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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wellness Program Director

💰 $75,000 - $120,000

HealthcareHuman ResourcesWellnessProgram Management

🎯 Role Definition

The Wellness Program Director is a strategic leader responsible for designing, implementing, and evaluating enterprise-wide employee wellness and wellbeing programs that improve health outcomes, reduce healthcare costs, and drive employee engagement. This role partners with Benefits, HR, Occupational Health, Finance, and external vendors to deliver evidence-based health promotion, behavior-change initiatives, biometric screening programs, mental health supports, and population health interventions. The ideal candidate combines public health expertise, program management capability, data-driven decision-making, and exemplary stakeholder engagement skills to scale measurable wellness impact across a diverse workforce.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Wellness Manager / Wellness Specialist
  • Benefits Manager / HR Generalist with wellness program experience
  • Population Health or Health Promotion Manager

Advancement To:

  • Director of Total Wellbeing / Head of Wellbeing
  • Senior Director, Benefits & Wellbeing
  • Vice President, Employee Experience or Chief Health Officer

Lateral Moves:

  • Population Health Director
  • Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Leadership
  • Occupational Health & Safety Director

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Design and lead a multi-year, enterprise-level wellness strategy that aligns with corporate goals, benefits strategy, and diversity/inclusion objectives; define goals, success metrics, KPIs, and a roadmap to improve employee health, engagement, and organizational productivity.
  • Manage full lifecycle program development for health promotion offerings — including biometric screening campaigns, chronic disease management, smoking cessation, nutrition education, weight management, physical activity challenges, and stress reduction interventions — ensuring evidence-based design and scalability.
  • Oversee annual wellness program budget planning and financial management, track program ROI and cost savings (medical trend impact, absenteeism, presenteeism reduction), and present financial and outcome-focused business cases to senior leadership.
  • Build and maintain strong vendor relationships; manage RFP processes, negotiate contracts, oversee service-level agreements (SLAs) and vendor performance for wellness platforms, health coaching, onsite clinics, biometric vendors, and digital wellness solutions (e.g., Virgin Pulse, Limeade, Wellbeats).
  • Lead the development and deployment of integrated digital wellness platforms and mobile apps; coordinate HRIS/benefits platform integrations to streamline enrollment, engagement tracking, incentive administration, and data flows for reporting.
  • Design and implement an incentive strategy tied to participation and outcome-based metrics (e.g., biometric completion, health risk assessment completion) while ensuring compliance with HIPAA, ADA, and applicable benefits regulations.
  • Direct analytics and measurement efforts: aggregate and analyze population health data, HRA results, claims trends, biometrics, and engagement metrics to identify high-risk populations, evaluate program effectiveness, and inform continuous improvement.
  • Create and deliver executive-level reporting and dashboards that translate wellness impact into business outcomes (healthcare cost avoidance, utilization trends, employee retention, productivity metrics) for C-suite partners and benefits committees.
  • Serve as the internal subject matter expert on behavior change frameworks (e.g., Transtheoretical Model, Motivational Interviewing) and health coaching best practices; deploy evidence-based approaches across interventions to maximize lasting behavior change.
  • Oversee design and delivery of mental health and resilience initiatives, including partnerships with EAP vendors, digital mental health providers, training for managers on mental health literacy, and crisis-response coordination.
  • Drive targeted population health initiatives for chronic conditions (diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol) including referral pathways to clinical resources, care coordination with medical providers, and measurement of clinical outcomes.
  • Lead internal communications and multi-channel engagement campaigns (email, intranet, newsletters, webinars, onsite events) to maximize participation, sustain behavior change, and promote wellness branding across locations and remote populations.
  • Partner with Total Rewards and Benefits teams to ensure wellness programs complement health plan design, eligibility, and incentives; coordinate open enrollment campaigns and communicate wellness-related benefit changes.
  • Establish and run wellness governance structures, advisory councils, and cross-functional steering committees with HR, Safety, Legal, Finance, and employee representatives to ensure alignment and risk mitigation.
  • Recruit, manage, mentor, and develop a multidisciplinary wellness team (health coaches, program managers, coordinators, data analysts), set performance expectations, and create professional development plans.
  • Manage on-site or virtual health clinics and preventive services, including periodic onsite screening events, flu vaccination programs, and occupational health coordination as applicable.
  • Ensure regulatory compliance and data privacy by establishing HIPAA-compliant data management practices, consent protocols for health data, and alignment with HR and Legal on sensitive program elements.
  • Pilot and scale innovative wellbeing offerings such as financial wellness, caregiver support, sleep programs, social wellbeing, and integrative health partnerships; evaluate pilots and create scale-up playbooks.
  • Develop and implement culturally competent and inclusive wellness programming that addresses diverse employee needs, languages, job types (hourly vs salaried), and remote/field workforces to maximize equity of access and outcomes.
  • Conduct needs assessments and employee segmentation analyses (surveys, focus groups, HRA analysis) to prioritize program investments and tailor interventions by population cohort and risk level.
  • Coordinate continuity of care and referral networks with health plans, case management teams, community resources, and specialty providers to bridge gaps in care and improve health outcomes.
  • Maintain continuous improvement by applying quality improvement frameworks (PDSA, Lean) to program design and operations, iterating on offerings based on engagement and outcome data.
  • Represent the company at external conferences, industry groups, and professional networks to stay current on best practices, benchmark programs, and source potential vendor partners.
  • Lead crisis and incident response related to workplace health events (outbreaks, widespread mental health impacts), coordinating communications, clinical guidance, and operational adjustments.
  • Establish training and certification pathways for internal wellness staff (e.g., health coach certification, CHES, NCHEC) and ensure consistent service quality across vendor and internal staff.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and ad-hoc reporting related to wellness engagement, HRA results, and claims trends for cross-functional stakeholders.
  • Collaborate with IT and HRIS teams to maintain integrations and data flows between wellness platforms, benefits systems, and analytics tools.
  • Contribute to corporate ESG/CSR and occupational health reporting by providing wellness-related metrics and employee wellbeing indicators.
  • Facilitate manager and leadership training to embed wellbeing practices into team-based performance and culture initiatives.
  • Support grant opportunities, pilot funding requests, and vendor co-sponsorships for innovative wellbeing pilots.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Program strategy and design for corporate wellness, employee wellbeing, and population health initiatives.
  • Wellness vendor management and contract negotiation (RFP creation, SLA management, vendor performance monitoring).
  • Data analytics and outcomes measurement: experience analyzing HRAs, biometric screening data, claims trends, and building ROI models.
  • Experience with wellness platforms and digital vendors (e.g., Virgin Pulse, Limeade, WellSteps, Virgin HealthMiles) and integrating them with HRIS/benefits systems.
  • Proficiency with analytics and visualization tools (Excel advanced functions, SQL, Tableau, Power BI) for executive dashboards and reporting.
  • Knowledge of HIPAA, ADA, wellness incentive rules, and other regulatory requirements related to workplace health programs.
  • Health coaching and behavior-change program design; familiarity with Motivational Interviewing and stages-of-change models.
  • Budget ownership and financial acumen: forecasting, cost-benefit analysis, and program ROI attribution.
  • Project management skills and use of PM tools (Wrike, Asana, MS Project) to execute cross-functional initiatives on schedule.
  • Experience coordinating biometric screening programs, onsite health events, and preventive services logistics.
  • Clinical literacy in chronic disease management (diabetes, hypertension, obesity) to inform program pathways and partnerships.
  • Experience in mental health program development and partnership management for EAPs and digital mental health solutions.
  • Familiarity with employee engagement measurement tools, survey design, and statistical interpretation of engagement outcomes.
  • Knowledge of population segmentation and targeted intervention design (high-risk case management vs. general wellness).
  • Contractual and procurement knowledge relevant to benefits and vendor contracting.

