Director of Strategic Initiatives

Job description

Who We Are Today, 1 in 5 children in the U.S. has a diagnosable mental health disorder, yet about half who need care never receive it. Handspring is a virtual mental health clinic for children, young adults, and families, and we've set out to rebuild this system from the ground up. We're a team of diverse, mission-driven people dedicated to making quality mental healthcare accessible to every young person and their family. About the Role We're hiring a Director of Strategic Initiatives to work directly with our founders as a force multiplier for the company. Handspring just closed a $19M Series B. We've cared for more than 4,000 families, and payer demand for our model keeps growing. The next few years at Handspring will include launching new states, new care models, increasing payer partnerships, and building ambitious technology - more than the founders can drive with the hours they have. This is a high-trust operating seat at the center of the company. You will own the analyses that drive our biggest decisions and the cross-functional initiatives that don't yet have a clear owner. You'll be in the room when decisions get made, and on the hook for making sure things actually get done. This is not a pure strategy job. Some of the work is grunt work: cleaning up a spreadsheet or slides, chasing a signature, chasing down a denied claim. Nobody at Handspring is above that, founders included, and we're not hiring anyone who is. What you get in return is the closest possible view of how a healthcare company gets built, and real influence over how Handspring serves families and clinicians. The best person for this job thinks like an owner, brings order to ambiguity, and closes every loop. We expect this role to be a springboard into functional leadership within 2 to 3 years, and we'll invest in making that happen. What You'll Own - Initiatives without an owner. Turning experiments into operations. We run constant experiments on patient acquisition, operations, and payer strategy. You'll run the high-stakes ones, figure out which work, systematize them, and hand them off. - The analysis behind our biggest decisions. Build the models that determine how we price, staff, expand, and invest: unit economics, workforce capacity, market entry, payer contract scenarios. Your work sets the terms of the debate before the decision gets made - What we build and where we go next. Own the business case for new service lines and care offerings, from market sizing through financial model, and the launch plan for new states, coordinating clinical, credentialing, growth, and payer workstreams - How the company decides and executes. Design how goals get set, how progress gets measured, and how the leadership team stays aligned as we scale. You'll turn founder intuition into systems the whole company can run on - The founders' leverage. Represent them in rooms they can't be in, pressure-test their thinking before decisions ship, and make sure commitments made at the top actually land throughout the organization - Board and investor materials. Own the board deck, investor updates, and the underlying numbers end to end. When our board sees revenue, session volume, or hiring progress, it's because you built the story and made it airtight Who You Are - 5 to 7 years of experience, including 2+ years at a top management consulting firm (or investment banking / private equity) where you learned to ramp fast, structure ambiguity, and operate with senior executives - A former founder or early startup operator is a huge plus, especially in healthcare - Exceptional written and analytical communicator; you can turn a whiteboard conversation into a decision-ready document - A reliable closer with superb follow-through; nothing you own gets dropped - Deeply trustworthy and discreet; you’ll handle sensitive information about people, finances, and strategy - Comfortable with variety and ambiguity. The portfolio changes constantly, and you'll often be structuring the problem yourself - Obsessed with company-building and healthcare. This job is too hard to do well if you're not - Based in the New York City area and able to work from our NYC office regularly Why Join Handspring - Direct exposure to every part of building and scaling a Series B healthcare company: payers, finance, clinical operations, growth, and the boardroom - A defined growth path into functional leadership as the company scales - A mission that matters, expanding access to high-quality mental healthcare for young people - Competitive compensation, equity, and benefits