Hybrid AD for Customer Support Center and Training at Washington Health Benefit Exchange

The mission of Washington Health Benefit Exchange (Exchange) is to radically improve how Washington residents secure health insurance through innovative and practical solutions, an easy-to-use customer experience, our values of integrity, respect, equity and transparency, and by providing undeniable value to the health care community.

The Exchange is a public-private partnership that operates Washington Healthplanfinder, the eligibility and enrollment portal used by one in four Washington residents to obtain health and dental coverage. Through this platform, and with support from a Customer Support Center and statewide network of in-person navigators and brokers, individuals and families can shop, compare and enroll in private, qualified health plans (as defined in the Affordable Care Act) or enroll in Washington Apple Health, the state Medicaid program.

The Exchange embraces the following equity statement adopted by our Board of Directors:

Equity is fundamental to the mission of the Washington Health Benefit Exchange. The process of advancing toward equity and becoming anti-racist is disruptive and demands vigilance to dismantle deeply entrenched systems of privilege and oppression. While systemic racism is a root cause of many societal inequities, we must also use an intersectional approach to address all forms of bias and oppression, which interact with and often exacerbate racial inequities. To be successful, we must recognize the socioeconomic drivers of health and focus on people and places where needs are greatest. As we listen to community, we must hold ourselves accountable to responding to recommendations to remedy inequitable policies, systems, or practices within the Exchange’s area of influence. Our goal is that all Washingtonians have full and equal access to opportunities, power and resources to achieve their full potential.

SUMMARY

The Associate Director of Customer Support Center (CSC) and Training reports directly to Chief Operating Officer (COO) and is responsible for ensuring efficient operations in two critical workstreams.  This includes: 

1.    Oversight and leadership for the Customer Support Center, serving as the Contract Manager responsible for successful achievement of the WAHBE CSC goals and objectives, and responsibility for all day-to-day management of the WAHBE CSC services. The CSC contract covers multiple years and involves substantial financial value over its duration. This position is directly responsible for the successful management of the WAHBE CSC contract – including amendment activity, vendor and vendor relationship, quality controls, processes, CSC solutions, specialized teams, etc. This position plays a pivotal role in building vendor relationships and influencing vendor success to achieve customer service excellence.

2.    The position also has oversight and leadership for WAHBE’s Training Program, which is responsible for planning, developing, and managing the training and readiness of all users of the Healthplanfinder and related systems, often referred to as Healthplanfinder Ecosystem, or identified as essential for operational implementation and aligned with priorities across the Exchange. 

This position functions as a customer success expert and provides consultation to other Exchange staff on customer-facing impact, cross-functional governance groups, and ensuring alignment with shifting organizational priorities, fiscal responsibility and continuum of customer assistance.  

This position coordinates with other departments to support key business functions and consultative role with other leaders and stakeholder partners regarding the customer experience, processes, best practices to continuously improve on the customer experience. 

This position is a senior leader within the Operations Department and partners closely with the COO – acting on behalf of the COO as needed; its AD, Operations counterpart; and the Senior Administrative Assistant. This position is expected to take on Department-level projects and represent the Department in various venues, projects and workgroups internal and external to the organization. The position is also a member of the Operations Department Management Team and is expected to establish positive working relationships across the team.

DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

•    Program Oversight and Leadership – CSC 

o    Contract Manager responsible for providing strategic, creative and logistical leadership and leading the development, implementation, management, and reprocurement of WAHBE CSC services.

o    Primary contact with call and chat services vendor. Facilitate regular communication about operational and customer-contact activities to ensure key performance indicators are achieved and maintained. 

o    Oversee vendor production through monitoring, feedback, resource planning, staffing, and all other methods to achieve and/or exceed metrics and SLAs.

o    Coordinate projected costs and monitor expenses to ensure they stay within budget guidelines. Review and approve invoices.

o    Work closely with key personnel, teams and technology subject matter experts to help ensure successful implementation of requirements and customer communications. 

