[Hiring] Director of Clinical Advising & Innovation @Upstream USA

Role Description

The Director of Clinical Strategy Advising and Innovation is the clinical operations leader responsible for harnessing Upstream’s Clinical Team to inform organizational initiatives, including our systems change work with health care organizations (HCOs) as part of our Core Program. The Director also advises on early stage program innovation to help grow our portfolio of programs from ideation to launch decisions. Sitting within the Clinical Strategy, Design and Training (CSDT) vertical, they manage a pool of clinician experts, deploying them to support HCO partners and the organization's highest-priority workstreams, while driving program evolution and innovations.

Reporting to the Head of Clinical Strategy, Design & Training, this role sits at the intersection of clinical practice and organizational strategy. The ideal candidate will have deep clinical expertise and experience supporting clinical innovations in a fast-paced setting. A background in health service research, clinical program design, and/or implementation science is preferred. The Director is responsible for ensuring that generative thinking and rapid experimentation are grounded in clinical best practices. They manage the operational handshake between program design and field implementation, ensuring that new pilots, enhancements, or interventions are designed for sustainable, high-fidelity uptake.

There is flexibility to reduce the schedule to 32 hours per week to allow the individual to maintain an active clinical practice, ensuring continued clinical expertise and credibility.

Qualifications

• MD, NP, or PA with 8-10+ years of clinical and leadership experience in clinical services or public health.
• Strong clinical background in contraceptive care and reproductive health equity.
• 8+ years of experience managing multi-disciplinary clinical teams or complex projects in a healthcare setting or with health services operations.
• Demonstrated experience supporting innovation from ideation to implementation, including through health service redesign, clinical product development, or leading innovation sprints (rapid prototyping, user-centered design).
• Strong analytical and critical thinking skills; the ability to synthesize complex data, develop insights, and translate findings into actionable recommendations.
• Proven track record of leading, mentoring, and elevating teams; able to build capability, set direction, and inspire high performance.
• Experience supporting teams through periods of change whether driven by internal or external forces.
• Exceptional relationship-building and cross-functional leadership capabilities, including a track record of influencing and aligning senior leaders without direct authority.
• Familiarity with project management tools and frameworks; experience managing large, multi-workstream initiatives, including prioritization, scoping, resourcing, and operational execution.
• Superior communication skills, with the ability to craft and deliver clear, compelling narratives for executive audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to thrive in fast-paced, high-growth, and highly collaborative environments, with comfort navigating ambiguity and shifting priorities.
• Commitment to Upstream’s mission, equity goals, and values, including the ability to bring an inclusive lens to strategic decision-making and organizational planning.
• Experience with nonprofit organizations, or mission-driven environments.
• Experience working closely with executive teams, boards, or senior decision-makers.
• The ability to work in the weeds of a project while maintaining a high-level strategic perspective.
• The ability to move at the speed of innovation while ensuring program impact remains clinically measurable and aligned with the Logic Model.
• Deep understanding of healthcare workflows in diverse settings (e.g., FQHCs, large systems) and how to hardwire new clinical practices into them.
• Exceptional ability to lead and influence high-level internal specialists and navigate the friction between design and delivery.
• Ability to navigate cross-functional environments and translate clinical needs for technical and operational audiences, while avoiding program debt.
• A proactive desire to disrupt existing workflows to improve patient access and provider experience.
• Ability to identify and leverage generative AI tools (such as LLMs, image generators, or industry-specific copilots) to streamline workflows, automate repetitive tasks, and enhance overall output quality while maintaining the proper human checkpoints.
• Proficiency in crafting effective prompts to achieve desired outcomes and the critical thinking skills necessary to audit, fact-check, and refine AI-generated content for accuracy and brand alignment.
• A foundational understanding of the ethical implications of AI, including data privacy, bias recognition, and the responsible use of company information in third-party AI environments.
• Demonstrates the ability to remain focused, adaptable, and solution-oriented in the face of challenges, setbacks, or ambiguity.
• Must be comfortable and able to participate in an on-camera culture during meetings to support connection, engagement, teaming, and collaboration.

Requirements

• This role will require up to 25% business travel.
• All Upstreamers can expect a minimum of 8 days of business travel per year to attend 1 annual organizational retreat and 1 or 2 annual team/department meetings.

Benefits

• Comprehensive benefit package including medical, dental, vision, life insurance, long and short term disability.
• 401K with a match.
• Generous vacation, personal, sick and holiday time off.
• Parental leave.
• Professional development.
• Fitness and cell phone allowance for all full-time employees and part-time employees who work a minimum of 24 hours per week.
• Intern positions and contingent worker roles are not eligible for benefits.