Director of Data Science and Analytics

About this role:

At Headway, our mission to make mental healthcare accessible and affordable is powered by our core insurance platform. This platform is the financial engine of our business, handling everything from providing patients with clear cost estimates to processing claims and ensuring providers are paid accurately. It is the most critical component of our financial success.

We are making a significant new investment in this area, bringing in senior product leadership to drive the next phase of growth. To succeed, they require an equally senior and strategic data partner. We are seeking a Director of Data Science to own the complete data narrative for this business-critical domain. You will not just be supporting the business; you will be a co-owner of the strategy, transforming our data function into a predictive, strategic powerhouse that directly impacts our revenue, efficiency, and patient trust.

This is a greenfield opportunity for an action-oriented leader to build a world-class team and define the data culture for the heart of Headway's business.

What You Will Own & Do:

• Build & Lead the Team: Hire, inspire, and manage a growing team of data scientists, and a data science manager. Foster a culture of analytical rigor, business impact, and high agency.
• Drive Product Strategy: Act as the dedicated strategic data partner to the new Product Directors for the Core Platform. Translate their roadmap into a clear analytics and data science agenda that uncovers opportunities and guides investment.
• Master the Economics of Our Business:

• Data Science: Oversee the development and performance of our patient cost estimation models, a crucial element of the patient experience.
• Operational & Financial Analytics: Own the end-to-end analytics of our Revenue Cycle Management (RCM). Develop and monitor core KPIs like clean claim rate, denial rates, and cash collection velocity. Build systems to detect anomalies and forecast financial outcomes.

Influence with Data: Communicate complex findings on platform health, financial performance, and strategic opportunities with clarity and conviction to senior leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.

What You'll Bring (The Ideal Profile):

• 10+ years of experience in data, with at least 5+ years in a leadership role where you have successfully built and scaled high-performing data teams, including managing other managers.
• Deep Quantitative Acumen in a Complex Domain: You have a proven track record of applying sophisticated analytics and data science to messy, high-stakes business problems. Your experience comes from:
• Ideally: Health tech, with direct exposure to Revenue Cycle Management (RCM), claims data, or payer analytics.
• Alternatively: Other complex transactional ecosystems like Fintech (payments, risk), Insurtech, or multi-sided Marketplaces.
• High Agency and a "Builder" Mindset: You are energized by ambiguity and the challenge of building a function from the ground up. You are a proactive, relentless problem-solver who takes complete ownership.
• Exceptional Executive Communication: You can distill complex analytical topics into clear, concise narratives and strategic recommendations for stakeholders across the organization, including the executive team.
• Technical credibility to lead a team of specialists; you don't need to be the best coder, but you must be able to guide technical discussions on modeling, experimental design, and data architecture.

Why You'll Love This Role:

• Unmatched Impact: Your work is not peripheral; it is focused on the absolute core of our business. You will have a direct, measurable impact on our company's revenue and our ability to make mental healthcare affordable for thousands.
• Intellectual Challenge: The U.S. healthcare insurance system is an incredibly complex and fascinating puzzle. This role offers a constant stream of challenging problems in predictive modeling, anomaly detection, and causal analysis.
• You're motivated by our mission. We are working to solve the biggest problems in mental health care today: access and affordability. Your work is central to that mission.

 

Compensation and Benefits:

The expected base pay range for this position is $250,000 - $300,000, based on a variety of factors including qualifications, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for performance-based variable compensation and an equity grant, depending on the position and level.

We are committed to offering a comprehensive and competitive total rewards package, including robust health and wellness benefits, retirement savings, and meaningful ownership opportunities through equity. Compensation decisions are made holistically, ensuring fairness and alignment with market benchmarks while recognizing individual contributions and potential.

• Benefits offered include:
• Equity Compensation
• Medical, Dental, and Vision coverage
• HSA / FSA
• 401K
• Work-from-Home Stipend
• Therapy Reimbursement
• 16-week parental leave for eligible employees
• Carrot Fertility annual reimbursement and membership
• 13 paid holidays each year as well as a Holiday Break during the week between December 25th and December 31st
• Flexible PTO
• Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
• Training and professional development

Client-provided location(s): New York, NY

Job ID: 5458675004

Employment Type: OTHER

Posted: 2025-10-06T18:34:57