Senior Director, Affordability Strategy

The Senior Director, Affordability Strategy will serve as a leader responsible for shaping the affordability roadmap across the national ancillary and payment integrity teams at Cigna Healthcare. This role seeks an experienced strategist with deep healthcare expertise, capable of influencing executive decision-making and driving the ideation, design, and oversight of new affordability initiatives and solutions that align with enterprise and Cigna Healthcare organizational goals.

The ideal candidate will bring a consulting-grade toolkit, strong analytical and financial acumen, and a proven ability to operate at the intersection of innovation, business strategy, financial and operational execution. The role will also be responsible for comprehensively looking at the provider and payer landscape to identify and drive innovative approaches to address medical and admin cost trends, provider behavior, billing behavior, and improve health plan operations.

• Drive annual strategic refresh cycles, including 3-year outlook planning and initiative prioritization
• Defines reimbursement policies and tactical goals and objectives; directs strategy execution
• Assists affordability leadership in defining short and long‑term strategic needs, and work through multi management levels to track plan progress and execution
• Identify emerging trends impacting medical costs to inform new program and product development
• Serve as a strategic advisor to Cigna Healthcare senior affordability, clinical and operational leadership, translating enterprise and organizational priorities into actionable initiatives
• Act as a catalyst for change, positioning the Cigna Healthcare affordability and payment integrity team as a leading program help with value creation within the organization

• Support the design and refinement of affordability programs tailored to address specific trends and populations
• Partner with analytics, operations, product, and clinical teams to validate business cases and define success metrics
• Identify new and scalability of affordability programs and initiatives
• Support go‑to‑market strategies, communication and enablement efforts for new solutions
• Accountable for enabling the strategy set by leadership

• Collaborate with matrix partners across contracting, operations, clinical, finance, product, sales, transformation and innovation teams within Cigna Healthcare and across the enterprise to ensure alignment and execution.
• Develop executive-level communications, including strategy memos, presentations, reports, stakeholder updates and create comprehensive narratives

• Conduct external scans of the healthcare landscape to identify innovation and affordability opportunities and competitive threats, using data and qualitative performance to advise management relative to the national network and payment integrity strategy
• Analyze internal capabilities and gaps to inform strategic priorities and decisions
• Synthesize internal and external insights into actionable recommendations that shape enterprise and organizational growth initiatives

• Track and report on initiative performance, ensuring alignment with financial, operational clinical impact and experience goals
• Synthesize annual and multi-year plans to demonstrate tie back to affordability and enterprise strategies and goals

• Bachelor’s degree required; MBA, MPH, MHA or relevant advanced degree preferred.
• 8+ years with progressive experience in healthcare strategy or finance, ideally with exposure to top‑tier consulting or payer/provider/integrated delivery system strategy roles
• Demonstrated expertise in innovation, product development, and emerging technologies in healthcare
• Exceptional strategic thinking, problem-solving, and executive communication skills.
• Proven ability to deliver creative solutions to complex challenges
• Skilled in managing action items, tracking progress, and ensuring timely follow‑ups is preferred
• Financial acumen and experience with business case development
• Experience working…