Manager, RFP Strategy

Manager, RFP Strategy

Location: Miami, FL
Department: Enterprise Solutions
Reports to: VP of Enterprise Solutions 

About the Role

eMed is seeking a highly experienced Manager, RFP Strategy to lead complex Request for Proposal (RFP), Request for Information (RFI), and procurement responses across our growing enterprise business.

This position goes well beyond traditional RFP writing.

eMed competes in sophisticated employee benefits and healthcare procurements involving self-funded employers, national consultants, brokers, health plans, PBMs, government entities, and other complex organizations. Successful responses require an individual who understands not only how to answer an RFP, but also why the questions are being asked, how the proposed benefit solution will operate, how the economics work, and how consultants and employers will evaluate the response.

We are therefore seeking an experienced self-funded health and pharmacy benefits professional who combines deep industry expertise with exceptional writing, analytical, project management, and strategic problem-solving capabilities.

The ideal candidate will have approximately 6-15 years of experience in employee benefits brokerage, consulting, pharmacy benefits, healthcare point solutions, or a related field, with meaningful responsibility for complex employer or consultant procurements.

This person will initially serve as a senior individual contributor responsible for eMed's most strategic RFPs, with the opportunity to ultimately build and lead eMed's RFP Response function.

What You'll Do

RFP Strategy & Ownership

• Lead end-to-end responses to complex RFPs, RFIs, consultant evaluations, and other formal procurement processes.
• Review each procurement and identify the underlying business requirements, evaluation criteria, competitive dynamics, risks, and strategic opportunities.
• Develop an overall response strategy rather than treating an RFP as a series of independent questions.
• Translate detailed RFP requirements into clear workstreams, responsibilities, deadlines, and internal deliverables.
• Determine where eMed should provide a standard response, a customized solution, an alternative recommendation, or additional context to differentiate our approach.
• Ensure every response tells a coherent story about eMed's clinical model, pharmacy strategy, economics, member experience, implementation capabilities, reporting, and outcomes.
• Maintain strict compliance with procurement requirements, deadlines, formatting requirements, attachments, certifications, and submission instructions.

Benefits & Pharmacy Subject Matter Expertise

• Interpret sophisticated questions involving self-funded medical plans, PBMs, pharmacy contracting, clinical programs, eligibility, benefit administration, plan design, implementation, reporting, and healthcare economics.
• Understand the context behind consultant and employer questions and develop responses appropriate for sophisticated benefits audiences.
• Evaluate requirements involving:
  • PBM integration
  • Pharmacy carve-outs
  • Formulary strategy
  • Prior authorization and utilization management
  • Specialty and high-cost medications
  • GLP-1 management
  • Member eligibility
  • Accumulator integration
  • Claims and pharmacy data
  • Clinical protocols
  • Member engagement
  • Performance guarantees
  • Implementation
  • Reporting and outcomes
  • Financial guarantees and pricing
• Identify areas where the RFP's requested approach may conflict with eMed's model and develop thoughtful alternatives or exceptions.
• Recognize potential contractual, financial, clinical, operational, or implementation risks embedded within procurement requirements.

Financial Analysis & Commercial Strategy

• Partner with Finance and Commercial leadership to develop pricing and financial responses.
• Build or review analyses involving population size, utilization, prescription costs, member contributions, program fees, pharmacy savings, medical cost avoidance, and total cost of care.
• Analyze prospect data to determine the financial implications of eMed's proposed solution.
• Support development of savings methodologies, ROI projections, performance guarantees, and financial commitments.
• Ensure financial responses across technical questionnaires, pricing exhibits, proposals, and contractual materials remain internally consistent.
• Challenge assumptions when financial or operational commitments create unnecessary risk for eMed.