Soft Skills

  • Executive presence and persuasive communication to influence C-suite, benefits committees, and cross-functional leaders.
  • Strong stakeholder management and ability to navigate complex organizational structures.
  • Strategic thinking with customer-centric orientation and pragmatic operational focus.
  • Empathetic leadership and coaching mindset to inspire behavior change across diverse employee populations.
  • Change management and organizational buy-in skills to drive adoption of new wellness initiatives.
  • Problem-solving and critical thinking grounded in data and evidence-based best practices.
  • Excellent written and presentation skills for reporting, proposal writing, and internal communications.
  • Team-building, mentoring, and staff development capability.
  • Cultural competence and inclusive mindset for equitable program design.
  • Time management and prioritization in a multi-project environment.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Bachelor's degree in Public Health, Health Promotion, Healthcare Administration, Human Resources, Nursing, or related field.

Preferred Education:

  • Master’s degree (MPH, MHA, MBA with health focus, or related advanced degree) preferred.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Public Health
  • Health Promotion / Health Education
  • Healthcare Administration
  • Human Resources Management
  • Epidemiology
  • Behavioral Science

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 5–10+ years of progressive experience in corporate wellness, population health, benefits, or health promotion roles.

Preferred:

  • 7+ years leading enterprise-level wellness or population health programs with proven experience in vendor management, budget ownership, measurable outcomes, and cross-functional influence; experience in large, multi-site or geographically dispersed organizations is highly desirable.
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