Intake & Authorizations Manager

📌 About Alpaca Health Alpaca Health enables clinicians to become entrepreneurs, starting in autism care. We help clinicians launch and scale their own clinics by providing AI-powered software, payer contracting, and full back-office infrastructure. Our goal is simple: shift power in healthcare away from large consolidated entities and back to clinicians. We've raised over $14M from Core Innovation Capital, Adverb Ventures, and South Park Commons, and are growing 30% MoM while serving hundreds of families across the country. 🎯 Role: Intake & Authorizations Lead We are hiring an Intake & Authorizations Lead to own the end-to-end intake function at Alpaca Health — from first family contact through confirmed start of care. You will manage a team of 5-10 Care Navigators, drive operational excellence across the intake process, and serve as the internal expert on authorizations, documentation, and BCBA matching. This role is critical infrastructure: our commitment is that every family starts care in under 30 days, and you are responsible for making that happen. 🚧 What You'll Do Lead and develop the Care Navigator team Manage a team of 5-10 Care Navigators, owning their performance, development, and day-to-day prioritization Build a high-accountability culture where follow-through is the standard, not the exception Run team huddles, case reviews, and escalation support Identify gaps in process or performance and address them quickly Own the intake process Ensure every family moves from referral to start of care in under 30 days Maintain a clear picture of where every family stands and what's needed to move them forward Hold the team accountable to timelines and ensure no family falls through the cracks Serve as the escalation point for stuck or complex cases Drive authorizations — especially TRICARE Own the authorization process for complex cases, with deep expertise in TRICARE (including ECHO enrollment and prior auth workflows) Support the team in chasing down documentation, resolving auth rejections, and navigating payer requirements Partner with billing and insurance ops to resolve issues quickly and cleanly Manage stakeholder communication Ensure timely, clear communication across all parties: families, BCBAs, referring physicians, and internal teams Set and manage expectations with families around timelines, documentation requirements, and next steps Step in directly on high-stakes or escalated family situations Lead BCBA matching Oversee the matching process, ensuring every family is paired with the right BCBA based on availability, geography, caseload, and clinical fit Step in manually for complex or high-touch matching situations — particularly when families have specific preferences or needs Work closely with the clinical and provider teams to maintain a clear picture of BCBA capacity Partner with operations to improve the process Work with the operations team to identify bottlenecks, inefficiencies, and opportunities across the intake workflow Own process improvements from identification through implementation Maintain accurate tracking and reporting across systems 🧠 Who You Are 5+ years of experience in ABA intake, care coordination, or clinic operations — you know this world deeply Direct experience with TRICARE authorizations, including ECHO enrollment and prior auth workflows Proven track record managing a team in a healthcare or clinical operations setting You are highly organized and relentless about follow-through — nothing falls through the cracks on your watch You communicate clearly and confidently with everyone from frustrated parents to clinical staff to referring physicians You are a problem-solver who doesn't wait for permission — you identify the issue and fix it You are comfortable with ambiguity and can make good judgment calls in real time You hold your team to a high bar while remaining approachable and supportive 🚀 Why Join Direct line to company leadership — you report to the Founding Growth Lead and have real influence on how intake scales Ownership of a critical function at an early-stage, fast-growing company The opportunity to materially impact how quickly families access care A role where operational excellence directly translates to patient outcomes