Senior Business Development Associate, Payer Partnerships

Headway.co; United States; On-site; USD 90,000 - 133,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical

Dental Vision

HSA/FSA

401(k) match

Parental leave

Job summary

Headway is transforming mental healthcare by building a platform that connects care with patients and streamlines payer partnerships. The Senior Business Development Associate will own external payer relationships, shape deal strategy, and manage content and negotiations across the nation.

You will operate on the front line of AI-assisted business development in digital health, reporting to a Managing Principal.

Qualifications

• 3+ years in consulting, BD, partnerships, or sales owning external relationships end-to-end.
• Genuine commercial instinct: read rooms, build trust, move conversations to outcomes.
• Fluent use of AI tools with skeptical, pressure-tested outputs.
• Resourceful, scrappy, and thorough in approach.

Responsibilities

• Own payer-facing workstreams end-to-end: market and buyer analysis to shape partner prioritization.
• Drive deal strategy and content; lead executive briefings to move negotiations forward.
• Manage recurring external touchpoints with payer counterparts.
• Be on the front line of AI-enabled business development in healthcare.

Skills

External relationships

Deal strategy

Payer relationships

Commercial instinct

Job description

1 in 4 people in the US have a treatable mental health condition, but most providers don't accept insurance, making therapy too expensive for most people. Headway's mission is to fix this by building a new mental healthcare system everyone can access. We started by solving the biggest barrier to care: insurance. The admin work - credentialing, claims, payment reconciliation - is a nightmare. We've automated that.

But we're going further. Over 90,000 providers across all 50 states run their practice on our software, serving over 2.6 million patients. We are building the best tools for therapists to run their entire practice, reimagining the experience of finding a therapist, and investing in the platform foundations to enable this at scale, and building much of it with AI. We aren't just a billing layer; we are becoming the platform where care actually happens.

We're a Series D company with $325M+ in funding (a16z, Accel, Spark Capital, etc.), looking for exceptional people to help us achieve this mission. We want your time here to be the most meaningful experience of your career. Join us, and help change mental healthcare for the better.

As a Senior Business Development Associate , you will be the commercial engine behind Headway's health plan partnerships - owning external payer relationships, driving deal strategy and content, and accelerating negotiated outcomes across the nation. This role is on the front line of rewiring mental healthcare in America. Reporting to one of Headway's Managing Principals, you will own payer-facing workstreams end-to-end: market and buyer analysis that shapes partner prioritization, deal content and executive briefings that move negotiations forward, and recurring external touchpoints with payer counterparts. You'll do this in one of the most AI-forward commercial teams in digital health - with the expectation that you direct the tools, question their output, and own every recommendation that carries your name.

You will thrive in this role if...

• You have 3+ years in consulting, BD, partnerships, or sales where you owned external relationships end-to-end - ideally with real reps operating client-facing without a safety net. Bonus points for direct healthcare experience.
• You have genuine commercial instinct: you read rooms, build trust quickly, and move conversations toward outcomes.
• You use AI tools fluently and skeptically - you know what they're good at, where they fail, and you never ship an output you haven't pressure-tested.
• You are resourceful, scrappy, and leave no stone unturned.

You will love this role if...

• You want to be in front of payers, not behind a spreadsheet - with a clear commercial track to grow into.
• You want to work at the front edge of AI-enabled business development.
• You thrive in ambiguity, seek out unfamiliar challenges, and shape strategy.
• You are motivated to face off against one of our generation's defining problems: access to mental healthcare.

Compensation:

The expected base pay range for this position is $90,440 - $133,000 based on a variety of factors including qualifications, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for an equity grant, depending on the position and level.

Comprehensive benefits:

Medical, dental, vision, HSA/FSA, 401(k) including match for 2027!, Carrot Fertility reimbursement, and paid parental, medical and caregiver leave.

We believe a team's strength is in its people, and we cannot achieve this mission without a team that reflects the diversity of this problem - across race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, national origin, religion, family status, disability, military status, and experience. Headway is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Headway will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please inform the recruiter when they contact you to schedule your interview.

Headway participates in E-Verify. To learn more, click here.