Cross-Functional RFP Leadership

• Serve as the central quarterback for major procurement responses.
• Coordinate contributions from Sales, Partnerships, Clinical, Product, Engineering, Finance, Legal, Compliance, Operations, Implementation, Client Success, Security, and other stakeholders.
• Ask SMEs targeted questions and translate highly technical responses into concise, persuasive, client-ready language.
• Drive internal timelines and hold contributors accountable for deliverables.
• Escalate critical decisions and unresolved issues early enough for leadership to make informed decisions.
• Conduct final quality-control reviews to ensure accuracy, consistency, responsiveness, and strategic alignment.

Finalist & Commercial Support

• Help prepare eMed executives and Sales leaders for RFP finalist meetings and consultant presentations.
• Develop anticipated questions, competitive objections, financial talking points, and supporting materials.
• Participate in strategic finalist discussions when benefits or pharmacy subject-matter expertise is needed.
• Conduct post-RFP reviews to understand outcomes, identify competitive themes, and continuously improve eMed's response strategy.

Build the RFP Function

• Establish RFP governance, workflow, intake requirements, timelines, and service-level expectations.
• Build and maintain a centralized content library of validated responses.
• Develop reusable content while ensuring strategic RFPs remain customized to the opportunity.
• Establish subject-matter ownership across eMed for major categories of RFP content.
• Develop processes for version control, approvals, accuracy, and response maintenance.
• Track recurring questions and identify areas where eMed should create stronger evidence, documentation, case studies, or product capabilities.
• Train and mentor future RFP team members.
• Over time, assume responsibility for managing eMed's RFP Response organization.

What We're Looking For

Required Experience

• Approximately 6-15 years of relevant professional experience.
• Significant experience working with self-funded employer health plans.
• Demonstrated understanding of both medical and pharmacy benefits.
• Experience in one or more of the following environments:
  • Employee benefits brokerage
  • Benefits consulting
  • Pharmacy consulting
  • PBM
  • Health plan
  • Employer healthcare solutions
  • Healthcare point solution
• Significant experience completing or managing complex RFPs, RFIs, consultant evaluations, or formal healthcare procurements.
• Strong understanding of how major benefits consulting organizations evaluate vendors.
• Exceptional written communication skills.
• Strong project management capabilities with experience coordinating numerous SMEs under tight deadlines.
• Strong analytical and financial capabilities.
• Ability to understand complex business requirements and translate them into differentiated responses.
• Advanced Excel, PowerPoint, and Microsoft Office skills.

Strongly Preferred

• Experience working for a national or regional benefits consulting/brokerage organization such as Aon, Mercer, WTW, Lockton, Gallagher, USI, Brown & Brown, HUB, OneDigital, Alliant, or a comparable organization.
• Experience participating in PBM, pharmacy, point-solution, disease-management, or healthcare vendor procurements.
• Experience working on the consultant side of RFP evaluations, particularly valuable because this individual will understand how consultants construct RFPs and evaluate responses.
• Direct experience with PBMs, pharmacy carve-outs, specialty pharmacy, GLP-1 management, or employer pharmacy strategies.
• Familiarity with complex public-sector or government healthcare procurements.
• Experience developing financial exhibits, pricing responses, and performance guarantees.
• Experience supporting enterprise sales organizations without personally carrying a sales quota.

What Makes Someone Successful in This Role

We are not looking primarily for someone who knows how to populate an RFP database.

We are looking for someone who can open a 400-question procurement and complete it thoroughly. 

The ideal candidate combines the rigor of an experienced RFP leader with the judgment of a healthcare consultant.

They must be capable of independently working through complex and occasionally ambiguous requirements, engaging senior internal stakeholders, challenging assumptions, and developing responses that are both technically accurate and commercially persuasive.

Core Competencies

• RFP strategy and response leadership
• Self-funded health benefits expertise
• Pharmacy benefits expertise
• Complex procurement management
• Strategic writing
• Complex business problem solving
• Financial and quantitative analysis
• Consultant mindset
• Project management
• Executive communication
• Cross-functional leadership
• Commercial judgment
• Extreme attention to detail
• Ability to operate under deadline pressure