Summary

Headway’s mission is a big one – to build a new mental health care system everyone can access. We’ve built technology that helps people find great therapists with the first software-enabled national network of providers accepting insurance.  1 in 4 people in the US have a treatable mental health condition, but the majority of providers don’t accept insurance, making therapy too expensive for most people. Headway is building a new mental healthcare system that everyone can access by making it easy for therapists to accept insurance and scale their practice.  Headway was founded in 2019. Since then, we’ve grown into a diverse, national network of over 60,000 mental healthcare providers across all 50 states who run their practice on our software and have served over 1 million patients. We’re a Series D company with over $325m in funding from a16z (Andreessen Horowitz), Accel, GV (formerly Google Ventures), Spark Capital, Thrive Capital, Forerunner Ventures and Health Care Service Corporation. We want your time here to be the most meaningful experience of your career. Join us, and help change mental healthcare for the better.

Responsibilities & requirements

About the Role: As Senior Data Science Manager for Insurance Platform, you will define and lead the data strategy for Headway's insurance ecosystem. The team's mission is to ensure every patient gets accurate benefits, seamless claims processing, and a reliable path to care through an insurance platform they can trust. You will report into Headway's Platform Group, a mission-critical pillar that ensures the systems behind our insurance platform reliably power patient, provider, and payer experiences. Accurate insurance operations sit at the core of Headway's ability to scale, and data is essential to identifying, measuring, and resolving the gaps that drive patient loss and operational cost. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Operations across our Benefits, Eligibility, Corrections, Claims, and Paneling pods to deeply understand and improve how our insurance platform performs. You will define the right questions, proactively uncover opportunities, and use data to guide decisions from early concept through launch and iteration. You will set the standards for how we define accuracy, loss, and operational effectiveness, ensuring your team delivers work that leads to real, measurable improvements in patient and provider outcomes. What You’ll Do: Lead and grow a high-performing team of Data Scientists, fostering a culture of technical excellence and strategic thinking. Develop quarterly roadmaps with cross-functional partners, align Data Science resources, and oversee execution of timely and high-quality work. Drive insights and decisions through strategic analysis, reporting, predictive modeling, and experimentation. Architect a measurement framework that gives the organization a unified, trusted view of insurance accuracy across eligibility determination, benefits pricing, claims adjudication, and payer reconciliation, so we know exactly where patients are falling through the cracks and why. Partner cross-functionally to build proactive monitoring and alerting systems that shift the team from reactive firefighting to systematic loss prevention. Stay close to the data by tackling strategic projects yourself, surfacing gaps in our data and understanding of the insurance systems we depend on. Translate complex technical findings into clear, actionable recommendations for executive stakeholders. What We’re Looking For 8+ years of experience in data science or analytics roles. 3+ years of experience managing and developing teams. Prior experience in healthcare, specifically insurance, is a plus. Proven ability to drive cross-functional planning processes, including developing quarterly roadmaps, aligning resources across teams, and holding a high bar for execution quality and timeliness. Proven success partnering cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Operations. Deep expertise in measurement science and causal inference, especially Bayesian A/B testing, with the ability to coach others through complex experimental design. Proficiency in forecasting and predictive modeling techniques. Hands-on technical fluency in SQL and Python or R. Experience with data modeling, ideally using dbt, including event-driven modeling patterns and structuring datasets for both analytical use and AI-readiness. Experience adopting and championing AI-assisted tools to accelerate and automate data workflows. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills. Why This Role is Exciting Shape analytics for one of Headway's most complex and consequential domains, directly influencing the accuracy and reliability of the insurance platform that powers every patient's path to care. Work at the intersection of data, ML, and insurance operations, with real opportunities to apply predictive modeling to problems like benefits interpretation, payer identification, and claims routing that have meaningful financial and clinical impact. Partner closely with senior leadership and directly influence company strategy and growth. Compensation: and Benefits: The expected base pay range for this position is $ 212,000 - $265,000 , based on a variety of factors including qualifications, experience, and geographic location. In addition to base salary, this role may be eligible for 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 [To be included if role is bonus eligible][Other compensation includes: discretionary bonuses and/or commission. Commission payments are monthly.] We believe a team's strength is in its people, and we cannot achieve this mission without a team that reflects the diversity of this problem – across race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, age, national origin, religion, family status, disability, military status, and experience. Headway is committed to the full inclusion of all qualified individuals. As part of this commitment, Headway will ensure that persons with disabilities are provided with reasonable accommodations. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please inform the recruiter when they contact you to schedule your interview. Headway participates in E-Verify. To learn more, click here. A notice to Headway applicants: To protect yourself against phishing and recruitment fraud, please note that Headway only accepts applications through our official careers page at https://headway.co/careers. Headway will never refer you to external websites, ask for payment or personal information, or conduct interviews via messaging apps. All official communication will come from a @findheadway.com email address. If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from Headway via an unofficial channel, please do not share any information and report it as spam.

