Director of Web Development, Leading Integrated Healthcare Organization_Ref#171-01

PEARSON PARTNERS INTERNATIONAL, INC.
POSITION DESCRIPTION AND

CANDIDATE SPECIFICATION

 

Confidential

Director, Web Development

 

 

The Company

 

Business Overview

Our client is a leading integrated health care organization serving the needs of millions of members across the country.  Nationwide, the company has over 100,000 technical, administrative and clerical employees and over 10,000 physicians representing all specialties.  This organization describes its mission as ?changing the way healthcare is delivered in the United States.?

 

To achieve this goal, our client has recognized the critical role of information technology.  The IT group is, in itself, a large company with over 5000 professionals and approximately a $1 billion budget for 2006.  The leadership at the top levels of the IT group are well regarded and the IT strategy is well-aligned with the business mission.  The company is investing in technology across the enterprise and working to raise the bar on how technology is planned, developed, implemented, and re-used.  Additionally, this team of leaders is strengthening the critical relationships with business partners by collaboration and designing solutions that can benefit multiple user groups. 

 

Corporate Culture

This client company is clearly in transition, and its culture is changing accordingly.  There is a shift underway as the business aspects of healthcare are coming into sharper focus throughout this organization.  The culture of the IT team today is a microclimate, and in many ways is ahead of the curve in becoming more innovative and entrepreneurial.  Many new initiatives are underway that require entrepreneurial talent and experience building businesses.  To deliver on these initiatives, a new breed of IT leader is now required.  In addition to meeting the technical qualifications, candidates must possess robust, broad experience, be exceptional at execution and offering creative solutions, have outstanding leadership and relationship building skills, and be pragmatic risk takers.  Individuals must also have fortitude and ability to adapt/  succeed in changing culture and complex environment.

 

 

The Position

 

Location

A desirable West Coast location

 

Reporting Relationships

This position reports to a Vice President who in turn reports to the CTO.  The successful candidate will lead a team of 175 people that is currently organized into four areas including two regional development teams, a shared services organization focused on content management, and a design consulting team that provides web development to the business partners across the enterprise.

 

Basic Function

The successful candidate will be responsible for managing the IT development phase of all major web projects supporting the sales and marketing and eBusiness side of the company.  A critical component is establishing an enterprise-wide portal infrastructure which can be applied to the many internal web-based systems and re-used throughout the company.  Additionally, he or she will need to evaluate the existing structure of the team and implement an organizational model that will best support the objectives.  Also needed is a review of the technical competencies/skill sets that the team offers to ensure the each member is current and forward thinking.  Another key element of the role will be forging productive working relationships across a complex organization that includes other IT teams as well as business partners.  The successful candidate will be the primary accountable executive for delivering IT solutions to the various business partners.  This will include negotiating overall performance expectations, committing on behalf of the IT team to meet those goals and facilitating the resolution of issues that could impact performance.  There are many exciting e-commerce/ web initiatives underway in membership administration, sales, marketing, pricing, underwriting, claims processing, and customer services solutions areas over which this person will have significant influence; the combined budgets of these projects are approximately $40 million.  For the right reasons regarding technology/ infrastructure, this role is housed in IT though its scope is enterprise-wide, including web development efforts underway in the company?s regions.  In short, this is a critical role for the company and it will be highly visible. 

 

Responsibilities

?  Lead the strategy and implementation of a utility enterprise-wide web portal infrastructure for all web application development teams and business groups including membership administration, sales, marketing, pricing, underwriting, claims processing, and customer service

 

?  Deliver web development projects including software development, systems integration, and integration testing as well as partnering with the testing organization 

 

?  Consult and collaborate with multiple business stakeholders and partners to clearly define business problems, assess ideas, identify and plan solutions, alternatives, and funding estimates as well as other necessary budget planning and forecasting

 

?  Plan, manage, and monitor IT Partner work requests; negotiate and create deliverable commitments and resolve issues in ways that are mutually satisfactory to the IT Partner and IT organization

 

?  Negotiate and manage service-level-agreements, (SLAs) performance commitments and metrics, and performance reporting to IT Partner

 

?  Manage communications and interface relationships with the Regional technology staff and national projects to ensure strategic and tactical alignment

 

?  Contribute to the creation of a high performance leadership team by providing motivation, leadership, and professional development of the technical staff

 

?  Actively advocate the implementation of SDLC standards and best practices for the technology delivery organization, particularly standards and best practice development guidelines for the Internet development group

 

?  Directly support the implementation of and adherence to standard QM and Testing methodologies as defined by the Testing Team

 

?  Provide input to the corporate IT Strategic Systems Plan, offering suggestions on many items including possible impacts of new or existing business strategies.  Develop and maintain demand forecasts for web development initiatives/ teams.  

 

?  Provide leadership in program/project prioritization and release packaging that accounts for business continuity and Business Partner needs in program and release reviews

 

 

The CandidateEducation

An undergraduate degree is required.  An advanced degree, likely in business information systems or computer science is preferred.

 

Required Experience

?  A strong and proven IT business leader who understands and leads the application of web technology creating real business value. 

?  A minimum of 10 years applications development and delivery experience with significant, recent experience in development specifically in the area of enterprise-wide web portal infrastructures is essential.  Ideally, the successful candidate?s career path will include roles of increasing responsibility, expertise in large scale software development, package deployment, integration, delivery, and maintenance experience in a multi-regional or national environment.

?  At least 10 years of large group leadership, budget management, and current knowledge of relevant technologies are highly desirable.

?  Track record of success in developing high performance teams that are geographically dispersed within a matrixed organization

?  Prior application development experience in a regulatory/compliance environment is critical.

?  Solid leadership experience and background in negotiating commitments to achieve long-term partnerships and results

 Personal Skills, Attributes and Qualifications

 

? Superb leadership, team building, interpersonal, and time management skills.  Must have the ability to generate trust and build alliances at all levels in the organization and with external vendors.

 

?  A track record of successfully operating in an environment and culture that is undergoing a transformation.  An individual who has played the role of active change agent and is comfortable with ambiguity and shifting roles inherent in this setting

 

?  A skilled communicator who offers a consistent and thoughtful message to colleagues and team members through formal and informal channels and many types of media

 

?  A hands-on, savvy executive who is analytical, knowledgeable, and confident in his or her intellectual capabilities; able to thrive in an open environment filled with other highly motivated, intelligent professionals; and willing to challenge senior managers and accept and encourage challenges from others.  An individual who is always working toward win/win relationships.

 

?  Expresses a proper sense of urgency from a personal perspective and for the nature of a given assignment.  Likes to achieve quick and accurate results.

 

?  A critical thinker with attention to detail who regularly seeks innovative solutions to complex business/technical issues.  Flexible, with the ability to know when to shift direction and when to be persistent

 

?  Possesses executive presence.  Capable of establishing immediate credibility with business partners as well as within the company; able to build consensus and achieve goals through influence versus direct line authority.

 

?  A high energy, results-oriented leader. Must be a self-starter with little supervision required.  An individual with the utmost professional and personal integrity. 



 For More Information, Contact:

 

Pearson Partners International, Inc.

8080 N. Central Expressway, Suite 1200

Dallas, Texas 75206

214-292-4140 ? Fax

response@pearsonpartnersintl.com

 

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