Strategic Program Lead, Patient & Clinician Experience

We are seeking a Strategic Program Lead–to drive forward our experience strategy–who is deeply passionate about improving patient and clinician experience through insight-driven design, experimentation, and disciplined execution. This individual will connect strategy to on-the-ground action– translating empathy and data into programs that meaningfully enhance care, service delivery, and operational effectiveness. 

The ideal candidate thrives in ambiguity, bridges qualitative and quantitative insights, and guides teams to always put our people first in how we execute and make decisions. You will use research, structured problem-solving, and rapid learning cycles to drive programs that simplify experiences, reduce friction, and improve outcomes across the journey of care. 

As our Strategic Program Lead of Experience Strategy, you will translate human needs into clear strategies, operating models, and measurable outcomes. You’ll design and run small-scale pilots and quick experiments to test ideas, learn fast, and build the business case for greater investment in what works, ensuring resources go toward the highest-impact opportunities. 

You will serve as a trusted thought partner to senior leaders, orchestrating cross-functional alignment and ensuring initiatives maintain both strategic intent and human-centered integrity. Your ability to balance creativity with rigor, to see systems while honoring lived experience, and to maintain relentless focus on outcomes will be critical to your success in this role and the success for LifeStance. 

Consistent with LifeStance’s values, every team member is expected to support the mission and each other, which may include participating in projects and responsibilities beyond this role’s core scope. 

​Compensation: $109,162-$130,000 annually, plus annual bonus potential

RESPONSIBILITIES 

• Lead patient and clinician experience initiatives from start to delivery:  
  Translate strategic goals into actionable, cross-functional programs that drive the greatest impact on patient and clinician experience – and on broader organizational performance, scalability, and efficiency. You not only identify recommended actions to improve the experience, but you can drive the execution of those recommendations where you can measure the impact of what you’ve rolled out and iterate as needed. 

• Uncover actionable insights: Design the right research approach to answer the business’ questions around patient and clinician experience. Plan, recruit, conduct, and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research (both in-person ethnographies and remote studies) to uncover needs, pain points, and opportunities. Translate findings into clear narratives, design principles, and measurable action plans. 

• Design structured approaches to solve experience challenges: Identify levers, interdependencies, and organizational enablers required to drive sustainable experience improvements. Establish success metrics upfront and ensure performance is tracked against them. 

• Build alignment and shared understanding: Facilitate collaboration across clinical, operations, and tech teams. Create frameworks, artifacts, and communication plans that keep leaders and teams grounded in the “why,” not just the “what.” 

• Serve as a strategic thought partner: Enable executive sponsors and functional leaders to connect experience strategy to business strategy, balancing empathy with enterprise priorities. 

• Drive execution and accountability: Ensure initiatives progress on time, decisions are actioned, and impact is measured. Surface blockers early, maintain transparency with leadership, and guide teams through ambiguity while holding outcomes constant. 

• Bring data and empathy together: Partner with our Enterprise Insights and Analytics team to define success metrics that matter–from patient effort and retention to clinician satisfaction and operational efficiency–ensuring decisions are evidence-based and human-centered. Use data to evaluate progress, identify course corrections, and communicate impact to leadership. 

SKILLS & EXPERIENCE 

• Bachelor’s degree required; advanced degree preferred (MBA, MPH, MDes, or equivalent). 

• 5+ years of experience in strategic planning, program leadership, user experience, design research, or consulting, ideally in healthcare or another complex service industry. 

• Demonstrated success leading cross-functional initiatives that improve customer or clinician experience from discovery through execution. 

• Fluent in qualitative and quantitative research methods; experience designing and planning hybrid research approaches; ability to synthesize themes, connect insights to business implications, and guide design decisions. 

• Proven ability to structure and drive strategic programs in fast-moving, high-growth environments. 

• Strong data fluency–able to define, interpret, and act on success metrics related to experience, quality, and efficiency. 

• Exceptional facilitation and communication skills; capable of building alignment and trust at all levels of the organization. 

• Empathy-driven mindset with strong analytical rigor, able to bridge emotional and rational perspectives to drive decisions. 

• Familiarity with human-centered design, service design, or design thinking preferred. 

• Passion for improving mental health access, clinician well-being, and patient outcomes. 

• 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 

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 accommodations 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.