Manager – Medicaid Market Research and Competitive Analysis

At Aetna®, part of CVS Health, we proudly serve more than 26 million medical members through our broad range of health plan offerings. We're committed to delivering a simpler, more meaningful, and personal health care experience to each of them.

As a  Manager, Medicaid Market Research and Competitive Analysis  you will play a critical role in supporting our Aetna members and our business by supporting the capture (proposal preparedness) and proposal lifecycle. This high-performing role is responsible for directing in-depth market, customer, and competitor research to inform capture strategy and proposal development, directly impacting and influencing our success rate on multi-billion-dollar procurements. By turning complex intelligence into clear, actionable insights, the analyst helps power Aetna Better Health’s Medicaid growth strategy and winning proposal responses and all functions within our business. The role collaborates closely and directly with capture leadership, proposal teams and consultants to ensure research is timely, strategic, and aligned with Aetna’s pursuit of all Medicaid managed care contracts, including recompetes and new business.

Primary Job Duties & Responsibilities:

• Market Research and Analysis: Strong expertise in intelligence collection and analysis, including competitive and customer intelligence. Curates market intelligence on customer and competitor programs, weaknesses, innovations, and performance in new and existing markets. Develops actionable insights from market research that inform strategic decision-making, drive customer-centric approaches and contribute to organizational growth and success.

• Collaboration: Collaborate with the Capture Director and critical business partners, including consultants (some of which might be junior level who this individual would influence and/or direct, as appropriate) to develop documents and tools for each assigned opportunity; including research reports, customer and competitor analyses, capture workshop deliverables, and other identified deliverables. Build and sustain from fellow colleagues from the executive suite to individual contributors.  Designs and executes research studies, reviews and assesses market data, and translates findings into actionable, data driven, market strategies.  Interprets and adapts strategic concepts to instruct or coach business partners and/or consultants, strategically directing market research and analysis.

• Comprehensive Documentation: Organizes and maintains research outputs in SharePoint, ensuring key insights and source materials are easily accessible to proposal writers and key stakeholders, which could exceed 100 contributors across all functions in our Medicaid business. This central repository’s accuracy and reliability are critical to the success of our proposal prework. Structures documentation in a highly usable, clear, concise format that facilitates quick reference during the RFP response phase. Synthesizes research findings into clear and concise reports, presentations, and dashboards, communicating research results effectively to stakeholders at various levels, from junior roles to senior executives within the organization.

• Project Management: Tracks progress and ensures timely completion of deliverables. Monitors progress objectives for a project team that directly impacts  business growth and development goals critical to the success of all business – in our existing and new markets. Work independently based on strategic direction and requires limited direction to complete assignments

• Proposal Development: Directs proposal team members during the proposal process by providing insight, recommendations, and relevant intelligence in support of content development.

Required Qualifications:

• 5+ years of experience in Medicaid Managed Care

• 5+ years of specialized experience in market research, competitive intelligence, or strategic analysis

• Experience developing competitor analyses and actionable insights

• Experience creating PowerPoint presentations that transform detailed research into clear, well-organized slides that support executive decision-making

• Strong organizational and analytical skills with experience managing multiple projects and shifting priorities under tight deadlines

• Proven project management skills and a proven track record of meeting milestones in fast-paced environments

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including experience translating research into strategic recommendations

• Experience communicating effectively with all levels of the organization, both technical and non-technical

• Proficiency in Microsoft Word, Excel, and SharePoint

• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft PowerPoint

• Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% to support capture planning, stakeholder engagement, and strategic proposal activities

Preferred Qualifications:

• Previous P&L and/or business development experience and project management experience in a Medicaid managed care setting. 

• Experience leading capture and proposal activities for significant opportunities ($1B+). 

• Experience in a capture function or executive leadership function for a managed care-based product for state Medicaid agencies. 

• Association of Proposal Management Professionals (APMP) certification(s). 

• State Medicaid agency experience or federal agency experience with CMS. 

• Experience using a variety of electronic collaboration tools. 

• Experience developing competitive analyses. 

• Developing executive presentation decks. 

• Managed care operations experience. 

Education:

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience