Sr. Director, Social Connection & Behavioral Health Innovation

Institute on Aging•San Francisco, CA

About The Position

IOA is seeking an entrepreneurial, mission-driven behavioral health leader to build the next generation of social connection and behavioral health services for older adults. This role will take the work of the Friendship Line, a crisis and emotional support line for older adults, and expand it to include developing, testing, implementing, and scaling evidence-based and evidence-informed services. These services may encompass group interventions, peer and paraprofessional supports, behavioral health services, navigation, community-based programs, and technology-enabled approaches. The Sr. Director will work with executive leadership and strategic partners to translate a vision into a scalable and financially sustainable operating model, including building new programs and teams, developing health plan and payer partnerships, establishing reimbursable services, and pursuing various funding pathways (Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare, value-based care, private-pay, philanthropic). The ideal candidate will combine deep behavioral health expertise with a builder's mindset, being entrepreneurial, curious, creative, evidence-driven, and comfortable with testing new approaches. They will also be an exceptional communicator and servant leader.

Requirements

Advanced degree in behavioral health or mental health, such as PsyD, PhD in psychology, MSW, MFT, or another closely related discipline.
Significant behavioral health or mental health experience, with strong knowledge of clinical practice, interventions, risk, quality, and evidence-based care.
8 plus years of progressively responsible leadership experience with responsibility for people, programs, operations, and financial performance.
Demonstrated success building, growing, scaling, or transforming a program, service line, or business with a multi-million-dollar annual operating budget or revenue.
Demonstrated entrepreneurial experience launching new services, programs, partnerships, or business models.
Strong business and financial acumen, including budgeting, business planning, growth strategy, and performance management.
Exceptional communication, storytelling, relationship-building, and partnership-management skills.
Demonstrated success building and developing high-performing teams.

Nice To Haves

Active California behavioral health/mental health licensure strongly preferred (e.g., Psychologist, LCSW, LMFT, or other applicable clinical license).
Experience with older adults and/or knowledge of aging, loneliness, social isolation, and related behavioral health needs.
Experience with health plans, managed care, population health, or value-based care.
Knowledge of Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare, healthcare contracting, billing, and reimbursement.
Experience developing or scaling reimbursable behavioral health or community-based services.
Experience with evidence-based interventions, peer to peer support, community health workers, or paraprofessional workforce models.

Responsibilities

Develop and execute the strategic vision for IOA's behavioral health and social connection division.
Build a broader continuum of services with Friendship Line serving as a front door to additional supports.
Identify, design, test, evaluate, and scale new evidence-based and evidence-informed programs and service models.
Create a culture of curiosity, thoughtful experimentation, continuous learning, and innovation.
Develop a multi-year roadmap for growth, impact, and financial sustainability.
Stay current on emerging interventions, technologies, reimbursement models, and innovations in behavioral health, social connection, and healthy aging.
Provide senior behavioral health leadership and subject matter expertise across the division.
Guide the selection, adaptation, implementation, and evaluation of behavioral health interventions for older adults.
Ensure services are clinically sound, person-centered, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and grounded in evidence.
Establish appropriate clinical oversight, supervision, escalation, and risk-management structures across services and workforce models.
Develop meaningful measures of behavioral health outcomes, loneliness and social connection, participant experience, quality, access, equity, and financial performance.
Use data and evidence to continuously improve programs and determine what should be scaled, modified, or discontinued.
Build and scale a financially sustainable portfolio of behavioral health and social connection services.
Develop business plans, financial models, and growth strategies for new and existing service lines.
Lead and grow programs or service lines with multi-million-dollar annual operating budgets or revenue.
Develop reimbursement and contracting strategies across Medi-Cal/Medicaid, Medicare and Medicare Advantage, managed care, health systems, value-based arrangements, private pay, philanthropy, and other funding sources.
Partner with internal teams to build the billing, contracting, technology, data, and operational infrastructure needed to support growth.
Serve as a senior IOA leader for a significant strategic partnership with a major health care organization and other key external relationships.
Build trusted partnerships with health plans, health systems, government, community organizations, academic institutions, and funders.
Translate partnership commitments into operational plans, milestones, and measurable outcomes.
Serve as a compelling storyteller and ambassador for IOA's work addressing loneliness, social isolation, behavioral health, and healthy aging.
Represent IOA with healthcare leaders, funders, policymakers, community partners, and other external audiences.
Provide strategic and operational leadership for Friendship Line, ensuring the continued quality, safety, and integrity of its core services.
Position Friendship Line as a trusted front door to a broader continuum of social connection and behavioral health supports.
Strengthen referral pathways, follow-up, navigation, and connections to additional services.
Preserve the human connection at the heart of Friendship Line while thoughtfully exploring new service modalities and technologies.
Build the workflows, staffing models, systems, policies, and performance standards necessary to support the division's growth.
Recruit, develop, and inspire a high-performing multidisciplinary team of clinical professionals, peers, paraprofessionals, program leaders, volunteers, and operational staff.
Lead as a servant leader who develops others, invites different perspectives, and creates accountability.
Foster a culture of mission, innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning.
Effectively lead teams through growth, change, ambiguity, and organizational transformation.