C

Centene

Runs government-backed health insurance plans

VP Network Strategy and Management Solutions

Full-Time
$171.9k - $326.9k/yr
Expert
Bachelor's, MBA
California, USA+4 moreMore locations: Texas, USA | Florida, USA | New York, NY, USA | Missouri, USA
Remote
Business & StrategyCorporate Strategy

About the job

Requirements
  • A bachelor's degree in Business, Management, Healthcare Administration, or a related field is required, or equivalent experience reflecting the position's applicable knowledge, duties, scope, and skill.
  • At least 10 years of healthcare administration, network development, or provider/payor contracting experience in a healthcare or managed care environment is required.
  • Experience in provider network development and strategy, provider contract negotiations, leading network development staff, and unit cost and network strategy budgeting is required.
  • Previous management experience, including hiring, training, assigning work, and managing staff performance, is required.
Responsibilities
  • Lead strategy development and execution for the growing ICHRA product, including building provider networks with dedicated rates across current and future markets for Centene employees and external members.
  • Expand provider network development and value-based contracting activities.
  • Assist with value-based contracting provider network strategy, including provider contract negotiation, development of new value-based models, driving provider performance related to quality and reduction of avoidable healthcare costs, assisting with preparation for provider performance meetings, and supporting decision-makers with analysis related to historical and projected provider performance.
  • Develop relationships in multiple markets and implement strategies with key providers, provider associations, and provider stakeholders.
  • Lead key provider negotiations with hospitals, physicians, ancillary providers, and community health centers.
  • Develop and implement network development strategy plans with key providers in multiple markets.
  • Oversee the development of provider networks across expansion markets.
  • Manage budgeting and forecasting initiatives for stakeholder/network strategies, product lines, network costs, and/or provider contracts.
  • Develop and coordinate provider advisory boards, committees, and governance, and maintain relationships with key provider leadership.
  • Assist and advise on key provider relations and strategies.
  • Evaluate opportunities to expand or change the network to meet company goals.
  • Perform other duties as assigned and comply with all policies and standards.
Desired Qualifications
  • An MBA is preferred.

About the company

Centene runs government-backed health insurance plans in the United States, with Medicaid as its largest business alongside Medicare and Affordable Care Act Marketplace coverage. It is one of the largest Medicaid insurers in the country and also runs plans for people eligible for both Medicare and Medicaid, long-term care and children in foster care. States and the federal government pay Centene a set amount per member to manage care, and individuals buy its Ambetter Marketplace plans, often with federal subsidies. Centene contracts with local doctors, hospitals and pharmacies and keeps the difference between premiums and the cost of care. The company was founded in 1984 in Milwaukee and is headquartered in Clayton, Missouri.

Company Size

10,001+

Company Stage

IPO

Headquarters

Clayton, Missouri

Founded

1984

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Simplify's Take

What believers are saying

  • Profits are recovering: July 2026 results lifted full-year adjusted EPS guidance above $4.80.
  • Revenue keeps growing: second-quarter revenue reported in July 2026 rose nearly 10% to about $53.6 billion.
  • Large employer, many paths: Centene had 59,800 employees in June 2026 across Medicaid, Medicare and Marketplace plans.

What critics are saying

  • Job security is shaky: in June 2026 Centene offered buyouts to most employees after steep membership losses.
  • Exchange enrollment is shrinking: Marketplace members fell from about 5.9 million in June 2025 to 3.5 million in June 2026.
  • Revenue rides on Medicaid rolls: enrollment fell 5.5% in a year to 12.1 million by June 2026.

What makes Centene unique

  • Government coverage is the whole business: Centene serves more than 1 in 15 Americans across all 50 states.
  • It began as a safety-net plan: a former hospital bookkeeper founded it in 1984 to serve Milwaukee's low-income patients.
  • It runs specialty Medicaid: its Superior HealthPlan has been Texas's sole foster care insurer since 2008.

