Pelago is the leading specialty substance use care provider, built on the belief that effective treatment means matching care intensity to what each member actually needs rather than defaulting to the most expensive intervention. Our programs guide members through every stage of the substance use spectrum, from unhealthy habits to active use disorders, delivering personalized treatment for tobacco, alcohol, opioid, cannabis, and stimulant use based on individual health, habits, genetics, and goals.
With Sona, our voice-first AI Mental Health Specialist, Pelago now applies that same clinically-driven model to mental health, pairing deep clinical expertise with technology to expand access without compromising care quality. We believe technology should make clinical care more precise and more human, not replace the judgment behind it.
Pelago has scaled to helping hundreds of employers and health plans and has already helped more than 750,000 members better manage their substance use. If you're passionate about AI and making an impact on the health of others, join us and make it happen!
Overview of the Role:
Pelago is the world's leading virtual clinic for Substance Use Management, and we are expanding the frontier of what virtual care can do through AI. As we build and scale the AI arm of our clinical operations, we are looking for a Director, Clinical AI to serve as the clinical backbone of this work, bridging care delivery, product development, and strategic partnership at a company-wide level.
This is a director-level role for a clinician who is equally at home in a strategy conversation and a compliance review, and who can move fluidly between clinical, technical, and executive audiences. This role sits at the intersection of clinical excellence and AI-driven product innovation. This is currently an individual contributor role with a clear path toward building and leading a team as the function grows.
This is a hybrid role with a high-collaboration rhythm (3 days/week in our NYC office).
In This Role You Will:
Clinical Operations Leadership
- Serve as the senior clinical decision-maker overseeing Pelago's AI-driven mental and behavioral health care programs.
- Own the day-to-day clinical operations of the AI arm, ensuring that AI-assisted care meets Pelago's standards for quality, compliance, regulatory requirements, and documentation.
- Manage clinical escalations and serve as the senior point of accountability for clinical decisions within the AI care program.
AI Product Collaboration
- Work closely with product, design, and engineering teams to provide clinical annotation, structured feedback, and ongoing quality review of AI products.
- Serve as the clinical voice in product design discussions, contributing insight that keeps AI tools grounded in evidence-based care delivery.
Strategic Leadership
- Represent clinical priorities in cross-functional strategy discussions, standing in for the VP of Care Delivery when needed.
- Partner with the Chief Scientific Officer on clinical standards, research alignment, and innovation.
- Help shape the long-term vision for AI-assisted care at Pelago.
External Stakeholder Engagement
- Build and manage relationships with mental health agencies, clinical vendors, and external partners.
- Act as Pelago's clinical representative in external settings, upholding our standards and values.
Internal Alignment
- Facilitate alignment between Clinical and Product teams, ensuring consistent communication and coordinated execution.
- Work hand-in-hand with the Care Manager team to ensure continuity between AI-assisted and human-delivered care.
The Background We're Looking For:
- Master's or Doctoral degree in a clinical field (LCSW, LPC, PsyD, PhD, or equivalent); active licensure required.
- 8+ years of clinical experience in mental or behavioral health, with at least 3 years in a leadership or manager-level role.
- Experience working at the intersection of clinical care and technology or digital health.
- Hands-on AI fluency: has integrated AI tools into their own clinical or operational workflows, can critically evaluate model outputs, and understands both the capabilities and failure modes of AI in a clinical context.
- Strong technical collaboration: able to work closely with product and engineering counterparts, iterate alongside technical teams, and contribute meaningfully to how AI tools are shaped and improved.
- Experience managing external partnerships and engaging with health agencies or vendors.
- Strong communication and influencing skills across clinical, technical, and executive audiences.
What you’ll love about us:
We have a whole host of perks for our people! From life essentials to nice-to-haves, there are more than a few good reasons to love working with us. We strive to ensure Pelago employees have equitable access to healthcare, wellbeing, time away, and then some.
- Generous and meaningful equity package
- Full Medical, Dental, & Vision coverage
- 401k Plan
- Unlimited PTO Policy, 10 paid holidays, & company wide “Me Time” Days
- Paid maternity, paternity & new parent leave
- Flexible working environment
- Annual Learning and Development stipend to support continued learning and career development
- Wellness Reimbursement Program
- Access to Reproductive & Family Planning Care
- Substance Use Support for employees and family members
At this time, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.
Please note that Pelago is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.
The provided range reflects our US target salary range for this full-time position, which is part of our broader total compensation package, including incentive bonus program, stock options, comprehensive benefits, and incentive pay applicable to eligible roles. Individual pay within the range will vary based on a variety of factors like role-related experience and education, internal pay equity, and other relevant business factors. At Pelago, we are committed to an equitable and fair pay philosophy and review total compensation for our employees at least twice a year.
Base Pay Range$160,000—$175,000 USD