Director, Strategy and Incubation

At LifeStance Health, we strive to help individuals, families, and communities with their mental health needs. Everywhere. Every day. It’s a lofty goal; we know. But we make it happen with the best team in mental healthcare.

Thank you for taking the time to explore a career with us. As the fastest growing mental health practice group in the country, now is the perfect time to join our team!

LifeStance Health Values

• Belonging: We cultivate a space where everyone can show up as their authentic self.

• Empathy: We seek out diverse perspectives and listen to learn without judgment.

• Courage: We are all accountable for doing the right thing - even when it's hard - because we know it's worth it.

• One Team: We realize our full potential when we work together towards our shared purpose.

Benefits
As a full-time employee of LifeStance Health, the following benefits are offered: medical, dental, vision, AD&D, short and long-term disability, and life insurance. Additional benefits include a 401k retirement savings with employer match, paid parental leave, paid time off, holiday pay and an Employee Assistance Program.

LifeStance is building a dedicated strategic function to identify, pilot, and scale new clinical service lines — moving ideas from concept to operational reality in a rigorous and structured way. The Director, Strategy & Incubation will own this process end-to-end, working within a clinical dyad with a senior leader from the CMO's organization to frame growth capabilities and in close partnership with the Director of Corp Development to prioritize and vet potential inorganic targets.

This is a high-visibility, high-independence role that sits at the intersection of clinical strategy, business development, and operational execution. The right person is comfortable with ambiguity, rigorous in their thinking, and effective at driving cross-functional work without positional authority.

Consistent with LifeStance's values, every member of the LifeStance team is expected to support each other and the mission, which may mean participating in projects and initiatives and performing functions and responsibilities not specifically outlined in this job description.

While LifeStance is the largest national outpatient mental health platform in the country, we are still in the early innings of what the platform can offer. This role will directly shape the capabilities of LifeStance over the next three to five years — building things that do not yet exist inside a company that has the scale to accelerate market delivery. It is a rare opportunity to operate with significant autonomy and impact.

Service Line Pipeline

• Maintain a structured inventory of potential new service lines and clinical capabilities, developed in partnership with the clinical dyad
• Keep the pipeline current, well-sourced, and grounded in both clinical relevance and market reality

Prioritization

• Apply a rigorous, multi-factor framework to rank opportunities — evaluating clinical viability, operational feasibility, financial return, and strategic fit
• Produce a clear, defensible prioritization that leadership can act on and revisit as conditions change

Incubation & Piloting

• Lead the design and execution of pilots for prioritized service lines
• Quarterback cross-functional teams — including clinical, operations, technology, finance, and legal — with dotted-line coordination
• Drive decisions, resolve blockers, and keep pilots on track against defined success criteria

Business Cases & Rollout Planning

• Develop full business cases for advancing pilots to scale, including financial models, operational requirements, and risk assessments
• Translate validated pilots into operational playbooks and transition plans in close coordination with operating counterparts

Transition to Operations

• When a service line is ready to scale, manage a structured handoff to operational owners
• Define transition criteria, prepare the receiving team, and ensure continuity — without maintaining ongoing ownership post-handoff

Build / Buy / Partner Assessment

• Continuously evaluate whether new capabilities are best built internally, acquired, or developed through partnerships
• Collaborate directly with the M&A and corporate development team on building target pipeline and specific opportunities that warrant inorganic consideration

Experience

• 7–10 years in strategy consulting, healthcare operations, or a combination of both
• Mental health or behavioral health experience strongly preferred; candidates without it should bring deep healthcare services expertise and demonstrate genuine interest in the space
• Track record of owning complex, cross-functional initiatives from concept through execution — not just analysis
• Experience building and presenting business cases to senior leadership
• Exposure and experience in clinical, service line and/or venture development a plus

Skills and Attributes

• Comfortable operating with significant ambiguity; able to impose structure without waiting for it
• Strong analytical and financial modeling skills — can build a business case from scratch
• Operationally literate; understands how healthcare services businesses operate
• Effective at leading without authority; skilled at aligning cross-functional stakeholders
• Clear, direct communicator — written and verbal
• High degree of independence; does not need close supervision to produce quality output
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree preferred

Not Required

• Clinical licensure or clinical background
• Investment banking experience
• People management experience

This is a remote role. Candidates must have a quiet, distraction-free, dedicated HIPAA-compliant workspace. The role requires reliable internet access and the ability to participate in frequent audio/video calls and meetings across time zones.

Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States.

COMPENSATION: $190,000 - $220,000/annually, with 20% annual bonus potential and long-term incentive plan eligibility

As a full-time employee of LifeStance Health, the following benefits are offered: medical, dental, vision, AD&D, short and long-term disability, and life insurance. Additional benefits include a 401(k) retirement savings plan with employer match, paid parental leave, paid time off, holiday pay, and an Employee Assistance Program.

LifeStance provides the compensation range and benefits that it in good faith believes it might pay and/or offer for this position. LifeStance reserves the right to ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and offer additional benefits and other compensation, depending on circumstances not related to an applicant’s sex or other status protected by local, state, or federal law.

LifeStance is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are fully committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our employees. Learn more about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at LifeStance.

LifeStance Health complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities. If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact our Human Resources Team at [email protected]. Please note: This contact is intended solely for accommodation requests. Inquiries regarding applications, resumes and applicant status should not be sent to this email address as they will not be reviewed or responded to. To apply for a position, please use our official careers page.