Chief of Staff

Malama Health•Redwood City, CA

2d•Remote

About The Position

At Malama, moms are our north star. We meet moms where they are, in real lives not ideal patient scenarios, and we design care that works for those who are historically underserved. Our Care Navigators and doulas show up as co-conspirators, not service providers — delivering presence, confidence, and calm, and treating every mom as a capable, whole person whose instincts matter. We're outcomes-driven in the truest sense: we generate evidence from every interaction, change what isn't working when the data tells us to, and measure success by whether we're transforming lives, not just completing encounters. We step into the gap for moms, for each other, and for the communities we serve — and if that's the kind of work that gets you out of bed, then this role is for you. We are seeking a Chief of Staff to work directly with our leadership team at a pivotal moment in Malama's growth. This role is two things in equal measure: the operational backbone that keeps our organization running, and the market activation engine that gets Malama contracted, credentialed, and delivering care in new states. You will oversee the finance and HR functions that keep us compliant and well-run, and own the payer operations work that makes us scalable. If you move fluidly between vendor oversight and health plan strategy and you're passionate about equitable maternal health, then this role is for you.

Requirements

7+ years of experience in operations, chief of staff, strategy, or healthcare administration — you've built and overseen functions, not just executed within them
Demonstrated experience in payer operations, Medicaid managed care, provider enrollment, or value-based contracting — you understand how health plans work and what it takes to get contracted
Experience managing or overseeing finance functions — comfortable holding a controller, AP/AR team, or fractional CFO accountable to deliverables
Experience overseeing HR services or people operations, including vendor management, compliance, and employee relations
Experience navigating multi-state regulatory or licensing environments in healthcare
Exceptional judgment about what needs your attention and what doesn't — you manage up and manage vendors without creating noise for the CEO
Strong written and verbal communication; able to produce a payer-facing brief and an internal ops memo in the same week without losing altitude on either
Comfortable with the pace and ambiguity of a small, high-growth organization

Nice To Haves

Preference for owning processes end-to-end, surfacing risks and breakages early on, generating hypotheses, testing rapidly, and iterating with feedback (preference for former founders)
Excellent communication skills, client-ready
Experience with a dual-entity structure (MSO/PC or similar) is a strong plus
Prior chief of staff experience at a startup, health tech, or mission-driven organization is a strong plus

Responsibilities

Oversee Finance and Accounting Functions - serve as the management layer above our fractional finance team — controller, AP/AR, and grants specialist — ensuring accuracy, timeliness, and alignment with organizational priorities; own the relationship with our fractional CFO and hold the function accountable to deliverables
Oversee HR Services - manage the relationship with our HR services provider; ensure payroll, benefits administration, compliance, and employee relations are running smoothly and escalate issues appropriately; serve as the internal escalation point for people operations matters
Own Team Operations - be the point of contact for expense policy, offsite logistics, budget questions, and day-to-day operational matters; ensure the team has clear answers
Support Executive Bandwidth - shield the CEO's time from operational and administrative workstreams; prepare briefings and follow-up documentation for high-priority external meetings
Own State Credentialing and Provider Enrollment - oversee our credentialing team, ensuring we are meeting deadlines for credentialing, licensure, and provider enrollment process in each new state market; maintain tracker for licensing status, renewal timelines, and market readiness
Lead Market Activation - own the end-to-end operational path from contract execution to first patient encounter in each new market; coordinate across clinical, legal, and BD to remove blockers and keep go-live timelines on track
Drive Payer Readiness - produce the briefings, readiness assessments, and market entry playbooks the CEO needs to walk into health plan conversations with confident, specific answers
Build for Replication - ensure every market entry produces a playbook that makes the next one faster — state expansion should get more efficient with every go-live