Payer Strategy Manager Jobs in Kentucky (NOW HIRING)

Koya Medical is a growth-stage healthcare company developing breakthrough technologies for venous and lymphatic diseases. Our mission is to improve patient outcomes and empower self-care through innovative, people-centric solutions. Our Dayspring platform represents a differentiated approach to compression therapy, supported by growing clinical evidence, multi-society support, and expanding payer adoption. As Koya continues to scale, payer access and market development are becoming critical commercial growth drivers across commercial and government-sponsored healthcare markets. We are seeking a commercially driven payer access leader to help expand regional coverage, shape payer pathways, and accelerate market access execution.

This is a strategic, field-facing market development role operating at the intersection of payer strategy, commercial execution, and healthcare market access based in Eastern US.

The Regional Director – Market Access & Payer Strategy will lead proactive regional payer engagement efforts focused on expanding medical policy coverage, improving reimbursement access, establishing in-network pathways, and advancing payer relationships across assigned commercial health plans and Medicaid managed care organizations.

This is not a traditional reimbursement support, prior authorization, claims management, or payer operations role.

This role is designed for a commercially oriented hunter with a demonstrated track record of driving payer access outcomes through strategic relationship development, medical policy engagement, and payer contracting discussions.

The ideal candidate has successfully operated in ambiguous or evolving reimbursement environments where payer pathways may not yet be fully established and success requires persistence, executive influence, strategic thinking, and independent execution.

• Proactively identify, segment, prioritize, and develop regional payer access opportunities across assigned commercial and Medicaid managed care organizations
• Independently build and expand relationships with payer medical directors, contracting executives, network leadership, utilization management teams, and policy stakeholders
• Develop and execute payer engagement strategies from initial outreach through coverage, contracting, and implementation
• Identify regional opportunities to improve payer access, commercial scalability, and provider adoption.

• Engage payer clinical leadership to influence favorable medical policy and reimbursement positioning decisions
• Present compelling clinical evidence, health economic data, patient outcomes, and market differentiation in a persuasive and commercially credible manner
• Leverage KOLs, advocacy partnerships, provider relationships, and market intelligence to support payer engagement strategies
• Identify and proactively address utilization management, prior authorization, medical policy, and network barriers limiting commercial growth
• Monitor competitive access dynamics, payer policy changes, operational friction, and reimbursement trends to inform regional strategy

• Lead strategic discussions related to payer contracting, in-network access, reimbursement pathways, and commercial access expansion
• Partner with senior leadership on pricing strategy, contract positioning, and implementation planning
• Drive payer opportunities through extended and complex negotiation cycles
• Support resolution of high-impact payer barriers affecting regional commercial execution and growth objectives

• Partner closely with sales leadership, reimbursement operations, clinical teams, marketing, and executive leadership
• Translate payer access dynamics into actionable commercial strategy, provider targeting, and field deployment recommendations
• Serve as a regional payer intelligence leader for commercial teams

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare, life sciences, business, or related field
• 5+ years of successful experience in one or more of the following: Strategic healthcare account management, Managed care contracting, Healthcare business development

• Demonstrated success influencing commercial payer access outcomes, including favorable medical policy, reimbursement pathways, in-network access, and payer contracting
• Proven ability to independently develop and manage relationships with payer medical directors, commercial contracting executives, network leadership, and utilization management stakeholders
• Track record of proactively opening strategic payer opportunities and advancing complex payer discussions through extended sales and negotiation cycles
• Strong commercial orientation with demonstrated success in growth-focused, accountable commercial environments
• Demonstrated ability to operate independently with high levels of ownership, strong sense of urgency, action biased, persistence, and accountability
• Strong executive communication, negotiation, and relationship management skills
• Ability to communicate clinical and economic value propositions credibly in high-stakes payer discussions
• Candidates without direct commercial payer engagement and demonstrated payer access success experience will not be competitive for this role

• Medical device or healthcare commercial sales background with direct payer-facing responsibilities
• Experience selling into reimbursement-dependent healthcare markets
• Existing commercial payer relationships within assigned geography
• Experience operating within emerging or evolving reimbursement categories
• Growth-stage or startup healthcare experience
• Experience within vascular, venous, lymphedema, wound care, cardiology, oncology, DME, or specialty provider markets

• Hunter mentality with strong commercial instincts
• Executive presence and strategic negotiation skills
• Resilience, persistence, and adaptability
• Comfort operating in ambiguity and evolving market conditions

Up to 30%

Competitive base salary + performance bonus + equity opportunity + full benefits