Chief Operating Officer

Benchmark Health; Needham (MA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Benchmark Health, an AI-native behavioral health startup, is hiring a Chief Operating Officer to run day-to-day operations and build scalable infrastructure. You will lead product, operations, data, finance, and human resources while partnering with the CEO to execute growth strategies and drive meaningful patient outcomes.

The role requires a senior operator with a track record of scaling teams, managing P&L, and advancing payor-focused health initiatives in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Senior operating leader with executive experience in payor/payvider or health insurer models.
• Proven ability to scale teams and operations in growth-stage startups.

Responsibilities

• Oversee Product, Operations, Data, Finance, and Human Resources as COO.
• Lead the design and execution of an AI-native operating system for behavioral health.
• Drive high-quality care delivery, performance metrics, and organizational growth.
• Maintain financial discipline and support fundraising efforts.

Skills

Senior leadership

Data driven

Team builder

Mission driven

Job description

About Us

Billions have been invested into behavioral health innovations over the past years, yet the sum of these efforts have led to close to zero improvement at a population level. Why? Unlike other fields of medicine where there are clear markers for quality (e.g. blood tests for diabetes), behavioral health does not have meaningful quality metrics that can support true value-based care payment rails. The solution to this dire problem is not another app or service, but a novel AI-native infrastructure that realigns stakeholders’ incentives to focus on what matters most: meaningful outcomes for patients. Benchmark is a true category creator that incentives providers to provide better care, reduces costs for payors, and most importantly, prioritizes meaningful results for patients.

Benchmark Health is a public benefit corporation that realizes this mission by helping patients find the right mental health care through triage and navigation. Every patient is paired with a dedicated Advocate who assesses their needs, matches them with the right resources, and accompanies them throughout their journey. The service is offered through partnerships with health systems, primary care providers, and health plans. Benchmark is an AI-native startup along every dimension: org design, technology, and user experience. By responsibly leveraging AI, we aim to provide higher quality care at lower costs.

In a little over a year, Benchmark has landed partnerships with major health organizations and built an AI-native infrastructure to support the Advocacy care model. The model is grounded in a simple principle: treat every patient the way you would a family member. Our PCPs trust us so much that many of them refer their own family members to Benchmark’s service. The company was founded by two doctors: Dr. David Mou, a serial entrepreneur, and Dr. Tom Insel, the former director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Why We're Hiring

Benchmark is entering its next chapter. The company has reached the point where it needs a senior operating leader to run the business day to day, build scalable infrastructure, and serve as a strategic thought partner to the CEO.

What You'll Do

The COO will serve as the operating counterpart to the CEO, and will have a broad mandate over Product, Operations, Data, finance, and human resources. Your primary areas of focus (not exhaustive) would include:

• Strategy: Working closely with CEO office, board members, and advisors to iteratively ideate and create an AI-native operating system for behavioral health to support payors
• Operations: Ensuring effective delivery and measurement of high-quality quality care across all channels (PCPs, payors, health systems). Own and scale core operations across care management and partner implementation.
• Product and Technology Leadership: Designing, building, and assuring the efficiency and effectiveness of an AI native scalable clinical model. Partnering closely with tech team to
• Financial Stewardship: Maintaining financial discipline and supporting fundraising efforts
• Team Leadership and Growth: Partner with CEO to continue to attract, develop, and retain a high-caliber, mission-oriented team, aligned by a robust performance metrics backbone

Who You Are

• A senior operating leader: You have extensive experience as an executive for for a payor or payvider, and you have strong knowledge of behavioral health payment structures. You have managed significant P&L responsibilities. You have built and scaled teams, preferably with smaller companies. You are a high velocity, metrics-driven operator, and you are at home with the ambiguity, the speed, and the gaps that come with the territory.
• Data driven: Financially, you can break a business into its core components, read the business through its metrics, and sit across from investors as a peer. You ideally have had multiple successful fundraising experiences. Operationally, you are comfortable with quantitative OKRs.
• A builder of teams and systems: You have designed orgs, hired ahead of growth, and put in the cadence and metrics that let a company scale.
• Mission-driven: You care deeply about transforming the behavioral health ecosystem for the better.

Preferred qualifications

• 10+ years of operations experience, including a senior operating role at an early-stage startup. Deep experience in behavioral health, managed care, or value-based care models strongly preferred.
• A track record of scaling a company through a growth stage, ideally from seed through Series A or B.
• Experience operating as a senior leader with real autonomy, owning outcomes without close oversight.
• Healthcare or behavioral health experience, and familiarity with value-based care, are a plus.

Additional Details

• Hours: Full-time.
• Compensation: Competitive, commensurate with experience.
• Location: In-portional role at Benchmark Office in Needham, MA strongly preferred