Policy Advisor

About the role

As a Policy Advisor, you will support CMS's Digital Quality Measures initiative on the SIO program, leading the strategy and planning work that shapes how digital quality measures are defined, prioritized, and matured across CCSQ. This role focuses on the “strategy and planning” side of the initiative — defining goals, mapping dependencies, and building an actionable path forward — while working in close coordination with the CMS execution team that carries measures development forward day to day.

A defining part of this role is understanding how quality measures actually work — the underlying informatics, the clinical and technical feasibility considerations, and how measures move from concept to implementation — so that the strategy produced is grounded and credible with both CMS leadership and the technical teams executing against it.

Responsibilities

• Strategy & Planning
  • Define goals for the Digital Quality Measures initiative and identify and manage dependencies across related CMS efforts.
  • Build on prior work and lessons learned to inform the initiative's ongoing strategy, avoiding duplication and preserving institutional knowledge.
  • Document and maintain the initiative's strategy, ensuring it reflects current priorities and is actionable for execution teams.
  • Think through and map dependency relationships across quality measures, initiatives, and CMS stakeholders.
• Agile & Portfolio Alignment
  • Align the Digital Quality Measures strategy with CMS's Agile and Lean Portfolio practices.
  • Write, coordinate, and help lead Agile work products (e.g., epics, features, backlog items) needed to advance the initiative.
  • Support change management within CMS, including developing and delivering training to help stakeholders adopt new approaches to quality measures.
• Measures Assessment & Feasibility
  • Assess the current inventory of quality measures, evaluating technical feasibility against clinical value to inform prioritization.
  • Apply working knowledge of measures development and health informatics to ground strategic recommendations in how measures are actually built and used.
  • Partner with the CMS execution team (measures development) to ensure strategic direction translates into practical, buildable work.
• Staffing, Contracting & Governance Support
  • Support development of staffing plans and contracting approaches needed to carry out the Digital Quality Measures initiative.
  • Contribute to and coordinate reporting on initiative progress, ensuring reporting flows from standard program workflows rather than one-off efforts.
  • Support a tracking system for the CMS effort that gives leadership consistent visibility into status, risks, and dependencies.

Requirements

• Bachelor's degree required; Master's degree in Research/Statistics, Public Health, Health Informatics, or a related quantitative field strongly preferred.
• 12+ years of progressive experience in health informatics, clinical decision support, or quality measurement, including experience within a federal health agency or federal health system (e.g., CMS, VA, DoD).
• Demonstrated background in how quality measures are developed and used, including underlying informatics, data, and measurement science considerations.
• Experience applying Agile and Lean Portfolio practices; SAFe certification (e.g., SAFe Program Consultant) strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience leading change management and training within a large, complex organization.
• Strong analytical skills, including the ability to assess technical feasibility against clinical value to inform prioritization decisions.
• Experience supporting staffing plans, contracting approaches, and vendor/team performance management, ideally within a government contracting or federal program environment.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with experience producing strategy documentation and reporting for executive and government stakeholder audiences.
• Experience in regulated or compliance-driven environments (e.g., healthcare, public sector); CMS/CCSQ experience preferred, though comparable federal health system experience (VA, DoD, or similar) will be strongly considered.

Additional required skills/experience:

• Servant Leader – Hyper-focused on engaging employees, fostering their development, and building a positive culture.
• Solutions Focused – Sees opportunities in every business problem and can develop, articulate, and implement solutions.
• Collaboration – A relationship builder across all levels of the organization and across all business units.
• Instills Trust – Does what they say, follows through on commitments, acts with integrity, and is perceived as credible.
• Impact & Influence Thinking – Gains support for ideas, proposals, and solutions, and gets others to act, with or without formal authority, to advance initiatives/objectives.

About the company

Tantus, a Sikich Subsidiary, offers the public and private sectors a diverse platform of professional services across consulting, technology, and compliance. Highly specialized and hands-on teams deliver integrated solutions rooted in deep industry experience. Our approach is strategically and thoughtfully designed to help clients, teams, and communities accelerate success. Tantus has approximately 2,000 team members and operates across North America, EMEA, and APAC.

Benefits

• Flexible Time Off (FTO) Policy – No waiting period; activated on your first day.
• Paid holidays, including time off the last week of the calendar year when client and project work permits.
• Comprehensive wellness program with rewards for participation.
• Flexible work arrangements.
• Health, dental, vision, life, and accident/death/disability insurance options.
• HSA employer contribution.
• Eleven (11) paid holidays annually.
• Robust paid Parental Bonding Leave program covering birth, adoption, and foster children.
• 401(k) with employer contributions.
• Tuition reimbursement.
• Generous employee referral bonus program.
• Client referral bonus program.
• Pet insurance.
• FORCE – Community volunteer program enabling each team member to use up to four hours of paid time annually to volunteer.

Pay

The salary range for this role is $205,000-$210,000. This is not a guarantee of compensation or salary, as final offer amount may vary based on factors including but not limited to experience and geographic location.