Head of Finance - Mission Driven Health Tech

Ember Search; San Francisco (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

Ember Search is seeking a true finance and operations hybrid leader to join a Seed-stage, venture-backed digital health company focused on accessible mental health care. You will partner closely with the co-founder/CEO to shape financial strategy, unit economics, and growth initiatives as the company scales toward its next fundraise.

This role blends strategic leadership with hands-on execution across revenue cycle, payroll, and HR-adjacent processes, and requires deep experience in healthcare

Qualifications

• Must have strong strategic finance and ops experience in early-stage startups.
• Able to partner with CEO on financial strategy and partnerships.
• Experience with healthcare payer economics and revenue cycle management.

Responsibilities

• Partner with CEO on financial strategy, modeling, and partnerships.
• Own revenue cycle management and payer contracting.
• Understand healthcare unit economics and payer mix across Medicaid and commercial plans.
• Analyze contractor economics and remittance timing to improve margins.
• Manage relationship with outside controller and support payroll, AP/AR, and HR-related processes.
• Perform scrappy executable work alongside strategic analysis.

Skills

Strategic finance

Operations leadership

FP&A

M&A exposure

Healthcare startup

Revenue cycle

Payroll

HR processes

Partnerships

Venture growth

Job description

Ember Search has been retained on a Head of Finance & Ops search for a Seed-stage, venture-backed digital health company built around virtual, insurance-covered mental health care for an underserved population.

The company has real early traction: strong revenue growth, hundreds of active patients, and clinical outcomes data that stands out in the sector. It recently closed a Seed round backed by top-tier impact investors and is entering a large, fast-growing market with almost no direct competition at this scale. Over the next few years, the plan includes expansion into several new states, new clinical care lines, and partnerships with health systems and other digital health companies.

The Role

This is a true finance and operations hybrid seat, reporting directly to the co-founder and CEO. It is not a narrow accounting or controller role. You will be a genuine strategic thought partner, shaping real operating decisions as the company scales toward its next fundraise.

You will:

• Partner directly with the CEO on financial strategy, modeling unit economics, and evaluating new payer, health system, and digital health partnerships
• Own revenue cycle management and payer contracting
• Build a working understanding of healthcare unit economics, including reimbursement, eligibility, and payer mix across Medicaid and commercial plans
• Analyze contractor caseload economics and remittance timing to directly improve margin
• Manage the relationship with the company's outside controller
• Support automation of therapist onboarding workflows
• Own and improve payroll, AP/AR, and HR-adjacent processes including pay bands and hiring ops

This is a hands-on seat as much as a strategic one. You'll be expected to do the scrappy execution work alongside the higher-level strategy and analysis.

Candidate Profile

• 6 to 12+ years in strategic finance and operations, with a track record of joining early-stage startups during periods of real growth
• Senior finance leader ready to take on a broad Head of Finance & Ops mandate, whether stepping into this level of seat for the first time or bringing prior experience operating at this level
• Healthcare and startup experience required, ideally at a Seed through Series E company, or personal experience scaling through multiple stages at one company
• Career start in investment banking, private equity, equity research, or public accounting, or a rotational finance program at a well-known company with exposure to FP&A, M&A, and accounting
• Genuine operational experience picked up alongside finance, such as payroll, vendor management, or HR-adjacent work
• Comfortable being challenged on your thinking and operating as a true thought partner rather than an execution-only function
• Willing to do hands-on, scrappy work in addition to strategic analysis

Why This Role

This is a rare opportunity to build the finance and operations function from the ground up at a company entering a massive, largely uncontested market. You'll report directly to a hands-on, analytically sharp founder who is looking for a real partner in the business, not someone to direct step by step. The scope here goes well beyond a typical first finance hire: real ownership over payer strategy, partnership economics, and margin, with meaningful room to grow on a path toward CFO as the company scales toward its next stage of growth.

Equal Opportunity Statement

Ember Search and our client are equal opportunity employers. We are committed to building diverse and inclusive teams and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability status, or any other protected status.