Head of Clinical Operations

Cerula Care; United States; Remote; USD 150,000 - 200,000; Full time

Job summary

Cerula Care is seeking a Head of Clinical Operations to oversee and improve behavioral health services for cancer patients. This role requires strong leadership and clinical experience in digital health, ensuring high standards of patient care and regulatory compliance in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of clinical experience, with at least 5 years in leadership role.
• Proven track record in digital health operations.
• Expertise in clinical innovation and quality improvement.

Responsibilities

• Oversee clinical direction and operations of behavioral health solutions.
• Manage clinical team and ensure compliance with healthcare regulations.
• Lead initiatives to improve patient outcomes and efficiency.

Skills

Healthcare regulations knowledge

Leadership

Cross-functional collaboration

Communication skills

Education

MD, DO, NP, LCSW, PsyD or other advanced clinical degree

MBA (preferred)

Job description

About Cerula Care

Cerula Care is the first digital health company focused on providing integrated behavioral health (BH) services to people living with cancer. More than 22M people living with cancer have behavioral health needs such as anxiety, depression, substance use disorder, and PTSD. We integrate with oncology practices and health systems through the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) to wrap our members with a behavioral health team, care programming, and outcomes analysis.

The Collaborative Care Model is an evidence-based clinical model that has been shown to successfully improve mild to moderate behavioral health needs more effectively than the current standard of care. Our care team enhances the traditional CoCM care team by adding a Health Coach (i.e., a health coach focused on holistic behavioral health), given our strong conviction in the benefit of health coaching and wellness in this population. With the right coaching program customized to our members, we will be able to improve our members’ behavioral health above and beyond traditional CoCM models.

Why Choose Cerula Care

We understand choosing a place to work or consult is a really important decision, and we want you to know that we do not take it lightly on your behalf – we welcome all your questions as you go through the decision process!

A few things to know about working at Cerula Care:

• Our culture is very collaborative, transparent, supportive, and feedback-driven. All of us (yes all of us – including and especially our co-founders) are open to receiving and giving feedback in a helpful way to ensure we each grow and learn every day and importantly are always improving for the sake of our members and each other.
• We have a big mission to accomplish and we want people who believe in that mission to join us. However, in joining our mission, we are not asking you to give up other parts of your life - we all have our lives outside work, and we absolutely respect each other’s needs.

Head of Clinical Operations role:

The Head of Clinical Operations will be responsible for overseeing the clinical direction and operations of our behavioral health solutions, ensuring the highest standard of care delivery, compliance, and innovation. As a key member of the leadership team, the Head of Clinical Operations will lead the clinical team, collaborate with product development, and drive the integration of clinical expertise into our behavioral health solutions. You will be the bridge between the clinical world and the product/tech world, ensuring that our platform aligns with best practices, regulatory requirements, and patient care excellence. In a digital health company, it’s hard to feel there is a more important role to our success.

Key Traits:

• Proven ability and desire to adapt to a fast-paced, changing environment

• Strong knowledge of healthcare regulations, standards, and best practices

• Ability to work cross-functionally with technical and non-technical teams

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills

Key Responsibilities:

Clinical & Member Onboarding Team Leadership, Management, & Development:

• Plan and manage clinical workforce staffing levels in alignment with actual and projected membership levels

• Manage and develop the clinical team, including interns, onboarding specialists, BHCMs, coaches, clinical supervisors, and psychiatrists

• Recruit top talent and create a sustainable structure for clinical staff growth and development

• Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous learning, and innovation across the clinical organization

Clinical Performance, Operations, & Member Engagement:

• Lead initiatives to improve patient outcomes, reduce costs, and increase efficiency using data-driven insights

• Oversee clinical operations across the member lifecycle from referral to discharge

• Ensure seamless integration of clinical processes with the broader company operations

• Holistically own the entire member lifecycle and identify opportunities to deepen engagement and expand care throughout

• Devise and implement ways to keep members engaged in care based on member archetypes and needs

• Ensure that all members are receiving the appropriate amount and duration of care

• Manage member marketing assets and member content library

Clinical Innovation, Strategy, & Care Program Development

• Define and implement the clinical strategy in alignment with the company’s mission and growth goals

• Lead clinical innovation and clinical product efforts to enhance member care using forward thinking clinical care and product-centered mindset

• Lead the development of care programs, protocols, and models

• Collaborate with the executive team to ensure clinical considerations are central to product development and business strategy

Clinical Quality & Billing:

• Ensure that all clinical services are compliant with relevant healthcare regulations, standards, and quality metrics (HIPAA, FDA, CMS, etc.)

• Develop and implement clinical and quality policies, procedures, and guidelines that align with legal and regulatory requirements

• Implement patient safety initiatives and evidence-based clinical protocols

• Establish and monitor clinical performance metrics, and lead quality improvement efforts

• Ensure that clinical inputs into monthly billing reports are complete, accurate, and optimized

Educational, Certification, and Experience Requirements:

• MD, DO, NP, LCSW, PsyD or other advanced clinical degree required; MBA preferred

• 10+ years of clinical experience, with at least 5 years in a leadership role within a digital health startup

• Proven track record of leading clinical operations in a digital health environment.

• Proven leadership and team-building skills, including giving and receiving transparent feedback

• Expertise in clinical innovation, strategy, care model development, and quality improvement

Location Requirements:

• 100% virtual

Time Commitment, Salary, Start Date:

• Full-time (realistically, 50+ hour weeks given we are a fast-paced startup!)

• Start date: May 2025