o    Participate in cross-agency or enterprise-level call center workgroups that may include initiatives led by government agencies, health organizations, or other collaborative entities. Represent the organization’s interests, contribute to shared goals, and serve in leadership roles—such as chairing meetings—on a rotating basis as outlined in the group’s charter or governance structure.

o    Advise the COO and Executive Leadership by providing information and recommendations to assist with decision making related to CSC. 

o    Keep current on events in the industry and related technologies; evaluate emerging changes for impact on CSCs and potential impacts on the Exchange.

o    Provide supervision for CSC Manager. Provide support for staff reporting to these managers, including creating a community.

o    Effectively maintain staffing needed to support assigned business functions. 

o    Keep current on events in the industry and related technologies; evaluate emerging changes for impact on CSCs and potential impacts on the Exchange.

•    Program Oversight and Leadership – Training 

o    Provide oversight, leadership, and support for effective development, delivery and tracking of quality curriculum and train the trainer materials to support training for customer service representatives, WAHBE staff, brokers, navigators and other impacted stakeholders as appropriate. 

o    Advise the COO and Executive Leadership by providing information and recommendations to assist with decision making related to enterprise Training. 

o    Provide supervision for CSC Training Manager. Provide support for staff reporting to these managers, including creating a community. 

o    Effectively maintain staffing needed to support assigned business functions.

•    Operations Department Leadership 

o    Assists the COO in a leadership capacity and serves as a key member of the Operations leadership team. 

o    Collaborate with the COO, AD-Operations, and Sr. Admin Assistant to help facilitate key Departmental meetings and support key work products. 

o    Provide information as requested to support response to queries by Legislators, CMS, IRS and the Governor’s Office.

o    Collaborate with the COO and AD to maintain strategic and tactical goals and drive continuous improvement activities across the Operations Department. 

o    Represent WAHBE Operations as requested at internal and external forums.

•    Oversight and Leadership – General 

o    Furthers WAHBE’s Commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) by modeling a commitment to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and foster a team environment that operates in alignment with WAHBE values of integrity, respect, equity, and transparency. Applies a DEI lens to all areas of work, including leading the team, engaging with colleagues, and interfacing with external partners, including but not limited to insurance carriers, the Office of the Insurance Commissioner, and the Health Care Authority.

o    Manages the CSC and Training Business Owners within the Software Delivery Process. 

o    Assures managers are making programmatic decisions regarding system enhancements, provides business inputs, and informs design, prioritization, and implementation of changes in Healthplanfinder systems.

o    Manages workstreams responsible for critical, annual activities supporting Open Enrollment (OE) - before, during, and after

o    Maintain a safe and healthy work environment by establishing and applying organization standards and fostering collaborative teamwork.

o    Establish a collaborative working relationship with key stakeholders including participating health insurance carriers, Office of the Insurance Commissioner, Health Care Authority, and other state agency call center/CSC leaders

o    Ensure effective, customer-centric business processes are established, applied, evaluated, and improved to ensure an optimal customer experience.

o    Oversees the escalation and resolution of security and compliance issues by ensuring timely reporting to the COO, Compliance Officer, and CISO. Leads strategic coordination with vendors to develop and communicate actionable remediation plans. Drives cross-functional collaboration with Exchange leadership and staff to ensure effective resolution aligned with organizational standards and regulatory requirements.

o    Leads in support of annual Open Enrollment activities which occur throughout the year and are critical to WAHBE meeting its mission.

•    Perform other related duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS

Required:  

•    Four years’ experience in service provider/client/vendor management, business operations, contract management, and/or four direct experiences with call center and CSC outsourcing.  

•    Three years’ experience leading people and managing teams that provide customer service in complex environments and motivate individuals and groups to action. Hold space for brave conversations

•    Demonstrated experience working in business-to-business relationships and problem-solving with a diverse array of business partners and stakeholders, including facilitation of multiple stakeholders towards consensus or common understanding (if not agreement), preparing and making presentations, and otherwise engaging key partners and stakeholders. Work independently with little direction and maintain flexibility and adaptability. 