Full description

About the Role

As Senior Data Science Manager for Insurance Platform, you will define and lead the data strategy for Headway's insurance ecosystem. The team's mission is to ensure every patient gets accurate benefits, seamless claims processing, and a reliable path to care through an insurance platform they can trust. You will report into Headway's Platform Group, a mission-critical pillar that ensures the systems behind our insurance platform reliably power patient, provider, and payer experiences. Accurate insurance operations sit at the core of Headway's ability to scale, and data is essential to identifying, measuring, and resolving the gaps that drive patient loss and operational cost. You will partner closely with Product, Engineering, and Operations across our Benefits, Eligibility, Corrections, Claims, and Paneling pods to deeply understand and improve how our insurance platform performs. You will define the right questions, proactively uncover opportunities, and use data to guide decisions from early concept through launch and iteration. You will set the standards for how we define accuracy, loss, and operational effectiveness, ensuring your team delivers work that leads to real, measurable improvements in patient and provider outcomes.

What You’ll Do

Lead and grow a high-performing team of Data Scientists, fostering a culture of technical excellence and strategic thinking. Develop quarterly roadmaps with cross-functional partners, align Data Science resources, and oversee execution of timely and high-quality work. Drive insights and decisions through strategic analysis, reporting, predictive modeling, and experimentation. Architect a measurement framework that gives the organization a unified, trusted view of insurance accuracy across eligibility determination, benefits pricing, claims adjudication, and payer reconciliation, so we know exactly where patients are falling through the cracks and why. Partner cross-functionally to build proactive monitoring and alerting systems that shift the team from reactive firefighting to systematic loss prevention. Stay close to the data by tackling strategic projects yourself, surfacing gaps in our data and understanding of the insurance systems we depend on. Translate complex technical findings into clear, actionable recommendations for executive stakeholders. What We’re Looking For 8+ years of experience in data science or analytics roles. 3+ years of experience managing and developing teams. Prior experience in healthcare, specifically insurance, is a plus. Proven ability to drive cross-functional planning processes, including developing quarterly roadmaps, aligning resources across teams, and holding a high bar for execution quality and timeliness. Proven success partnering cross-functionally with Product, Engineering, and Operations. Deep expertise in measurement science and causal inference, especially Bayesian A/B testing, with the ability to coach others through complex experimental design. Proficiency in forecasting and predictive modeling techniques. Hands-on technical fluency in SQL and Python or R. Experience with data modeling, ideally using dbt, including event-driven modeling patterns and structuring datasets for both analytical use and AI-readiness. Experience adopting and championing AI-assisted tools to accelerate and automate data workflows. Strong communication and stakeholder management skills. Why This Role is Exciting Shape analytics for one of Headway's most complex and consequential domains, directly influencing the accuracy and reliability of the insurance platform that powers every patient's path to care. Work at the intersection of data, ML, and insurance operations, with real opportunities to apply predictive modeling to problems like benefits interpretation, payer identification, and claims routing that have meaningful financial and clinical impact. Partner closely with senior leadership and directly influence company strategy and growth.