Lead Director, Strategic Initiatives

We're building a world of health around every individual , shaping a more connected, convenient and compassionate health experience.

The Lead Director, Strategic Initiatives will serve as a senior strategic advisor and individual contributor responsible for addressing high-priority, high-complexity business opportunities and challenges across Aetna Clinical Solutions (ACS).

Key Responsibilities

• Lead high-complexity and large-scale strategic initiatives and business cases requiring significant cross-functional analysis and executive engagement.
• Structure ambiguous business challenges, develop hypotheses and analytical approaches, and translate findings into actionable strategic recommendations.
• Develop rigorous strategic, operational, and financial assessments to evaluate new capabilities, investments, business opportunities, and transformation priorities.
• Conduct internal and external benchmarking and other fact-based assessments to identify opportunities to improve business performance and inform strategic direction.
• Lead opportunity development from initial problem definition through analysis, recommendation, and executive decision support.
• Partner with ACS leadership and cross-functional stakeholders to evaluate strategic alternatives, tradeoffs, risks, and organizational implications.
• Develop executive-level presentations, recommendations, and decision materials that simplify complex topics and clearly articulate strategic choices.
• Support high-priority executive requests and strategic projects where dedicated analytical leadership is required.
• Develop repeatable approaches, analytical frameworks, and problem-solving capabilities that establish the foundation for a future ACS internal consulting capability.
• Prepare and facilitate steering committees, leadership governance forums, and executive reviews for strategic initiatives, framing decisions, trade-offs, risks, and recommendations for leadership action.
• Incorporate funding, resource capacity, delivery dependencies, and expected value into strategic assessments and business cases so leadership can evaluate the full implications of major decisions.
• Identify opportunities to improve business performance through process optimization, automation, AI-enabled analytics, and productivity initiatives, and translate opportunities into actionable recommendations.

Required Qualifications

• 10+ years of progressive experience in management consulting, corporate strategy, strategic finance, business transformation, strategic planning, or related disciplines.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex strategic assessments, business cases, or enterprise-scale initiatives from problem definition through recommendation.
• Advanced analytical and structured problem-solving capabilities, including financial and quantitative analysis.
• Demonstrated ability to operate effectively in ambiguous environments and independently structure complex business problems.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to evaluate strategic, operational, and financial implications of potential decisions.
• Demonstrated ability to influence senior leaders and align stakeholders across organizational boundaries without direct authority.
• Exceptional executive communication, presentation, and storytelling capabilities.
• Ability to simultaneously manage multiple high-priority initiatives and changing leadership priorities.

Preferred Qualifications

• Management consulting or internal strategy experience.
• Healthcare or health insurance experience.
• Experience developing large-scale transformation business cases and strategic recommendations.
• Experience working with executive leadership on enterprise-level strategic priorities.
• Knowledge of clinical and health plan operations.

Education

• Bachelor's degree, or equivalent experience. Master's degree preferred.

Pay Range

• $100,000.00 - $231,540.00

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision coverage
• Paid time off
• Retirement savings options
• Wellness programs
• Other resources, based on eligibility