Social Work Team Lead

Thyme Care•Remote, United States

About The Position

As a Social Work Team Lead, you will oversee and manage one or more of our Social Work teams (LCSWs and/or LMSWs), ensuring they are equipped to deliver compassionate, high-quality support to members navigating cancer and complex social needs. Reporting to the Manager of Social Work, you will lead a team focused on identifying and addressing social determinants of health, reducing barriers to care, advancing health equity, and connecting members and caregivers with meaningful resources and support. You will provide day-to-day leadership, manage escalations, support training and development, coach and mentor your team, and foster strong collaboration across the broader Care Team. Clinical supervision may also be part of this role, depending on licensure and program needs. To excel in this role, you must demonstrate strong leadership and mentorship skills, with a proven track record of managing staff and high-performing social work teams. You are a proactive problem solver who views challenges as opportunities for growth and is committed to continuous improvement. Experience supporting individuals with complex social needs within healthcare is essential, with oncology, palliative care, care management, or value-based care experience strongly preferred. Knowledge of health plan and provider operations, community-based resources, and healthcare navigation is also beneficial. After your first three months, you will: Have completed Social Work training and demonstrated competencies in a Social Worker role Know our Care Team policies and procedures, escalation pathways, communications best practices, and documentation standards backward and forward, and actively share ideas on improving them. Be on the path to becoming an expert on our Thyme Care systems, tools, technology, partners, and expectations. Directly manage and serve as an escalation point to a team of Oncology Social Workers and Clinical Social Workers, including but not limited to escalated member and caregiver interactions. Have built strong, trusting relationships with your team and leadership, where listening and empathy are the foundation for every interaction. Lead team meetings such as daily huddles and case conferences to drive member engagement, enable our Care Teams, and ultimately establish targeted support plans. Understand the skills, qualities, and experience that set a candidate up for success and participate in the oncology social work interview loop. Act as an air traffic controller by monitoring assignments and ensuring queues are effectively and efficiently managed. Handle process and workflow escalations. Track social work-driven OKRs and conduct root-cause analyses to identify knowledge, data, or procedure gaps. Support our social workers in identifying and prioritizing member needs and assisting them with care coordination and clinical support such as crisis management, psychosocial emotional support, therapeutic services, care coordination, connecting members to high-quality providers, and preventing readmissions. Provide clinical expertise in medical, behavioral, and crisis management. Monitor quality and productivity metrics for all social work team members and then develop coaching and remediation plans for direct reports accordingly. Provide support on building and maintaining resources, optimizing schedules, and contributing to updating staffing requirements, project initiatives, and policies and procedures. Drive engagement and promote the Thyme Care vision and strategy. Be available for urgent clinical escalations and clinical consult support. Provide Social Work overflow, holiday, and on-call coverage support as needed. Develop strategies to promote culturally competent care and close the health literacy gap.

Requirements

Masters of Science in Social Work/ Masters of Social Work.
Unrestricted Social Work license.
Willingness to obtain additional state licenses, as needed.
At least 8 years of social work experience.
2 years as a social work leader in oncology and/or case management.
Strong leadership and mentorship skills.
Proven track record of managing staff and high-performing social work teams.
Proactive problem solver.
Commitment to continuous improvement.
Experience supporting individuals with complex social needs within healthcare.
Knowledge of health plan and provider operations.
Knowledge of community-based resources.
Knowledge of healthcare navigation.
Effective listener and communicator.
Ability to build rapport and excellent working relationships with team, leadership, and stakeholders.
Proven track record of success within scaling businesses, fast-paced environments, and startups.
Ability to identify and prioritize team needs and address urgent and essential needs immediately.
Self-starter.
Experience with video chatting.
Experience with Google Suite.
Experience with Slack.
Experience with electronic health records or comfort in learning new technology.

Nice To Haves

Oncology, palliative care, care management, or value-based care experience.
Certification as an Oncology Social Worker (OSW).
Certified Advanced Palliative and Hospice Social Worker (APHSW-C).
Certified Case Manager (CCM).
Other clinically relevant Oncology or Palliative Care certifications.

Responsibilities

Oversee and manage one or more Social Work teams (LCSWs and/or LMSWs).
Ensure teams deliver compassionate, high-quality support to members navigating cancer and complex social needs.
Identify and address social determinants of health.
Reduce barriers to care.
Advance health equity.
Connect members and caregivers with meaningful resources and support.
Provide day-to-day leadership.
Manage escalations.
Support training and development.
Coach and mentor the team.
Foster strong collaboration across the broader Care Team.
Provide clinical supervision (depending on licensure and program needs).
Directly manage and serve as an escalation point to a team of Oncology Social Workers and Clinical Social Workers.
Lead team meetings such as daily huddles and case conferences.
Monitor assignments and ensure queues are effectively and efficiently managed.
Handle process and workflow escalations.
Track social work-driven OKRs and conduct root-cause analyses.
Support social workers in identifying and prioritizing member needs.
Assist social workers with care coordination and clinical support (crisis management, psychosocial emotional support, therapeutic services, care coordination, connecting members to high-quality providers, preventing readmissions).
Provide clinical expertise in medical, behavioral, and crisis management.
Monitor quality and productivity metrics for all social work team members.
Develop coaching and remediation plans for direct reports.
Provide support on building and maintaining resources, optimizing schedules, and contributing to updating staffing requirements, project initiatives, and policies and procedures.
Drive engagement and promote the Thyme Care vision and strategy.
Be available for urgent clinical escalations and clinical consult support.
Provide Social Work overflow, holiday, and on-call coverage support as needed.
Develop strategies to promote culturally competent care and close the health literacy gap.
Participate in the oncology social work interview loop.