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Benefits

  • Health Insurance
  • 401(k) Retirement Plan
  • 401(k) Company Match
  • Paid Vacation
  • Hybrid Work Options
  • Flexible Work Hours

Company News

Yahoo Finance
Oct 14th, 2026
Centene shares rise 6.6% as it launches Gold Card scheme and redeems $568.66M of notes

Centene Corporation announced three moves in October 2026: a performance-based prior authorisation programme, a debt redemption, and a primary care expansion. Its shares are up 6.6%. The National Performance-Based Gold Card Program begins in November 2026. It aims to streamline prior authorisation for more than 160,000 eligible providers. Centene will also redeem all remaining $568.66 million of its 4.25% Notes due 2027. The move tightens its balance sheet as it works to recover margins in Medicaid and the Marketplace. Separately, its Ambetter Health Solutions unit is working with Marathon Health to expand primary care access in select Indiana and Missouri counties.

Fortune
Oct 13th, 2026
Centene CEO says health care's big AI opportunity lies beyond billing automation

Centene chief executive officer Sarah London says most AI deployed in health care today serves "inflationary use cases," tools that raise revenue in a fee-for-service system rather than cut the cost of care. Speaking at the Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit in Santa Barbara, she said faster billing and automated paperwork don't make care cheaper. London sees a bigger opportunity in changing how care is delivered. In rural areas, AI could help community health workers triage non-acute problems locally and avoid emergency room visits. Interactive tools could also let patients make initial decisions without a clinician visit. "That's actually how you bend the cost curve," she said. Centene, a $33 billion company, serves 26 million members through Medicaid plans in 29 states, plus marketplace and Medicare Advantage coverage.

Yahoo Finance
Oct 13th, 2026
Centene shares rise 3.5% on gold card plan to ease prior authorisation for 160,000 providers

Centene shares rose 3.5% in afternoon trading after the health coverage company said it will launch a National Performance-Based Gold Card Program in November 2026. The stock closed at $68.88, up 2.8%. The programme will streamline prior authorisation reviews for select outpatient services. More than 160,000 qualifying healthcare providers nationwide will be eligible. Prior authorisation is the process by which insurers approve medical care before it is delivered. Centene is up 64.9% since the start of the year and close to its 52-week high of $69.41, set in September 2026.

Modern Healthcare
Oct 13th, 2026
Centene to launch prior authorization gold card program.

Centene to launch prior authorization gold card program. Last Updated October 13, 2026 12:06 PM CDT Centene is launching a new program next month aimed at streamlining the prior authorization process for some providers.

Banca di Bologna
Oct 13th, 2026
Centene CEO Sarah London says Medicaid patients are the last to benefit from health care innovation. She wants AI to change that.

Centene CEO Sarah London says Medicaid patients are the last to benefit from health care innovation. She wants AI to change that. Fortune 2 hours ago 81 Discover more Read Daily News The latest innovations and breakthroughs in health care don't get routed to the sickest people, they usually go to the deepest pockets. "Most of the venture money in health care goes into where the money is, and the money isn't in Medicaid," Centene CEO Sarah London said on Monday at Fortune's Most Powerful Women Summit. "That means that underserved communities don't actually benefit from innovation first. Sometimes they never do." Centene, a $33 billion company based in Missouri, is built around those very communities. The company runs Medicaid plans in 29 states and sells individual marketplace plans and Medicare Advantage. London, a mainstay of Fortune's Most Powerful Women and the youngest CEO in the Fortune 500, said Centene's 26 million members are "among the poorest, sickest members of the communities that we all live in," she told Fortune senior writer Sheryl Estrada. London, who took the CEO role four years ago at age 41, said she joined Centene because she believed health care and technology had reached an inflection point, and she wanted to lead a company that was part of getting more care to people who are usually last to get it. According to London, AI offers a massive opportunity to change the way people seek an... BankBit shares this Content always with CC License Screenshot generated in real time with SneakPeek Suite * Homepage * Finance * Centene CEO Sarah London says Medicaid patients are the last to benefit from health care innovation. She wants AI to change that.