Head of State Expansion

Willow Health; New York (NY); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

A mental health services provider is seeking a Head of State Expansion in New York. This role involves leading the growth strategy and building local teams across different states, all while ensuring compliance with healthcare regulations. The ideal candidate should have over 10 years of experience in high-growth startups, an understanding of clinical operations, and strong organizational skills. This position offers the chance to significantly impact mental health care accessibility in the region.

Qualifications

• 10+ years of experience in high-growth startups.
• Familiarity with Medicaid healthcare provider operations.
• Proven track record of meeting aggressive deadlines.

Responsibilities

• Lead end-to-end strategy for interstate growth.
• Build local teams and manage onboarding of clinical staff.
• Ensure compliance with local regulatory requirements.
• Establish partnerships with local healthcare services.
• Monitor performance against early-stage KPIs.
• Develop criteria for future expansion based on data.

Skills

Experience in high-growth startups

Understanding of clinical operations

Strong organizational skills

Analytical skills

Job description

In the United States, one in five adults experience a mental health illness and over 12 million people have thoughts of suicide. Mental health crises can be some of the most difficult times in a person’s life, and over 17 million people seeking behavioral health care experience a delay in accessing care. Willow Health is on a mission to significantly improve this experience by expanding affordable access to high-quality, evidence-based intensive behavioral health care.

In order to make this mission a reality, we deliver a virtual, urgent crisis care program that provides personalized, recovery-oriented care for people experiencing behavioral health crises.

Willow Health offers patients immediate access to evidence-based virtual crisis psychotherapy, medication management, certified peer coaching, care management, and around the clock crisis coverage, while working to connect patients to the most appropriate next level of care. We’re backed by leading venture firms, including Andreessen Horowitz and Seae Ventures.

As the Head of State Expansion, you will lead the end-to-end strategy and execution for our interstate growth. You’ll be responsible for building local teams, navigating complex healthcare regulations, and embedding our services into the fabric of local communities.

Key Responsibilities

• Market Launch & Clinical Hiring: Build a repeatable "Launch Playbook." You will lead the charge in recruiting and onboarding high-caliber clinical leadership and staff in each new territory.
• Regulatory & Compliance Sovereignty: Ensure 100% alignment with local state boards, licensing requirements, and healthcare mandates. You’ll be the primary point of contact for regulatory readiness.
• Payer Strategy: Drive early-stage KPIs focused on % of the population covered by insurance. You will work to ensure our services are accessible and that we are credentialed with the major payers in each new market.
• Community Ecosystem Building: Establish deep-rooted partnerships with local hospitals, emergency services, and 988 crisis centers, and build teams to manage ongoing relationship management.
• Operational Scaling: Monitor performance against early-stage KPIs (access, quality, and unit economics) to ensure a successful launch before transitioning the market to long-term operations.
• Future Roadmap: Develop the data-driven criteria for our next phase of expansion, identifying the states where we can have the greatest impact.

Who You Are

• Scaler: You have 10+ years of experience, specifically within high-growth startups. You’ve seen scale and know how to build systems that adapt to growth.
• Healthcare Native: You understand the nuances of clinical operations and what is unique about being a new Medicaid healthcare provider. This includes ideally having existing relationships with Payers.
• Operator-Entrepreneur: You are comfortable being a "department of one" on day one, but have the leadership gravitas to manage a large, decentralized team by day 100.
• Relentless, Organized Executor: You have a proven track record of hitting aggressive deadlines across multiple workstreams simultaneously. You are highly organized, detail oriented, and able to bring together multiple moving parts to ensure timely delivery against goals.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience in value-based care or behavioral health.
• Previous "boots on the ground" experience launching physical or hybrid clinical sites.
• Strong analytical background; you use data to decide which market to enter and how to measure success once there.

We may use artificial intelligence (AI) tools to support parts of the hiring process, such as reviewing applications, analyzing resumes, or assessing responses. These tools assist our recruitment team but do not replace human judgment. Final hiring decisions are ultimately made by humans. If you would like more information about how your data is processed, please contact us.