Lead Behavioral Health Care Manager

About Protocol Behavioral Health

Our mission is to make cancer care better for patients, providers, and payers — improving outcomes through specialized behavioral health and supportive care, embedded within oncology care teams.

A cancer diagnosis changes everything, not just a patient's physical health, and we exist to make sure their emotional needs are met alongside their treatment, not as an afterthought. We do this by partnering directly with oncology clinics and cancer centers and using the collaborative care model to bring mental health support into the room where cancer care already happens. That means patients get support earlier and more consistently and providers get a partner equipped to handle the mental health care their patients need.

Our team is built by experienced healthcare operators and executives who have built and scaled partnerships across behavioral health, oncology, and value-based care. We're a fast-growing, early-stage company, and every new partnership moves us closer to making specialized behavioral health a standard part of cancer care.

About the role

The Lead Behavioral Health Care Manager is an experienced, licensed Behavioral Healthcare Manager (BHCM) responsible for clinical supervision and management of a team of BHCMs, as well as delivering some direct patient care. You will collaborate with clinical leadership to support clinical supervision for evidence-based treatments delivered via the Collaborative Care Model (CoCM) to cancer patients.

The best candidate for this role is data-driven and outcomes-focused who understands how to bring out the highest quality work in their team.

What you will be doing

• Lead a team of BHCMs with the following responsibilities (70% of your time): Provide training as needed to BHCMs to deliver evidence-based treatments to cancer patients
• Review BHCM sessions for quality assessments and provide feedback to BHCMs for improvement
• Track KPIs of BHCMs and support them in achieving targets, such as timely completion of documentation
• Conduct audits of session notes to ensure compliant documentation
• Proactively identify challenges for BHCMs and identify solutions in collaboration with clinical leadership
• Participate in rotating business hours on-call for patient safety concerns and risk-assessments
• Evaluate BHCMs job performance and develop improvement plans as needed
• Conduct direct patient care via Collaborative Care Model (30% of your time), which includes:
• Conduct structured assessments of mental and behavioral health and functioning of oncology patients referred by partner cancer centers and clinics.
• Develop treatment plans based on assessment results using Protocol’s evidence-based modular treatment approach.
• Implement treatment modules and conduct ongoing progress assessment to guide next steps in care and make changes as indicated by patient progress.
• In accordance CoCM, maintain a patient registry, participate in weekly consultations with psychiatrist, and communicate & collaborate with oncology teams about patient progress and recommendations
• Maintain licensure in home state and obtain licensure in other states as requested by Protocol (licensure costs will be covered by Protocol).
• Perform other duties as assigned.

What we are looking for

• Licensed mental health providers with 2+ years experience treating patients with chronic/serious medical illness
• 1+ years of experience leading a team. A plus if experience managing a remote team across multiple states
• Consistent use of data to support decision-making
• Strong skills in communication and working on diverse teams
• Ability to balance business needs with clinical priorities
• Comfort in a fast-paced environment with frequent change
• Ability to support a caseload of patients of different diagnoses, backgrounds and cultures, and with varying degrees of acuity
• Ability to deliver care in a virtual setting
• Experience supporting patients with suicidal ideation and/or trauma
• Ability to work virtual clinic hours in the Pacific Timezone
• How we support you
• Extensive training in evidence-based treatment modules for cancer patients and ongoing consultation and professional development opportunities aligned with psycho-oncology care
• We make sure you get the care you need by providing medical, dental, and vision insurance
• A 401k to save for you future
• Generous paid time off so that you have the time away from work to decompress and take care of what you need
• Malpractice insurance covered by us!
• We cover the cost for any continued education and license renewals that are required for you to take care of our patients
• Why work at Protocol?
• Working at Protocol Behavioral Health means joining a purpose-driven team at the forefront of transforming cancer care through compassionate, integrated mental health support. Every team member plays a vital role in addressing one of the most overlooked challenges in oncology: ensuring patients have timely access to high-quality behavioral health care. With a leadership team composed of seasoned experts from top healthcare and behavioral health organizations, Protocol offers a rare opportunity to learn from the best while helping build something truly meaningful from the ground up.
• We foster a collaborative, mission-first culture where innovation, empathy, and excellence are not just encouraged, they’re expected. Employees benefit from flexible hybrid work, competitive healthcare coverage, generous paid time off, and the fulfillment of knowing their work directly improves lives. If you’re looking to grow professionally while making a tangible difference in healthcare, Protocol could be a great fit for you.