Associate Director, Patient Care Advocate

About 9amHealth We’re creating a new standard of care.

9amHealth is specialized cardiometabolic care: a first of its kind, whole body approach to preventing and treating obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol, and help with weight management. We offer custom care plans, prescription medications, and expert guidance to help our members live healthier every day.

9amHealth is a San Diego, California, based company led by the team behind mySugr, a successful diabetes management app acquired by Roche in 2017. 7Wire Ventures, Human Capital, Founders Fund, Define Ventures, Speedinvest, iSeed Ventures, and StartUp Health have backed 9amHealth, with a total funding of 25 million dollars. We are on a growth trajectory to achieve our mission of a more connected care approach for cardiometabolic health.

What it is

The Associate Director, Patient Care Advocate (PCA) leads and scales the full PCA function, our frontline team responsible for ensuring members receive timely, empathetic, and high-quality support across their care journey. This role provides strategic, operational, and people leadership to our PCA Leads and PCAs, ensuring the team is equipped to meet performance targets while reinforcing a culture of compassionate, patient-first care.

You will oversee workforce planning, service delivery operations, quality standards, and process optimization across all support channels. As a key partner to clinical, product, and operations leadership, you’ll help shape the future of member experience at 9amHealth and ensure our support model evolves with our rapid growth.

This role is ideal for an experienced leader who excels at scaling teams, designing efficient workflows, using data to drive decisions, and building a strong operational backbone in a fast-paced healthtech environment.

What you’ll do

Team Leadership & People Development

• Lead, coach, and mentor PCA Leads; indirectly oversee the full PCA team
• Establish team culture grounded in empathy, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Own performance management: goal setting, feedback cycles, coaching plans, and development pathways
• Partner with People Ops on hiring strategy, role definition, staffing models, and onboarding improvements
• Ensure Leads consistently cascade updates, reinforce policies, and support their teams effectively

Operational Strategy & Workforce Management

• Own forecasting, staffing plans, and scheduling strategy for all PCA coverage across chat, phone, and ticket queues
• Ensure SLAs are consistently met by optimizing shifts, staffing mix, and real-time resource allocation
• Set capacity and productivity expectations; monitor queue health and load balancing in partnership with PCA Leads
• Oversee escalation protocols and ensure efficient handoffs between PCA, clinical, pharmacy, and operations teams
• Standardize workflows, policies, and documentation to ensure consistent, compliant, high-quality operations

Quality, Training & Process Excellence

• Design and oversee quality assurance programs, including auditing, coaching, and root-cause analysis
• Partner with Clinical, Compliance, and Learning teams to ensure PCAs meet regulatory, privacy, and safety expectations
• Identify workflow bottlenecks; lead cross-functional improvement efforts to increase efficiency and reduce errors
• Drive continuous improvement in Zendesk, EMR workflows, scheduling systems, and communication protocols
• Maintain high-quality member communications by defining standards for tone, clarity, and service excellence

Member Escalation Leadership

• Provide senior oversight and intervention for high-risk, sensitive, or complex escalations
• Support PCA Leads in managing real-time issue resolution and serve as the final escalation point when needed
• Monitor patterns in escalations and partner cross-functionally to address systemic issues

What you’ll need

Minimum Qualifications

• 5+ years of healthcare support, patient advocacy, customer operations, or care coordination experience
• 3+ years of people leadership, including managing managers or team leads
• Experience scaling operations in a fast-paced, high-growth environment
• Strong command of service operations metrics (SLA management, forecasting, capacity planning, QA programs)
• Proven ability to diagnose workflow issues, design scalable processes, and operationalize improvements
• Exceptional written and verbal communication skills with a patient-first, empathetic approach
• Experience with EMRs, Zendesk, scheduling tools, and healthcare operations fundamentals (HIPAA, insurance basics, prior authorizations)
• Ability to collaborate effectively across clinical, operations, pharmacy, product, and compliance teams
• Reliable internet and a quiet, dedicated workspace
• Availability during core business hours (ideally 7 AM – 3:30 PM PST)

Preferred Qualifications

• Healthtech, virtual care, or startup experience
• Prior experience formalizing operational programs (QA, training, workforce management)
• Familiarity with shift management platforms like Deputy or Rippling
• Proficiency in Spanish

What you can expect at 9amHealth

At 9amHealth, you'll join the exciting environment of a startup with the stability of highly experienced founders that have successfully built a business from scratch. We foster a collaborative learning mindset and a passion for improvement. You'll work with a brand-new product alongside a small, flexible team of people eager to shape technology, infrastructure, and culture.

Our team members are spread across the globe, with physical sites in San Diego, California, and Vienna, Austria, but we value your culture regardless of where you work.

We offer a comprehensive benefits package, including health, dental, and vision insurance, along with flexible PTO and work from home options. We provide a professional development budget and support continuing education, empowering our team to grow alongside the company. Team members have the opportunity to make a meaningful impact on chronic disease management and patient outcomes while contributing to a collaborative, mission driven culture focused on improving healthcare accessibility and affordability.

Our commitment to diversity and inclusion

Diabetes disproportionately impacts BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) communities. We are committed to creating a workforce that reflects our patients and creating a positive healthcare experience for them. We welcome applications from people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, members of ethnic minorities, and foreign born residents.