Sana’s vision is simple yet bold: make healthcare easy.
All of us can agree healthcare is simply too hard in the US. And our members feel that pain day in and day out. We aim to create an experience that simply feels easy when you need to access our healthcare system. If you need something, you know where to go to get it with care that is a click (or as few clicks as possible!) away.
What’s beautiful about a vision oriented toward “easy” is how it imparts a singular feeling. We instinctively know as humans when something is easy versus hard, even if we can’t explain why. We fight as a company to make an easy pathway available to all our members at every stage of their healthcare journey. If you feel passionate about delivering better healthcare to small businesses through a seamless care experience and affordable benefits, join us!
We’re looking for a Medical Director, Health Plan to own the clinical strategy of our health plan and ensure the care our members receive is both high quality and cost-effective. This role is the clinical authority on the payer side of the house — accountable for how coverage policies, utilization decisions, case management, pharmacy strategy, cost containment initiatives, and network design translate into real outcomes and sustainable unit economics. Reporting to the VP of Operations, you will be a key partner to Claims, Underwriting and Actuarial, Network Development, Finance, Revenue, and Product & Engineering. While separate from our Care Team, you will work closely with our Chief Medical Officer and virtual primary care team to ensure tight alignment between payer strategy and care delivery.
If you care deeply about fixing what’s broken in U.S. healthcare and want real ownership over how a modern health plan actually works, come build with us.
What you will do:
Own Sana’s clinical strategy as a payer, defining how clinical standards, coverage policies, utilization decisions, and pharmacy strategy translate into high-quality, cost-effective care
Build and lead a small clinician-led payer team responsible for in-house complex case management, high-cost claimant review, utilization management, and medical necessity review
Drive strategy and implementation of cost containment initiatives, including clinical partnership management, tooling, and benefit design
Partner closely with the operations team and our PBM partner to design evidence-based cost containment programs to bend the pharmacy cost curve without degrading outcomes or adherence, and limiting member friction
Partner with Underwriting to assess clinical risk in quoting and pricing both prospective and renewing employer groups
Set and evolve evidence-based coverage guidelines, benefit design, and formulary policy aligned with high-value outcomes
Work with Analytics to support medical economics, population health initiatives, and actionable insights for employer groups
Work with Network Operations, Care Navigation, Sana’s virtual care clinic, and Case Management to prioritize future contracting based on real gaps in care for Sana members
Serve as a primary clinical voice in the design of Sana’s internal payer tools, coverage engines, UM workflows, and cost-transparency experiences
Evolve case management KPIs and build cost containment program reporting structures to measure efficacy and ROI
About you:
An MD or DO with board certification
8+ years of experience spanning hands-on clinical care and payer-side, value-based, or population health work; prior startup or early-stage experience is a plus
Deeply comfortable making hard tradeoffs between cost, access, and clinical outcomes
Credibility with both clinicians and operators, with the ability to explain clinical nuance to engineers and financial reality to physicians
Strong judgment under ambiguity and imperfect data; comfort working with analytics, SQL, and business intelligence tools like Tableau or Mode is a plus
A builder’s mindset, with comfort improving existing tools while designing new processes and frameworks from the ground up
Comfort operating in a fast-moving, ambiguous startup environment where priorities evolve and roles are not rigidly defined
Clear and thoughtful communication, whether collaborating asynchronously, writing documentation, or working through complex problems live
Deep alignment with Sana’s mission and motivation to make healthcare work better for people and employers
Humility, curiosity, and follow-through, earning trust through strong judgment, accountability, and collaboration
Benefits:
Remote company with a fully distributed team – no return-to-office mandates
Flexible vacation policy (and a culture of using it)
Medical, dental, and vision insurance with 100% company-paid employee coverage
401(k), FSA, and HSA plans
Paid parental leave
Short and long-term disability, as well as life insurance
Competitive stock options are offered to all employees
Transparent compensation & formal career development programs
Paid one-month sabbatical after 5 years
Stipends for setting up your home office and an ongoing learning budget
Direct positive impact on members’ lives – wait until you see the positive feedback members share every day
About Sana:
Founded in 2017, Sana is a health plan solution built for small and midsize businesses — designed around our integrated primary care service, Sana Care. It’s the foundation of everything we build: ensuring members can easily access high-quality, affordable care while employers and brokers have the tools they need to manage company benefits with confidence.
We’ve been remote-first since day one, with a fully distributed team across the U.S. We value curiosity, ownership, and speed — and we build in the open, together. If you’re energized by solving complex, meaningful problems and want to help reshape how healthcare works from the inside out, we’d love to meet you.
