Head of Payer Partnerships

baba; New York (NY); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Baba is seeking a Head of Payer Partnerships to own relationships with national and regional health plans, with a focus on Medicare Advantage and dual-eligible populations. You will design, close, and scale value-based and other risk-aligned agreements, and lead a partnerships function as Baba grows in the U.S.

You will report to the CEO and collaborate with Clinical Operations, Finance, Legal, Product, and Growth to build a durable payer book from pilots to scaled contracts while traveling for

Qualifications

• 5+ years of commercial experience leading payer sales or partnerships.
• Experience closing and expanding health plan contracts, ideally Medicare Advantage or dual-eligible.
• Ability to structure value-based or risk-aligned agreements.

Responsibilities

• Payer strategy and pipeline: define plans, populations, structures, and own end-to-end pipeline from first meeting to signed contract.
• Deals: structure and negotiate value-based or risk-aligned agreements with plans.
• Executive relationships: build durable relationships with plan leaders and internal champions.
• Pilot to scale: take pilots from design through launch, measurement, and expansion.
• Voice of the payer: bring real-time commercial insight to Product, Clinical, and Growth teams.
• Team: hire and lead partnerships and account management as the company scales.

Skills

Payer partnerships

Executive relationship management

Deal closing

Cross-functional collaboration

Job description

About Baba

Baba is an applied AI lab modernizing risk and care delivery for people with Medicare. We've become the fastest growing digital health system matching people with Medicare and their family caregivers with expert advocates, physicians, medications, lab testing, and AI agents to deliver insurance-covered care across all 50 states. In the last 8 months, we've completed tens of thousands of appointments and partnered with health plans covering more than 4 million Medicare beneficiaries. On any given day, our team's work spans population health research, applied AI research, clinical care delivery, and fintech infrastructure.

We're a Series A company with $40M+ in funding. Our team is half engineers, a third former founders, and comes from places like Ramp, Stripe, Liquid AI, Palantir, MIT, and CMU. Our clinical operations are led by the former Executive Director of Care Transitions from the Mount Sinai Health System. We believe that talent density is our greatest competitive advantage.

About the Role

Health plans are the most important commercial relationships Baba will build. As Head of Payer Partnerships, you will own them: the strategy, the pipeline, the deals, and the executive relationships with the country's top national and regional plans, with a focus on Medicare Advantage and dual-eligible populations. You'll design and close value-based and other risk-aligned agreements, take pilots to scaled contracts, and be the face of Baba to plan leadership.

This is a closing role with strategic ownership, not a strategy role with occasional selling. The right person has done this before at a digital health or tech-enabled services company, where they built a payer book from early pilots into scaled contracts. You'll report to the CEO and work closely with Clinical Operations, Finance, Legal, Product, and Growth. You'll build a partnerships team as the company scales.

This role is full-time and based in our Soho office in NYC. Expect travel for in-person business development meetings and industry conferences.

What You'll Own

Payer strategy and pipeline. Define which plans, which populations, and which structures we pursue, in what order, and own the pipeline end to end from first meeting through signed contract and expansion.

Deals. Structure and negotiate agreements with plans, including value-based, risk-aligned models, and novel payment pilots.

Executive relationships. Build durable, trusted relationships with plan leaders across the functions that matter for a deal, and create internal champions who carry Baba through complex organizations.

Pilot to scale. Take pilots from design through launch, measurement, and expansion. Own the plan-facing narrative on results, and work with Clinical Ops and Finance to make sure we deliver and prove ROI.

Voice of the payer. Bring real-time commercial insight back to Product, Clinical, and Growth, and turn what plans need into product + service offerings.

Team. Hire and lead partnerships and account management talent as the company scales.

We'd Love to Hear From You If

• You have 5+ years of commercial experience, including several years leading payer sales or partnerships at a digital health or tech-enabled care company, and you've personally closed and expanded health plan contracts, ideally in Medicare Advantage or with dual-eligible populations.
• You understand how plans buy from a startup: the stakeholders, budgets, calendars, and approval paths, what a plan's medical cost, quality, and network teams each need to see, and how to get a young company through security, legal, and clinical review without losing a year.
• You've structured value-based or risk-aligned agreements and can speak fluently to the economics on both sides of the table.
• You have real executive presence and can hold a room of plan leadership, adapt the story to each plan's priorities, and negotiate without losing the relationship.
• You've taken a pilot to a scaled contract and know what that takes operationally, not just commercially.
• You're energized by 0→1 work and ambiguity, and you build structure and momentum where none exists.
• You're operationally excellent: you run a pipeline, a forecast, and a dozen live conversations with precision.
• You can cross-functionally collaborate with Clinical, Finance, Legal, Product, and Growth.
• Previous stints inside healthplans, consulting, or strategy roles but not a substitute for experience with successful healthcare plan partnerships.