Head of Specialty Therapeutics

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.

ROLE OVERVIEW

The role will be a clinical authority on neuromodulation and emerging pharmacotherapies (including esketamine, ketamine, and psychedelic-assisted therapies) while overseeing safe, evidence-based program development with the goal of positioning LifeStance as a national leader in interventional psychiatry.

This role is responsible for advancing specialty and interventional psychiatric therapeutics by developing protocols, training, quality standards, and outcome measures to support patients.  Success looks like safe, evidence-based, responsibly scaled specialty therapeutic programs that improve outcomes and align with enterprise clinical and operational priorities.

This role is part of a team who will be assisting with implementing the and guiding the directives of the CMO team.  We are seeking a highly collaborative, mission-driven professional with strong emotional intelligence, sound judgment, and exceptional executive functioning. The ideal candidate is a mature and efficient team player who communicates thoughtfully, remains solutions-oriented under pressure, and consistently puts shared goals above personal agenda. This person should be energized by the opportunity to help shape the future of mental healthcare and thrive in a high-accountability environment built on trust, focus, and mutual respect.

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.

KEY RESPONSIBILITES 

• Design and implement an enterprise interventional psychiatry strategy encompassing TMS (including rapid protocols), emerging pharmacotherapies, and neuromodulation modalities.
• Lead clinical program development for psychedelic-assisted therapies (including psilocybin, MDMA, and other emerging agents) in alignment with current and future FDA guidance and DEA regulatory requirements
• Evaluate emerging specialty treatments using current evidence, regulatory requirements, safety considerations, operational feasibility, and patient need.
• Monitor and synthesize emerging literature in interventional psychiatry to inform strategy and competitive positioning.
• Develop clinical protocols, eligibility criteria, care pathways, quality standards, and safety monitoring expectations for specialty therapeutic programs.
• Oversee implementation, performance monitoring, and continuous improvement of specialty therapeutic services across applicable markets and care settings.
• Oversee training and credentialing standards for clinicians delivering interventional therapies, including structured psychotherapy integration as required by emerging FDA guidance
• Partner with Medical Leadership, Clinical Operations, Quality, Research, and Finance to ensure specialty programs are clinically sound, operationally feasible, and responsibly governed.
• Partner with legal, compliance, and operations to navigate DEA Schedule I licensing (if necessary), REMS program requirements, and state-level regulatory variation.
• Collaborate with the Director of Emerging and Digital Therapeutics on data collection and outcomes measurement frameworks for interventional programs.
• Monitor outcomes, adverse events, utilization trends, patient experience, and effectiveness measures to guide program improvement and scale decisions.
• Build relationships with academic institutions, research organizations, specialty therapy centers, and external experts to inform clinical strategy and evidence generation.

Scope / Decision-Making / Impact

This role receives strategic direction from the Senior Leader, Psychiatric Excellence & Emerging Therapeutics and independently leads development of specialty therapeutic strategy, clinical standards, program design, and outcome measurement recommendations. The role makes day-to-day decisions related to protocol development, provider education, quality monitoring, evidence review, and specialty program improvement. Input or escalation is required when decisions involve new or higher-risk interventions, regulatory requirements, patient safety concerns, significant investment, operational expansion, vendor selection, or enterprise-wide policy implications.

Supervisory Responsibilities

This role may supervise direct reports or contractors as specialty therapeutic programs scale and is expected to provide functional leadership to clinical workgroups, specialty program teams, and cross-functional implementation partners. The role influences performance through clinical standards, provider education, expert consultation, program governance, and accountability for safe, evidence-based program execution.

REQUIREMENTS

• MD or DO with board certification in Psychiatry.
• Active, unrestricted medical license and ability to maintain appropriate licensure requirements.
• 10+ years of psychiatric clinical experience, including experience with specialty, interventional, or advanced psychiatric treatment modalities.
• Demonstrated ability to develop clinical protocols, care pathways, safety standards, training models, or program governance structures.
• Strong understanding of clinical evidence review, patient safety, risk management, regulatory considerations, and standards of care for specialty therapeutics.
• Ability to influence clinical and operational leaders across a complex, matrixed organization.
• Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, and executive communication skills.

• Qualified candidates must be legally authorized to be employed in the United States
• LifeStance is an EEO/Affirmative Action Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, protected veteran status, disability, or any other legally protected status.
• Demonstrates awareness, inclusivity, sensitivity, humility, and experience in working with individuals from diverse ethnic backgrounds, socioeconomic statuses, sexual orientations, gender identities, and other various aspects of culture.

PREFERRED SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE

• Experience developing, leading, or scaling specialty psychiatric treatment programs such as TMS, ketamine/esketamine, or other advanced therapeutic modalities.
• Clinical research, evidence-generation, or outcomes evaluation experience.
• Experience in large multi-site, multi-state, or enterprise healthcare organizations.
• Experience partnering with academic, research, vendor, or specialty treatment organizations.

PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS

• The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodation may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to sit, stand, bend, talk and hear. The employee is frequently required to walk. The employee must be able to lift and/or move objects up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.

COMPENSATION: $252,000 - $315,000/annually in addition to a competitive bonus plan and equity potential

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.

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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.