics team to assess drivers of cost and performance variation (e.g., provider pricing, site of care, utilization patterns, network leakage, benefit design interaction).
• Identify underperforming trends and develop clear, data-driven recommendations for action, including network, contracting, clinical, or operational interventions.
• Partner with Finance, Clinical, Network, and Operations teams to evaluate financial impact, feasibility, and implementation pathways for recommended changes.
• Support leadership and trustee discussions with fact-based analysis and strategic options and escalate risks through established governance forums.

Market Strategy and Development

• Lead the development of a market-specific strategy that reflects local union, plan and employer needs and considers local healthcare dynamics, provider landscape, and regulatory environment.
• Assess competitive positioning and emerging market forces (provider consolidation, new entrants, alternative payment models, employer coalitions, academic systems).
• Anticipate market-level healthcare cost trends and proactively recommend actions to mitigate risk or capture opportunity.
• Identify opportunities to strengthen position through targeted partnerships, innovative contracting, care delivery alignment, or benefit strategy refinement.

Regulatory and Legislative Monitoring

• Track and interpret state and local regulatory and legislative developments that may impact healthcare costs, provider behavior, or plan operations.
• Translate developments into actionable insights and strategic implications for the market.
• Collaborate with internal policy, legal, and compliance teams to ensure market strategies align with regulatory requirements and emerging mandates.

Provider, Partner and Coalition Engagement

• Build and maintain relationships with key provider systems, community stakeholders, and external partners within the market.
• Identify and participate in market coalitions or collaborative efforts that can influence provider behavior, pricing, quality transparency, or access.
• Support or lead discussions that create collective market pressure for change, particularly in high-cost or highly consolidated markets.

Governance, Reporting and Decision Support

• Develop concise, executive-level market performance summaries and strategic recommendations for senior leadership and trustees.
• Establish clear success metrics and tracking mechanisms for market interventions and strategic initiatives.
• Serve as the central point of accountability for market performance discussions, escalation, and decision-making support.

Other

• Sets goals and achieve measurable results.
• Contributes ideas to plans and achieving department goals.
• Exemplifies the Fund’s BETTER Values and professional effectiveness dimensions in contributing to a respectful, trusting, and engaged culture of diversity and inclusion.
• Performs other duties as assigned within the scope of responsibilities and requirements of the job.
• Performs Essential Job Functions and Duties with or without reasonable accommodation.

Market Management – Market Analytics Partnership Model

• Market Management: owns performance, strategy and recommendations.
• Market Analytics: owns insights, analysis, and performance intelligence.
• Shared Accountability: Translating data into action and measurable outcomes.

ESSENTIAL QUALIFICATIONS

Years of Experience and Knowledge

• 8+ years of experience in healthcare strategy, health plan operations, network management, consulting, or market analytics.
• Demonstrated expertise in healthcare cost drivers, provider contracting dynamics, and market-level performance analysis.
• Experience navigating or assessing healthcare regulatory and legislative environments at the state or local level.
• Experience working in high-cost, highly consolidated provider markets (e.g., major metropolitan areas).
• Familiarity with Taft-Hartley or multi-employer health plan environments (preferred, not required).
• Exposure to coalition-based purchasing, employer collaboratives, or value-based care initiatives.

Education, Licenses, and Certifications

• Bachelor’s degree required; Master’s degree (MBA, MHA, MPH, or related) strongly preferred.

Skills and Abilities

• Strong analytical skills with the ability to translate complex data into clear, actionable recommendations.
• Executive-level communication skills with the ability to present to senior leadership or boards.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional stakeholders and external partners without direct authority.
• Strategic mindset paired with operational discipline and follow-through.
• Exceptional organizational, planning and prioritization skills with ability to manage competing deadlines and multiple projects in a fast-paced environment.
• Nimble business mind with a focus on developing creative solutions.

OTHER JOB FUNCTIONS AND DUTIES

The information contained in this job description is designed to indicate the general nature and level of work performed in this job with a certain degree of specificity, where warranted. In no instance, however, should the duties, functions, qualifications, or requirements be interpreted as all-inclusive. Management may, at its discretion, assign or reassign functions and duties to or from this job at any time, due to reasonable accommodation or other reasons. Listed requirements, skills, qualifications and abilities included have been determined to illustrate the minimal standards required to successfully perform the position.

Salary range for this position: $153,600 ~ $195,900. Actual base salary may vary based upon, but not limited to: relevant experience, qualifications, expertise, certifications, licenses, education or equivalent work experience, time in role, peer and market data, prior performance, business sector, and geographic location.

Work Schedule (may vary to meet business needs): Monday~Friday, 7.5 hours per day (37.5 hours per week).

We reward great work with great benefits, including but not limited to: Medical, Dental, Vision, Paid Time-Off (PTO), Paid Holidays, 401(k), Pension, Short- & Long-term Disability, Life, AD&D, Flexible Spending Accounts (healthcare & dependent care), Commuter Transit, Tuition Assistance, and Employee Assistance Program (EAP).