Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for Wellness Program Manager

🎯 Role Definition

The Wellness Program Manager designs, implements, and measures enterprise-wide employee wellness and health promotion programs that improve population health, reduce healthcare costs, and boost engagement. This role leads program strategy, vendor partnerships, communications, data analytics, and cross-functional collaboration with HR, benefits, EAP, occupational health, and leadership to deliver scalable, evidence-based wellness solutions (biometric screenings, chronic disease management, mental health initiatives, financial well-being, and wellbeing challenges). The ideal candidate combines public health or benefits expertise with program management, vendor management, stakeholder influence, and measurement of ROI and engagement metrics.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

Wellness Coordinator / Program Coordinator (Health Promotion)
Benefits Specialist / Benefits Analyst
Health Educator / Community Health Coordinator

Advancement To:

Senior Wellness Manager / Wellness Program Director
Director of Total Rewards or Benefits & Wellbeing
Head of Employee Health & Population Health (Corporate)

Lateral Moves:

Employee Benefits Manager
Occupational Health Program Manager
Health Promotion Consultant

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

Design and lead end-to-end wellness program strategy: conduct needs assessments, set annual goals and KPIs (participation, engagement, ROI, clinical outcomes), develop program roadmaps and launch prioritized initiatives aligned to company objectives and benefits strategy.
Develop and execute multi-channel employee communications and marketing campaigns (email, intranet, events, manager toolkits, social) to maximize program awareness, participation, retention, and measurable behavior change among diverse employee populations.
Manage vendor selection, contracting, performance and SLAs for wellness vendors (biometric screening providers, telehealth, digital wellbeing platforms, coaching vendors), including negotiation of pricing, data security/HIPAA compliance, and integration with benefits/HRIS systems.
Oversee biometric screening, health risk assessment (HRA) programs and follow-up workflows: vendor coordination, onsite logistics, clinical data reconciliation, confidential reporting, and personalized outreach for high-risk employees to drive clinical engagement.
Build and manage evidence-based chronic disease management and health coaching programs (diabetes, hypertension, weight management) including clinical referral pathways, escalation protocols, coach training and quality assurance to improve clinical measures.
Create ROI and total cost of ownership models: analyze claims, utilization, absence and disability data in partnership with benefits/actuarial teams to quantify program impact, savings opportunities and present business cases to leadership.
Lead employee mental health and resilience initiatives: partner with EAP, mental health providers and managers to ensure accessible counseling options, stigma-reduction campaigns, crisis response plans, and training for supervisory teams on psychological safety and early intervention.
Design inclusive wellbeing offerings that address physical, mental, financial and social determinants of health; apply segmentation strategies to tailor programs for remote, field and global workforces and diverse demographic groups.
Develop, monitor and report monthly/quarterly dashboards and executive summaries on program participation, engagement trends, clinical outcomes, satisfaction and ROI; translate data into actionable recommendations and continuous improvement plans.
Lead cross-functional project teams (HRBP, Benefits, Legal, Finance, Safety) to ensure seamless integration of wellness programs with benefits enrollment, leave policies, workplace accommodations and return-to-work processes.
Create and manage annual wellness program budget, forecasting, vendor invoices, and spend optimization while ensuring program quality and compliance with corporate financial policies.
Implement incentive strategies and compliance frameworks for rewards, gift cards or premium differential programs tied to wellness activities, ensuring regulatory and benefits compliance.
Develop manager and leadership engagement strategies, training and toolkits to embed wellness into manager conversations, performance culture and employee lifecycle moments (onboarding, leaves, return-to-work).
Oversee program evaluation and research partnerships: manage pilot studies, A/B testing of interventions, measurement of behavior change using validated instruments and continuous refinement of program elements.
Ensure compliance with privacy, HIPAA, ADA and other relevant regulations for all health program data collection and communications; coordinate with legal and privacy teams on policies and breach response planning.
Drive innovation and vendor pilots for digital health offerings (wellbeing apps, wearable integrations, telecoaching) and assess technology fit, data interoperability and employee adoption metrics.
Coordinate large-scale wellbeing events and campaigns (health fairs, challenges, flu clinics) including timeline planning, logistics, vendor staffing, onsite safety and post-event measurement.
Serve as the primary point of contact for employee questions escalated beyond basic benefits inquiries; develop FAQs, support flows and collaborate with HR service centers to ensure consistent, accurate responses.
Facilitate employee focus groups, listening sessions and surveys to gather qualitative insights; synthesize findings into program design updates and communications to build trust and relevance.
Coach and develop a small team of wellness coordinators, specialists or contractors: set priorities, provide mentorship, performance feedback and manage resource allocation across programs and projects.
Partner with corporate social responsibility and diversity, equity & inclusion teams to align wellness programming with broader wellbeing, inclusion and employee resource group initiatives, ensuring accessibility and cultural relevance.

