Middleware Manager

09 Aug 2024

Vacancy expired!

Resp & Qualifications

COMPANY SUMMARY:

CareFirst, Inc., and its affiliated companies, generally referred to as CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield (CareFirst), is the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest private sector health insurer, serving the healthcare needs of 3.5 million members in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and portions of northern Virginia. The Company offers a comprehensive portfolio of products and services to individuals and groups, as well as state and federal government sponsored plans. With a market share almost three times that of the closest competitor, the company commands 45 percent penetration across the region.

In July 2018, Brian D. Pieninck assumed the role of President and CEO after serving as the company’s COO of Strategic Business Units and IT Division. Under his leadership, the organization completed an extensive review of its operations and clinical programs, resulting in an expansive 3-year strategy to grow and diversify the company’s core business. Along with a 5-year vision to drive the transformation of the healthcare experience across the continuum of its members, partners, and communities, the company has placed a renewed and intentional focus on fostering a mission-based culture, which drives every decision the company makes. The organization employs over 5,600 full-time employees in Maryland, Northern Virginia, the District of Columbia, and West Virginia. CareFirst has earned multiple workplace awards recognizing its leadership in diversity and inclusion, wellness engagement, and creation of a supportive and equitable work environment for all employees.

At CareFirst, you are part of an inspired, collaborative team that is building the healthcare experience we want for our families and our future. Every day, we make a meaningful difference in the communities where we live and work.

We practice empathy, seek to understand, invest in inclusion, demand equity and nurture belonging every day for our employees and the communities we serve. We rely on the rich diversity of our employees’ experiences and backgrounds to achieve our mission. Every year we host a Week of Equity and Action where we deepen our investment and commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. During this week thousands of employees engage in workshops and volunteerism with the goal of bettering themselves and our community.
  • Women make up around 70% of CareFirst’s employee population, and over 50% identify as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color).
  • We have 9 resource groups that connect employees over shared identities (LGBTQ, veteran status, race, etc.) and passions (climate change, healthy living, leadership development).
  • Employees are encouraged to give back and volunteer in their communities with their civic engagement hours.
As a not-for-profit, CareFirst regularly ranks among the most philanthropic organizations with $65 million invested in the community in 2020 to improve overall health, and increase the accessibility, affordability, safety, and quality of healthcare throughout its market area. The company’s employees consistently add to this impact by devoting thousands of volunteer hours to numerous community organizations and social causes. The company’s continued efforts to reinvest in community health care programs has repeatedly earned CareFirst regional accolades as a leading corporate philanthropist, including the No. 2 and No. 7 spots on the Baltimore Business Journal and Washington Business Journal’s 2019 list of top corporate givers, respectively.

PURPOSE:

This position is responsible for managing the Middleware Services team with responsibility for the installation, system administration, tuning, disaster recovery, monitoring, audit, problem resolution, and license management for all supported middleware technologies. The Manager will be responsible for a computing environment encompassing multiple software and hardware solutions in a scalable and highly available infrastructure, and administration on multiple platforms and operating systems both on-premise and in the cloud (Azure & AWS). The Manager will supervise teams of up to thirty Associates and Contractors and plans and sets goals and strategies within the context of departmental, divisional, and corporate policies and procedures.

The position requires strong verbal and written communication skills as well as strong budget skills to meticulously manage a 10+ million-dollar budget. It requires the ability to multi-task effectively, supporting multiple products, running projects, and troubleshooting seamlessly. It requires an understanding of how the middleware technologies interact with and rely on the operating systems and other supporting infrastructure such as databases, storage, network, and firewalls. Candidate requires strong troubleshooting, project management, and effective communication skills to collaborate with other technical teams, clients, and vendors on complex application and infrastructure designs across multiple internal and external tiers.

SCOPE DATA:
  • The Middleware Services team is responsible for software components supporting five thousand internal business clients, four million members, and sixty thousand providers across 24 CareFirst locations
  • Manager will supervise teams of up to 30 Associates and contractors.
  • Responsible for support of infrastructure used for business mission critical applications including Claims Processing, Enrollment, Financial, and Corporate websites and 250+ other applications.
  • Assists application developers and other clients with environment creation, application deployments, identification and resolution of problems related to supported middleware technologies. Ensures team members are available in 24x7 on-call schedule to provide off-hour support. Manager is the point of on-call escalation and emergency support.
  • Responsible for supporting the enterprise’s business resumption and disaster recovery strategies.
  • Manages department budget of excess of $10 million and regularly negotiates multi-million dollar contracts with large IT vendors.
  • Accurately account for software licenses on many different hardware and software systems both on-premise and in the cloud (AWS & Azure). There should be no material discrepancies during vendor software audits.
  • Current middleware technologies include:
    • Kubernetes and supporting technologies, such as the Nginx ingress controller, across a variety of cloud-based platforms, including TKGI and AKS.
    • Messaging products IBM MQ, TIBCO EMS, and Apache ActiveMQ
    • Application servers IBM WebSphere ND & Liberty, Tomcat, and SpringBoot
    • Web Servers IBM HTTP Server (IHS) and Apache HTTP
    • TIBCO BusinessWorks, BusinessConnect, Patterns Match, and related products
    • Pega Rules Software
    • Enterprise SFTP product, Axway Secure Transport
    • DevOps Tools including Jira, Jira Align, ALM, Apache Subversion, Urban Code Build, and Urban Code Deploy.
  • The Manager is also directly accountable for the professional well-being and development of associates within the section.

PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTABILITIES:

Under the general direction of the Director, Platform Solutions, the incumbent's accountabilities include, but are not limited to, the following:

1.

35%

Primary responsibility for the organizational structure, processes, and staffing within the section to ensure that each is consistent with corporate initiatives and adequate to meet section goals. The manager evaluates performance of each team member, generates development plans and sets goals within the context of the corporate policy. Must also hire, motivate, coach, counsel and develop team members within the context of the corporate policies and manages the team's budget. Ensures that staff has appropriate tools and training. Manages the leadership and planning to ensure resources are utilized appropriately to meet the Division's strategic objectives. Assigns responsibility and authority to appropriate staff within the team. Reviews staffing requirements within the team to ensure that each is consistent and adequate to meet department goals. Provides technical leadership and oversight as required to ensure that all software, applications, infrastructure, or systems for which they are responsible are monitored and tuned to ensure acceptable levels of performance and resource utilization.

2.

30%

Oversees the implementation, maintenance and strategies for the supported middleware technologies and related applications in support of the development and installation of new systems and enhancements to existing systems. Uses available tools and utilities to provide for necessary software and infrastructure maintenance activities: system monitoring, security, backup and recovery, performance and tuning, audits and change management. Assists application developers and other clients with environment creation and system deployments. Oversees software trials and evaluations and makes recommendations for software purchase and utilization regarding CareFirst middleware technologies. Assists application development and operations personnel in the identification and resolution of problems related to supported middleware platforms. Participates in 24x7 on call schedule to provide out of hours operational assistance. Exercises independence in identifying middleware problems and determining the necessary resources and activities for resolution. This includes quality assurance of design, coding, recoverability, data security, and adherence to corporate standards.

3.

15%

Researches technical and theoretical developments in supported middleware technologies to ensure that customers are receiving the most effective support to meet their business objectives. Provides input to the development of corporate IT standards and policies to ensure compatibility and integration throughout the company. Stays current in new IT technologies to maintain high level subject matter expertise.

4.

10%

Communicates with Directors and other corporate management to plan and implement Division Strategic Objectives. The manager also communicates with other IT and client personnel as well as vendors, consultants, auditors, other Blue Cross and Blue Shield Plans, Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

(BCBSA), the FEP Director's Office (FEPDO), and the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to coordinate and implement system projects and enhancements. Attend management sessions to ensure that the team's operation and long-range goals are coordinated within the larger framework of department, divisional and corporate initiatives.

5.

10%

Creates and manages departmental budget. Provides required financial reports, financial forecasts and status reports as required. Manages and negotiates vendor contracts for software and hardware purchases in excess of ten million dollars.

QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Required: This position requires a bachelor's degree and 7-9 years of experience in IT Operations or Systems Support, or total equivalent work experience. Experience in full life cycle project management. Proven ability to organize and manage multiple projects and to deliver projects on time and on budget. Demonstrated success in management and leadership. Prior experience with technologies and systems related to the department's core activities with the supported middleware technologies. Extensive experience with specific functions of area managed.

Abilities/Skills: Ability to teach, develop, and motivate others. Must have strong organizational skills and be a logical and analytical thinker. Must exhibit strong problem-solving skills with the ability to think broadly and consider impacts across systems and within the organization. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Excellent interpersonal skills, including the ability to negotiate and manage customer relationships and expectations. Extensive PC skills including Microsoft office software such as Word, Excel, Visio, and PowerPoint.

Preferred: Broad knowledge of CareFirst organization and operations. Experience with project management tools such as MS Project. Experience with best industry practices for project management (including resource estimating, tracking, metrics, gap analyses, and project mid-point reviews). Experience with both mainframe and client/server technology. Experience with other tools specific to the area managed. College Degree or MA preferred.

Note: The incumbent is required to immediately disclose any debarment, exclusion, or other event that makes him/her ineligible to perform work directly or indirectly on Federal health care programs.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to perform the essential duties and responsibilities of the position successfully. Requirements may be modified to accommodate individuals with disabilities.

The employee is primarily seated while performing the duties of the position. Occasional walking or standing is required. The hands are regularly used to write, type, key and handle or feel small controls and objects. The employee must frequently talk and hear. Weights of up to 25 pounds are occasionally lifted. Travel among CareFirst sites required

Department

Department:Middleware Services

Equal Employment Opportunity

CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield is an Equal Opportunity (EEO) employer. It is the policy of theCompany to provide equal employment opportunities to allqualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran or disabled status, or genetic information.

Hire Range Disclaimer

Actual salary will be based on relevant job experience and work history.

Where To Apply

Please visit our website to apply: www.carefirst.com/careers

Federal Disc/Physical Demand

Note: The incumbent is required to immediately disclose any debarment, exclusion, or other event that makes him/her ineligible to perform work directly or indirectly on Federal health care programs.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS:

The associate is primarily seated while performing the duties of the position. Occasional walking or standing is required. The hands are regularly used to write, type, key and handle or feel small controls and objects. The associate must frequently talk and hear. Weights up to 25 pounds are occasionally lifted.

Sponsorship in US

Must be eligible to work in the U.S. without Sponsorship

#LI-LD1

  • ID: #44722040
  • State: Maryland Columbia 21046 Columbia USA
  • City: Columbia
  • Salary: USD TBD TBD
  • Job type: Permanent
  • Showed: 2022-08-09
  • Deadline: 2022-10-07
  • Category: Et cetera