Chief Operating Officer (Reproductive Healthcare)

Organizational Summary

Contraceptive care is basic healthcare.

Yet too many patients in the U.S. struggle to access the care they need, when they need it. Founded in 2014, Upstream USA is a national, nonpartisan nonprofit dedicated to ensuring that equitable, patient-centered contraceptive care is available to everyone.

Our Mission and Impact

Upstream works to ensure individuals can make fully informed, autonomous decisions about the contraceptive methods that are best for them. We are currently the largest contraceptive organization in the country improving contraceptive care in primary care settings, operating in 37 states and Washington, D.C.

While our foundational work focuses on partnering with healthcare organizations offering primary care, such as federally qualified healthcare centers (FQHC) and health systems, we are always evolving. We are actively pursuing additional, innovative paths to ensure every patient has streamlined access to the contraceptive service of their choice, where and when it is most convenient for them.

A Different Kind of Nonprofit

Upstream is a venture philanthropy-backed nonprofit with a current annual budget of $50M+. Operating in a dynamic external landscape, Upstream maintains a high-performance culture anchored in actionable, observable behaviors. It keeps its patient-centered mission at the core of every decision, continually adapting and embracing change to meet evolving patient needs.

Its culture prioritizes resilience, strategic nimbleness, and a focus on measurable outcomes over effort—ensuring it remains responsive, accountable, and capable of driving long-term impact at scale.

Recognition:

We are a 2023 Audacious Project recipient, with our work featured in publications like

Harvard Public Health, Bloomberg

, and

MedPage Today.

We welcome individuals who are driven by impact and scale to join us in making equitable contraceptive access a reality for all.

This search is being managed exclusively by our executive search partner, Egon Zehnder. To be considered for the opportunity, please email your resume and cover letter to upstream@egonzehnder.com

, with "Upstream COO" in the subject line. Please do not apply on Upstream's career site.

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) will serve as a member of Upstream's senior leadership team, reporting into the CEO, and will lead the execution of the organization's strategy to rapidly scale its growth, effectiveness and impact. Beyond operational excellence, this role is fundamentally about driving and enabling ambitious, large-scale impact nationwide.

At a time of rapid change and ambiguity in the highly complex and fluid birth control marketplace, the COO will own all current and future Upstream programs to enable as many patients as possible to make fully informed, autonomous decisions about the contraceptive methods that are best for them .

To drive pace and change, the Upstream COO will play a key role in helping shape the future trajectory of a nationally recognized, fast-growth, mission-driven organization. This presents a unique opportunity for an experienced builder and operator who loves driving results across multiple teams, is comfortable with final decision-making authority in a collaborative environment and is excited about leading efforts in a fast-changing environment where innovation is the norm, new products are coming online, and pivots are essential.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Own programs end-to-end:

Own Upstream's current and future programs, including to launch, scale, learn, adapt, and drive towards continued growth. Launch: Partner with the Vice President of Strategy and Innovation to take new, tested innovations to scale. Rapidly understand what works and what doesn't work. Prioritize and invest in those with highest potential.

Grow: Lead and execute marketing and sales of existing, core programs (e.g., training and technical assistance) as well as new, innovative programs as they come online (e.g., FreeBC and other future digital and direct-to-consumer approaches).

Measure:

Truly understand the impact of Upstream's programs through existing and new measurement approaches. Set clear expectations for program growth and impact.

Adapt

: Actively adjust programs based on measurement and other performance indicators to ensure continuous improvement and hyper-focus on growth, scale, and adaptability to changes in an already complex marketplace.

Ensure operational effectiveness:

Manage finances for all operating activities. Assess the operational needs of the organization and address gaps. Contribute to Board related processes and materials.

Drive culture and behaviors:

Consistent with Upstream values, foster a mission-centered culture that embraces change and growth in which team members rapidly drive towards clearly defined outcomes based on data, active listening, and constructive challenge. Role-model core organizational traits of integrity, trust, reliability, respect for diverse perspectives, resilience, and fun.

Role Location and Travel

While location is flexible, this role will require up to 20% business travel. This leader can expect to travel once or twice per month for multiple days. Travel will include visits with partner healthcare organizations, leadership meetings, regional operational gatherings, team retreats and organization-wide gatherings.

Leadership Competencies

Delivering Results:

The ideal leader drives outcomes by consistently delivering against stretch targets and commitments, overcoming obstacles and challenges as necessary. S/he is comfortable and effective in making decisions and can engage direct reports and the broader organization in building a culture of accountability for results. S/he is diligent in performance management and follow-up, having a natural orientation towards monitoring milestones, KPIs,and tracking performance.

Grounding in Strategy:

The ideal leader has strong analytical capabilities and an agile mind, able to identify and prioritize key operational drivers of success and performance, aligning execution with strategy. S/he can articulate a market-facing plan with an effective set of priorities to drive action, with well-defined metrics and milestones. S/he brings strong strategic orientation toward customers and market dynamics and identifies opportunities to align and improve programs with overarching strategic priorities.

Influencing Collaboratively:

The ideal leader has demonstrated capabilities as an effective collaborator who builds and maintains effective relationships with a wide range of diverse, internal and external stakeholders. S/he readily builds trust and respect, is seen as being able to create productive team dynamics, and is known as someone who others seek out to get opinions or perspectives. S/he is effective at driving alignment around decisions and priorities and can be an effective negotiator and facilitator when required.

Leading Teams:

The ideal leader is effective at developing and managing high-performance teams. S/he builds engagement by expecting and motivating team members to contribute and take full ownership for their responsibilities and targets. S/he is an effective coach who inspires appropriate action, is motivated, and stimulates talents to grow and develop. S/he can align others around a vision, strategic direction, and priorities, and has a balanced ability to chart the course by her/himself and by inviting input from the broader team.

Hiring Range

$325,000 — $350,000 USD