Strategy & Operations Associate

Willow Health; New York (NY); Hybrid; USD 90,000 - 125,000; Full time

Job summary

Willow Health seeks a Strategy & Operations Associate to support high-priority initiatives and work directly with executive leadership to shape and execute the company’s strategic roadmap.

Ideal candidates come from consulting, investment banking, or analytical operations and enjoy turning advisory work into hands-on execution in a fast-growing health-tech environment. This role offers remote or hybrid work, with co-working in NYC/Brooklyn available.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree required.
• 2–4 years of relevant work experience in consulting, investment banking or analytical operations preferred.
• Highly analytical with ability to build research and provide data-driven recommendations.
• Excel fluency and significant financial modeling experience.
• Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-paced environments.
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal and relationship-building skills.

Responsibilities

• Strategic Planning & Corporate Initiatives: support development and execution of Willow’s long-term strategic plan and market expansion.
• Data & Reporting: develop dashboards and reports to track KPIs and provide leadership with insights.
• Business Development: prepare materials for sales meetings and partnerships.
• Financial Analysis: build financial models, analyze unit economics, and support targets.
• Executive & Board Communications: prepare leadership presentations and assist fundraising where needed.

Skills

Highly analytical

Excel

Independent in ambiguity

Strong communication

Education

Bachelor’s degree

Job description

Willow Health is an early-stage behavioral health company backed by Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Seae Ventures and Emerson Collection. Willow is dedicated to transforming the lives of individuals experiencing mental health crises by providing innovative, personalized care programs accessible from the comfort of home.

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.

We are seeking a Strategy & Operations Associate to support execution of Willow’s highest-priority initiatives. This is a high-visibility role that works directly with executive leadership to shape and execute the company’s strategic roadmap.

This role is ideal for someone coming from consulting, investment banking, or a strategy & operations function - particularly within the healthcare sector - who is excited to transition from advisory work to hands-on execution in a fast-growing health-tech company.

This role can be remote or hybrid (co-working 2-4x/month in NYC/Brooklyn).

Key Responsibilities

Strategic Planning & Corporate Initiatives

• Support development and execution of Willow’s long-term strategic plan
• Lead special projects tied to new markets, service line expansion, and clinical model innovation
• Conduct market landscape analyses - payer dynamics, regulatory trends, competitive positioning
• Translate strategic priorities into actionable operating plans

Data & Reporting

• Develop and maintain reports and dashboards to track performance across Willow’s key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Provide data-driven insights to leadership team to support development and execution of cross-functional initiatives

Business Development

• Prepare materials for sales meeting and negotiations with health plan and referral partners
• Support ongoing relationship management, including performance analysis of existing contracts and partnerships

Financial Analysis

• Build and maintain financial models (e.g. fundraise forecast, annual budget, LTV/CAC analysis)
• Analyze unit economics and operational performance metrics
• Partner with Clinical and Ops teams to develop and support initiatives critical to achieving company’s financial and operational targets

Executive & Board of Directors Communications

• Prepare presentations for leadership, investors, and Board of Directors
• Synthesize complex analyses into clear, executive-ready insights
• Support fundraising processes, as needed

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree
• 2-4 years of relevant work experience - consulting, investment banking or analytical operations candidates are strongly preferred
• Highly analytical, with an ability to construct research and provide data-driven recommendations
• Microsoft Excel fluency - this role will require significant modeling expertise
• Ability to operate independently in ambiguous, fast-paced environments
• Exceptional communication, interpersonal, listening and relationship-building skills

What makes this role unique

• Direct exposure to CEO and executive leadership
• Ownership over high-impact, company-defining initiatives
• Opportunity to shape payer strategy and care model innovation
• Meaningful impact through supporting patients in behavioral health crisis

The target base compensation for this role will be between $90,000 and $125,000 per year at the commencement of employment.

Please note, pay will be determined on an individualized basis and will be impacted by location, experience, expertise, internal pay equity, and other relevant business considerations. Further, cash compensation is only part of the total compensation package, which, depending on the position, may include stock options and other company sponsored benefits.

Willow is an equal opportunity employer, indiscriminate of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability, genetic information, or any other protected characteristic.

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.