Secondary Functions

Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory analysis to answer business questions about participation drivers, cost trends, and program ROI.
Maintain and enrich wellness program documentation: SOPs, program playbooks, vendor contracts, privacy notices and training materials.
Contribute to the organization’s health strategy and roadmap by researching best practices, benchmarking peers and making recommendations for new offerings and cost-effective scale.
Collaborate with benefits and HRIS teams to translate wellness program data needs into system requirements and ensure seamless data integrations and reporting (HRIS, payroll, claims).
Participate in cross-functional planning, sprint planning or program governance meetings and provide updates on wellness milestones, risks and resource needs.
Act as a wellness subject matter expert for policy reviews, benefit design discussions and return-to-work case management as requested.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

Program design and lifecycle management: needs assessments, pilot design, scaling and evaluation of workplace wellness interventions.
Data analysis and reporting: proficiency with Excel (pivot tables, advanced formulas), SQL, Power BI or Tableau to create dashboards, KPIs and executive reports.
Vendor selection and contract management: RFP development, negotiation, SLA monitoring and vendor performance evaluation for healthcare and wellbeing services.
Clinical program oversight: familiarity with biometric screening workflows, HRAs, clinical escalation protocols and chronic disease management best practices.
Benefits integration and HR systems: experience integrating wellness data with HRIS/benefits platforms (Workday, ADP, Oracle, Kronos or similar).
Budgeting and financial modeling: building cost/benefit analyses, ROI models and managing program budgets and spend reconciliation.
Regulatory and privacy knowledge: working knowledge of HIPAA, ADA, GINA and state privacy laws as they relate to workplace health programs.
Digital health and platform evaluation: assessing wellbeing apps, telehealth providers, wearables and engagement platforms for security, interoperability and adoption potential.
Project management: proven ability to run cross-functional projects using Agile or traditional PM practices; tools such as Asana, Jira or MS Project are a plus.
Measurement and evaluation methodologies: experience with survey design, validated outcome measures and program evaluation frameworks (RE-AIM, logic models).

Soft Skills

Strong stakeholder management and executive presence: influence leaders, HRBPs and finance partners to secure buy-in and resources.
Clear communication and change management: craft compelling messaging and manager toolkits that drive behavior change and program adoption.
Analytical and strategic thinker: translate data into insights and prioritize initiatives that deliver measurable health and financial outcomes.
Empathy and cultural competence: design inclusive programs sensitive to diverse populations, remote employees and varying health literacy.
Collaboration and team leadership: lead cross-functional teams, coach direct reports and coordinate vendors and internal partners effectively.
Problem-solving and creativity: rapidly prototype solutions to increase participation and overcome operational barriers.
Time management and prioritization: manage competing priorities across multiple programs and seasonal campaigns.
Facilitation and training skills: deliver workshops, manager training, and employee webinars with engaging instructional techniques.
Confidentiality and ethical judgment: manage sensitive health information and maintain employee trust.
Resilience and adaptability: navigate evolving business needs, regulatory changes and public health developments.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

Bachelor’s degree in Public Health, Health Promotion, Kinesiology, Human Resources, Business Administration or related field.

Preferred Education:

Master’s degree in Public Health (MPH), Health Promotion, Business Administration (MBA) or Population Health preferred.
Relevant certifications such as Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES), Certified Wellness Program Manager (CWPM), or certifications from ACE/NASM for health coaching are a plus.

Relevant Fields of Study:

Public Health
Health Promotion / Health Education
Kinesiology / Exercise Science
Human Resources / Organizational Psychology
Business Administration / Health Administration

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

3–7 years of progressive experience designing and managing workplace wellness, employee health, benefits programs or population health initiatives.

Preferred:

5+ years managing enterprise-level wellness programs or benefits integrations, with demonstrable results in engagement, clinical outcomes or cost savings.
Experience working with multi-site, remote or global employee populations and familiarity with vendor ecosystems (EAP, telehealth, coaching, biometric providers).
Prior experience leveraging claims or utilization data in partnership with actuaries or benefits analysts is highly desirable.