Strategy and Ops Lead (Insurance Ops)
Role summary
Alpaca Health is seeking a Strategy and Ops Lead to manage and improve insurance operations, focusing on prior authorizations, payer requirements, and patient financial responsibility. This role involves bridging operations and product to standardize workflows, reduce ambiguity, and drive reliable execution using technology. The ideal candidate is a systems thinker with strong analytical and execution skills, comfortable in a fast-paced, high-accountability startup environment. Experience in consulting, investing, startup operations, or healthcare strategy is preferred. This is an onsite role in New York City.
📌 About Alpaca Health
Alpaca Health enables clinicians to be entrepreneurs, starting in autism care.
We help clinicians launch and scale their own clinics by providing AI-powered software, payer contracting, and full back-office infrastructure. Our goal is simple: shift power in healthcare away from large consolidated entities and back to clinicians.
We are growing quickly and expanding into new states this year. The problems we are solving are operationally complex, high-stakes, and deeply meaningful for families.
We've raised over $14M in funding from early-stage investors like Core Innovation Capital, Adverb Ventures, and South Park Commons, and are building for long-term category leadership. More importantly, we're serving hundreds of patients, while growing 30% MoM.
🎯 Role: Strategy and Ops Lead
We are hiring a Strategy and Ops Lead to figure out insurance.
You'll turn messy, fragmented insurance feedback into clear processes and scalable systems.
Bridge ops and product to use technology to standardize workflows, reduce ambiguity, and drive reliable execution.
This role is perfect for people who are fascinated by the details -- who think strange edge cases are interesting, not (just) annoying.
What You’ll Do
Own prior authorization operationsManage day-to-day prior authorization workflows across providers and payers.Partner with providers to resolve issues and ensure timely submissions and approvals.
Improve the prior authorization systemTrack and synthesize provider feedback to identify failure points in the process.Translate insights into product and workflow improvements that increase approval rates and speed.
Standardize payer requirementsBuild and maintain a system of record for payer-specific documentation requirements.Continuously refine documentation standards to reduce denials and rework.
Manage reassessments and authorization timelinesTrack authorization periods and reassessment deadlines across patients.Ensure proactive renewals to prevent gaps in care and revenue disruption.
Research complex payer pathwaysInvestigate and operationalize single case agreements and out-of-network billing strategies.Develop playbooks for edge cases and non-standard payer scenarios.
Own eligibility operations and escalationsManage eligibility check workflows and resolve escalations quickly.Improve accuracy and turnaround time of benefits verification.
Build patient responsibility workflowsDevelop tools and processes to clearly determine patient financial responsibility.Design and implement systems for collecting copays, coinsurance, and balances.
Streamline payer communicationsOwn fax and payer mailbox operations, including intake, triage, and response workflows.Identify and implement automation opportunities to increase speed and reliability.
Drive continuous operational improvementIdentify bottlenecks across insurance operations and design scalable solutions.Work closely with Product and Engineering to embed these improvements into the platform.
🧠 Who You Are
You are extremely ambitious and want to build something meaningful at high velocity.
You are comfortable working harder and moving faster than most people.
You thrive in environments with little structure and high accountability.
You are a systems thinker who instinctively turns chaos into repeatable processes.
You can manage a large volume of parallel priorities without dropping details.
You communicate with clarity and judgment, internally and externally.
You bring strong analytical horsepower and can move between strategy and execution seamlessly.
You have experience in consulting, investing, startup operations, healthcare strategy, or similarly demanding roles.
This role is best suited for someone who wants to become a founder or senior operator and is willing to earn that opportunity through real responsibility.
NYC-based candidates (or candidates open to relocation). We work 5 days a week in person.
🚀 Why Join
Direct exposure to company-building at an early stage.
Real ownership of critical initiatives from day one.
The opportunity to materially impact families and clinicians.
A fast learning curve that few roles can match.
Compensation
💵 Competitive salary📈 Meaningful equity🏥 Health benefits🏖️ Flexible PTO🍱 Dinner when working late