•    Demonstrated understanding of key principles for how adults develop and learn. 

•    Demonstrated experience in training and coaching customer service staff in highly complex situations involving personally sensitive information. 

•    Demonstrated ability to earn the trust, respect, and confidence of co-workers, partners, vendors, stakeholders and customers through consistent honesty, forthrightness, responsibility, and professionalism in all interactions.

•    Uses knowledge and understanding of the organizational and political climate to make decisions and take actions that satisfy diverse interests and contribute effectively to organizational goals.

•    Experience translating policy and regulation into effective business operations.

•    Experience leading cross-Department initiatives such as strategic planning, performance review and development, and employee engagement.

•    Experience incorporating DEI principles in work. Able to understand the needs and requirements of many different audiences. Able to bring others along in prioritizing a DEI approach to enrollment work.

•    Strong planning and organizational skills and an ability to handle multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment

•    Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, regarding complex or sensitive information or issues.  Produce high-quality work products.

•    Analytical skills to interpret marketing, systems, and other technical information and form conclusions and/or recommendations.  

•    Ability to maintain accountability of staff and work. Follows through and advocates for needs, follows all determined processes, knows when to escalate issues and concerns and serves as an escalation point.

Desired:

•    Washington state government procurement experience

•    Government, Healthcare or Health insurance industry experience.

•    Experience in support of a call center outsourcing service provider.

•    Project management education or certification. 

APPLICATION INSTRUCTIONS

This position will be open until we find a suitable number of candidates to review. If interested, please submit an application with a cover letter as soon as possible. The Exchange reserves the right to close the recruitment at any time. 

SALARY INFORMATION

Full Salary Range: $109,719.00 to $164,579.00 annually, with midpoint at $137,149.00. 

Hiring Range: $126,177.00 and $137,149.00 annually. This is an estimate of where a qualified candidate can expect to receive an offer. 

The actual salary offer will consider candidate experience, skills, qualifications, internal equity, and the market.  Our compensation policy reserves the salary range above the midpoint for employees who are meeting and exceeding expectations and for growth and development, up to the maximum. 

BENEFITS

Take a peek at our benefits package. https://www.wahbexchange.org/content/dam/wahbe-assets/careers/WAHBE%20Benefits%20Package1.pdf

WORKING CONDITIONS

Core business hours are 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday. There are times where irregular hours will be required.  The preferred duty station is our Olympia, Washington headquarters.  The nature of this role relies heavily on remote and in-person collaboration.  While a hybrid remote and on-site schedule may be considered, the position will require flexibility to allow for in-office availability as business needs dictate. Travel requirements will be limited, however there may be occasions where an employee is required to travel and work irregular hours to attend meetings or trainings. Duties of this position require the use of standard office furniture and equipment, including setup for remote work. The employee is responsible for providing and maintaining a safe, ergonomic, and secure workspace at their remote location.   

The working conditions and physical demands are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

A criminal background screen will be conducted for candidates under final consideration, and if hired, every five years of employment where highly sensitive data is processed or maintained by the position. The result of this background screen must meet the Exchange’s eligibility standards.

OTHER INFORMATION

The above statements are intended to describe the general nature and levels of work being performed.  They are not intended to be construed as an exhaustive list of responsibilities, duties and skills of personnel so classified.

This is not an employment agreement or contract.  Management has the exclusive right to alter this job description at any time without notice.

The Washington Health Benefit Exchange is an Equal Opportunity Employer (use this link: https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/discrimination ). All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

We participate in E-Verify. (use this link: https://www.wahbexchange.org/content/dam/wahbe-assets/careers/federal-e-verify-participation-poster-es.pdf) You can view the Department of Justice's Right to Work poster here. (use this link: https://www.e-verify.gov/sites/default/files/everify/posters/IER_RighttoWorkPoster.pdf)