Your Role The Stellarus Privacy Office is part of the legal organization and oversees the companies privacy program to support compliance with applicable privacy laws, business associate agreements, and health plan client obligations. It provides strategic advice on privacy by design and privacy support for products and services, establishes privacy policies, advises on appropriate data handling, monitors privacy risks, and coordinates privacy incident response. The Privacy Program Specialist, Principal will report to the Chief Compliance & Privacy Officer of Stellarus. In this role, you will help shape and strengthen Stellarus’s privacy program, translating complex privacy requirements into practical guidance and processes. You will partner across the organization to identify and manage privacy risks, embed privacy considerations into business initiatives, and support responsible use of data. Your work will help build trust and advance a culture of privacy, accountability, and compliance. Our leadership model is about developing great leaders at all levels and creating opportunities for our people to grow – personally, professionally, and financially. We are looking for leaders that are energized by creative and critical thinking, building and sustaining high-performing teams, getting results the right way, and fostering continuous learning.
Your Work
In this role, you will:
- Serve as a key operational partner to the Chief Privacy Officer in administering and continuously improving Stellarus's privacy program, including privacy governance, compliance oversight, risk management, stakeholder engagement, and day-to-day privacy operations
- Be responsible for the oversight of compliance with federal and state privacy laws, including the privacy component of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (the HITECH Act) of 2009
- Implement, interpret, operationalize, support, and enforce Stellarus’ Privacy Program; assist in updates and revisions to the Privacy Program as needed or required by law to ensure Stellarus’s compliance with federal and state privacy laws; implement, support, and enforce best practices to protect the privacy of client members’ protected health information (PHI); promote a corporate culture that understands and values privacy compliance
- Lead the development and implementation of the following privacy-related tasks: privacy policies, privacy advisory guides, privacy governance framework of accountability documents, and other communication and educational tools
- Respond to complex privacy complaints and incidents reported to the Privacy Office, lead escalated privacy investigations, timely and accurately document case files, direct investigation into root cause analysis, address mitigation, and work with impacted business units to develop and complete corrective action for remediation and to minimize risk of recurrence
- Respond to escalated and complex privacy-related inquiries
- Perform privacy reviews related to vendors, subcontractors, business partners, and data-sharing arrangements, including HIPAA Business Associate Agreements (BAAs) and other contractual privacy requirements, in partnership with Legal and business stakeholders
- Monitor developments in privacy laws, regulations, and industry practices and coordinate implementation of required privacy program updates and process improvements
- Conduct and support privacy compliance monitoring, risk assessments, audits and audit responses, regulatory inquiries, corrective action plans, and maintenance of privacy program documentation, reporting metrics, tracking systems, and evidence of privacy compliance
- Partner with Information Security, Compliance, Legal, and other stakeholders to address privacy and data protection risks, support enterprise compliance initiatives, and promote a culture of privacy and compliance across the organization
Your Knowledge and Experience
- Requires a bachelor’s degree or High School Diploma/GED and 4 years of additional relevant experience in lieu of a degree
- Requires 10 years of prior relevant experience
- Requires extensive experience in healthcare, legal services, privacy, audit, or investigative services
- Requires mastery level knowledge of and understanding of state and federal privacy laws, including HIPAA/HITECH, CMIA, and privacy related consumer protections laws, such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)
- Privacy Certification such as CHPC, CIPP/US, or similar credentials preferred
- Experience working in a healthcare technology environment preferred
- Experience with privacy-by-design, product privacy, data governance, or privacy technology preferred
About Stellarus and the Ascendiun Family of Companies
Stellarus, launched in January 2025, is designed to scale innovative healthcare solutions that support customers in creating a health care experience deserving of their family, friends, and neighbors.
Stellarus is part of a family of organizations that is overseen by a nonprofit corporate entity named Ascendiun. The Ascendiun Family of Companies also includes Blue Shield of California and its subsidiary, Blue Shield of California Promise Health Plan and Altais, a clinical services company.
Stellarus’ vision is to empower its customers to create a healthcare experience that is worthy of their family, friends, and neighbors. Stellarus’ objective is to offer innovative, modern, scalable solutions that challenge the health care status quo. This very closely aligns with Blue Shield of California’s vision by using innovation to improve quality, affordability, and experience for members.
To achieve our mission, we foster an environment where all employees can thrive and contribute fully to address the needs of the various communities we serve. We are committed to creating and maintaining a supportive workplace that upholds our values and advances our goals.
Our Values:
At Stellarus, our core values of agility, trust, drive, courage and service shape our approach to developing innovative product offerings.
Our Workplace Model:
We believe in fostering a workplace environment that balances purposeful in-person collaboration with flexibility - providing clear expectations while respecting the diverse needs of our workforce. Our workplace model is designed around intentional in-person interaction, collaboration, connection, creativity and flexibility:
• For most teams, this means coming into the office two days per week.
• Employees living more than 50 miles from an office location, out of state employees, and employees in certain member-facing roles should work with their manager to determine in-office time based on business need.
• For employees with medical conditions that may impact their ability to work in-office, we are committed to engaging in an interactive process and providing reasonable accommodations to ensure their work environment is conducive to their success and well-being.
The Company reserves the right to require more presence in the office based on business needs, and requirements are subject to change with periodic reviews.
Physical Requirements:
Office Environment - roles involving part to full time schedule in Office Environment. Based in our physical offices and work from home office/deskwork - Activity level: Sedentary, frequency most of work day.
Please click here for further physical requirement detail.
Equal Employment Opportunity:
External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest records and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, State and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regards to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran status or disability status and any other classification protected by Federal, State and local laws.
