Senior Director, Clinical Strategist

LifeStance Health

About The Position

This role is responsible for prioritizing and driving execution of the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) strategic initiatives that improve clinical operations and enterprise performance. The role translates enterprise strategy into a disciplined, actionable portfolio and leads cross-functional transformation using structured methodologies, including Lean/Six Sigma, to deliver measurable outcomes. Success in this role is defined by delivering initiatives on time with measurable KPI improvement, strengthening clinical and operational performance, and enabling a high-performing, accountable operating model. This role primarily serves the CMO, CMO leadership team, and clinical operations teams by ensuring strategy is effectively executed in a practical, patient-centered, and scalable manner.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Business, Healthcare Administration, Operations Management, Public Health, or related field
7+ years functional experience leading cross-functional strategic initiatives, portfolio, or program management
5+ years industry experience in health care delivery, behavioral health, or health services organizations
7+ years supervisory experience demonstrating ability to lead through influence in matrixed environments without direct authority
5+ years leadership experience with direct people management responsibilities
Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously while managing complex, enterprise-level initiatives with measurable outcomes
Strong experience establishing governance, managing portfolios, and driving accountability across stakeholders
Proven ability to make decisions involving tradeoffs across competing priorities, resources, and timelines
Experience ensuring adherence to regulatory, compliance, and operational policies within a clinical or healthcare setting

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree (or equivalent additional relevant experience)
10+ years functional experience in strategic initiatives, portfolio, or program management
7+ years industry experience in healthcare delivery or related fields
10+ years supervisory experience leading in matrixed environments
7+ years leadership experience with direct people management
Lean/Six Sigma certification (Green Belt or Black Belt)
Program Management certification
Change Management certification

Responsibilities

Lead and manage the CMO strategic initiative portfolio, translating enterprise priorities into a structured portfolio with defined scope, owners, timelines, dependencies, and success metrics.
Drive end-to-end execution of cross-functional strategic initiatives, ensuring accountability, timely delivery, and measurable outcomes aligned to clinical and operational goals.
Establish governance frameworks and operating cadence to prioritize work, manage tradeoffs, and align execution with enterprise priorities and resource constraints.
Partner with Clinical Operations and cross-functional stakeholders (Operations, Quality, Finance, Analytics, IT, Legal/Compliance) to ensure initiatives are practical, implementable, and aligned to patient-centered outcomes.
Facilitate decision-making forums and escalation processes to resolve risks, remove barriers, and maintain forward momentum across initiatives.
Define and monitor KPIs, dashboards, and success measures to track progress, value realization, and sustained performance improvement.
Apply Lean/Six Sigma and structured process improvement methodologies to identify inefficiencies, redesign workflows, and support implementation across clinical operations.
Partner with the CMO and leadership team to support development of annual and multi-year clinical strategy and identify opportunities for improvement and growth.
Translate strategy into actionable initiatives, ensuring alignment between enterprise goals and operational execution.
Ensure initiatives are designed and executed in alignment with clinical, regulatory, privacy, security, and enterprise policies.
Identify and mitigate risks early by partnering with Legal, Compliance, Quality, and IT/Security to ensure initiatives are compliant, auditable, and sustainable.
Manages a team of approximately 3 direct reports.
May oversee external vendors and consultants supporting compensation programs.