Director, Payer Strategy

About the role

Babylist is the leading registry, e-commerce, and content platform for growing families. More than 9 million people shop with Babylist every year, making it the go-to destination for seamless purchasing, trusted guidance, and expert product recommendations for new parents and the people who love them. What began as a universal registry has grown into a full ecosystem for new parents, including the Babylist Shop, Babylist Health, and a flagship showroom in Los Angeles. Hundreds of brands in baby and beyond partner with Babylist to engage meaningfully with families during one of life's most important transitions. With over $1 billion in annual GMV, and more than $500 million in 2024 revenue, Babylist is reshaping the $320 billion baby product industry. We're helping parents feel confident, connected, and cared for at every step. As we build the generational brand in baby, our mission remains simple: to connect growing families with everything they need to thrive.To learn more, visit www.babylist.com . Our Ways of Working Babylist is remote-first with team members across the U.S. and Canada who move fast, think smart, and use AI as part of how they work every day - not as an experiment, as an expectation. We come together twice a year to build the relationships behind the work, and we hire people who are genuinely excited about what's possible and prove it through how they show up. The Director, Payer Strategy will set the holistic payer strategy for Babylist Health and own the relationships, partnerships, and market intelligence that determine how the company grows its insurance footprint over the next several years. This is not a contracting execution role - it is a senior strategic leadership position responsible for setting the direction, sequencing, and structure of Babylist Health's payer development across both commercial and government (Medicaid) channels. This person will be the most senior payer leader at Babylist Health, partnering directly with the GM and Finance to model the business case for expansion, represent the company externally at the C-suite level with payer partners, and identify creative growth pathways - including acquisitions, third-party DME partnerships, and trade association strategy - that are beyond the scope of contract execution alone. The person in this role will manage a team of 3 including the Head of Medicaid Market Development, the commercial payer lead, and a payer operations specialist. They will lead setting the strategy they execute against and serving as the senior escalation point for complex negotiations, regulatory challenges, and payer relationship management.

Requirements

• 12+ years of experience in payer strategy, network development, or government/commercial contracting, with demonstrated success operating at a senior or executive level.
• Deep fluency across both Medicaid and commercial payer landscapes - you understand MCO structures, state-level program administration, reimbursement dynamics, and regulatory environments.
• A relationship network that spans payer C-suites, state Medicaid agencies, and industry trade associations - you know who to call and how to open doors that aren't accessible through standard contracting channels.
• Proven experience setting payer strategy at the organizational level, not just executing it - you've built the roadmap and been accountable for outcomes.
• Comfort with complexity and ambiguity: this is a high-growth environment where strategy and execution are both required, and where the playbook is still being written.
• Experience identifying and evaluating non-standard market entry strategies, including acquisitions, partnerships, or third-party contracting arrangements.
• Strong financial acumen - you can partner with Finance to build the business case, model ROI, and defend trade-offs to senior leadership.
• Background in DME, ancillary healthcare services, or a closely adjacent space is a strong plus.
• Health-tech or high-growth company experience is a plus; comfort working in an AI-forward environment where technology accelerates the work is expected.
• How You'll Make An Impact
• Set the overarching strategy across Medicaid and commercial payers, including covered lives targets, margin objectives, geographic sequencing, and long-term penetration goals.
• Determine how to balance speed of expansion with contract quality - making principled trade-offs between market access, rate, and operational readiness.
• Partner with Finance and the GM to model revenue impact, timing, and ROI of payer initiatives, and ensure payer strategy is tightly integrated with company-level planning.
• Define the strategic framework that guides the Head of Medicaid Market Development and commercial payer lead - including which states to prioritize, which MCOs to target, and how to sequence entry across markets.
• Own operational efficiency- managing the payer operations specialist to ensure signed contracts are billable by the go-live date

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