Special Olympics Kansas Health Strategy and Systems Manager

Job Description

Job Description

JOB SUMMARY

The Health Strategy and Systems Manager builds the partnerships, systems, and workforce infrastructure that expand and sustain Special Olympics Kansas (SOKS) Inclusive Health initiatives across Kansas. Core responsibilities include recruiting and managing Health Hubs, defined as provider entities under formal agreements to deliver SOKS Inclusive Health programs, strengthening community engagement and referral infrastructure, and leading data and evaluation functions.

Reporting to the Director of Inclusive Health, this position translates strategy and grant commitments into measurable results. The Manager works alongside the Health Programs Operations Manager, who leads daily program operations and Regional Health Program Coordinators, and focuses on strategic partnerships, systems development, and long term sustainability.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES, FUNCTIONS, AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Develop Health Strategy and Systems

• Translate strategic priorities, grant commitments, and community needs into scalable systems that improve healthcare access, coordination, and quality for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), particularly in rural and underserved communities.
• Identify service gaps and develop consistent frameworks, workflows, and implementation models across partners and communities.
• Strengthen statewide referral and care coordination infrastructure, including partner pathways, handoffs, escalation, and follow up through referral completion. Routine individual case navigation remains within program implementation.
• Support sustainability beyond individual grants through continued partnerships, shared investment, reimbursement pathways, and healthcare system integration.

Recruit Healthcare Hubs and Develop Strategic Partnerships

• Lead Hub and healthcare partner recruitment from prospect identification and outreach through commitment, agreement execution, and activation. Prioritize prospects using athlete locations, rural access gaps, community needs, geographic reach, workforce capacity, and organizational readiness.
• Build relationships with FQHCs, rural hospitals, health systems, clinics, provider networks, universities, and health departments. Engage executive decision makers and operational champions with compelling partnership proposals and consistent follow up.
• Work with the Director to establish scopes of work, funding structures, partner responsibilities, performance expectations, and measurable outcomes; clearly communicate what each Hub receives and delivers.
• Coordinate onboarding and launch, confirming executive sponsorship, a designated contact, implementation readiness, reporting expectations, and a shared launch plan. Track recruitment progress, next steps, decision timelines, and reasons prospects advance or decline.

Manage Hub Accounts and Partner Performance

• Serve as the primary strategic relationship manager for designated Hubs and funded partners. Maintain account plans covering objectives, contacts, deliverables, funding, timelines, communication cadence, risks, and growth opportunities.
• Monitor contracted deliverables, participation targets, reporting, and outcomes through regular partner reviews. Maintain shared records of interactions, decisions, commitments, and action items.
• Address performance barriers early; coordinate technical assistance and escalate unresolved concerns or corrective action recommendations to the Director.
• Coordinate implementation handoffs with Operations and regional staff. Support partner retention, renewal, expansion, modification, or closeout based on grant requirements, documented performance, and strategic value.

Lead Community Engagement and Outreach

• Develop outreach plans that support Hub recruitment, program participation, volunteer development, and community investment, with particular attention to rural and underserved communities.
• Represent SOKS in community meetings, coalitions, and partner convenings; build trust, identify service gaps, and connect community needs to practical partnerships and shared solutions.
• Coordinate outreach with Hub contacts and regional staff through Operations. Provide warm introductions and clear next steps, and follow leads through participation, volunteer onboarding, or partnership discussions.
• Work with communications staff on accessible outreach materials and partner messaging. Track reach, follow up, and conversion to active involvement; gather feedback and communicate how it informs decisions.

Develop Healthcare Workforce and Volunteer Strategy

• Develop a statewide strategy and sustainable pipelines for healthcare professionals, students, allied health professionals, Clinical Directors, trainers, and specialized volunteers.
• Build recruitment relationships with universities, professional associations, healthcare employers, residency and training programs, community colleges, Hubs, and community partners.
• Create systems for recruitment, onboarding, training, continued engagement, and leadership progression, converting initial involvement into recurring service, advocacy, referral partnerships, or organizational support.
• Set recruitment, retention, engagement, and capacity goals with Operations and regional staff. Routine event staffing and volunteer logistics remain within program operations.

Lead Data, Evaluation, and Grant Systems

• Directly supervise, coach, and support the Data & Evaluation Coordinator; establish performance measures, dashboards, evaluation frameworks, and practical partner data collection expectations.
• Strengthen data quality, outcome measurement, reporting infrastructure, and interpretation. Use findings and partner feedback to recommend improvements and inform strategy and future investment.
• Develop and maintain standard operating procedures and organized systems for agreements, partner management, Hub development, workforce engagement, documentation, and grant deliverables, including the Rural Health Transformation Project.
• Monitor reporting completeness and timeliness, identify compliance and systems risks, and support grant monitoring, audits, partner reviews, and reporting. The Director retains final accountability for departmental and grant reporting.

Support Collaboration and Strategic Communication

• Work with the Director and Operations Manager to align external commitments with regional implementation capacity.
• Establish clear handoffs, tools, responsibilities, and documentation as initiatives move from design into routine delivery.
• Represent SOKS professionally with healthcare leaders, clinicians, universities, professional associations, government agencies, volunteers, and community organizations.
• Communicate emerging opportunities, risks, results, and recommendations to the Director and appropriate internal teams.

EDUCATION & RELATED EXPERIENCE

• Bachelor's degree or an equivalent combination of education and relevant professional experience required.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in public health, healthcare systems, community health, program strategy, project management, coalition or nonprofit program development, grant implementation, community outreach, or a related field.
• Demonstrated experience leading initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, recruiting external partners, securing commitments, managing partnerships with measurable deliverables, and engaging diverse communities.
• Experience with grant workplans, performance measures, documentation, reporting, or compliance.
• Experience with healthcare systems, FQHCs, rural healthcare organizations, provider networks, health departments, or professional organizations preferred; familiarity with rural Kansas healthcare and communities preferred.
• Experience managing funded partners, contracts, subrecipients, partnerships tied to performance, or healthcare and community partner accounts through renewal preferred.
• Experience with federal or state grants, disability services, population health, or nonprofit healthcare preferred.
• Experience developing workforce or volunteer pipelines, standard operating procedures, partner management processes, dashboards, evaluation frameworks, or organizational infrastructure preferred. Supervisory, coalition, or project leadership experience preferred.

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND ABILITIES

• Strong strategic thinking, systems development, project management, organization, and attention to detail; ability to tra