Director of Operational & Quality Excellence

Phil
San Francisco, CA
Remote

Who this role is best for

Geared toward candidates with leadership experience in high-volume healthcare environments comfortable with AI and automation integration.

Best fit for

  • Candidates with leadership experience in high-volume healthcare environments and a track record of building AI/automation solutions
    — “led quality or operational improvement in a high-accuracy, high-volume environment”
  • Candidates who have driven systemic change in quality processes and led teams through transformation
    — “lead the audit, analysis, and quality engineering team through a change in how they work”
  • Candidates experienced in embedding real-time quality controls in technical systems
    — “moves quality from manual, after-the-fact audits to automated, real-time controls”

Things to consider

  • The role requires a significant commitment to cross-functional accountability and system-level change
    — “Run an escalation framework in which every quality issue has an owner, a date, and a path forward”
  • The role demands a high level of technical collaboration with Engineering and Product teams
    — “Engineering and Product are your build partners for the systems you specify”
  • The position involves up to 20% travel, which may affect remote work flexibility
    — “Travel: up to 20%”

How to stand out

  • Highlight your experience in building AI or automation tools to solve real operational issues
    — “hands-on experience deploying AI, LLM, or automation tools to solve a real quality or operational problem”
  • Emphasize your ability to lead tenured experts through process transformation
    — “leading tenured subject-matter experts through a change in how they work”
  • Demonstrate your ability to present data-driven narratives to senior leadership
    — “originate work, escalate early with a proposed path forward, and present data-driven narratives to senior leaders”
  • Showcase your experience in standardizing workflows and embedding controls in systems
    — “standardize workflows, documentation, and tooling across patient support, pharmacist, and pharmacy technician teams”
  • Demonstrate your ability to reduce error rates through systemic improvements
    — “Error rates across all operational and technical workflows are down 50% from baseline”
Pace · Fast PacedCollaboration · HighAutonomy · HighDecision Impact · Company

Derived from job-description analysis by Serendipath's career intelligence engine.

What success looks like

  • 50% reduction in error rates
  • automation of quality controls
  • standardization of workflows
Typical background
quality managementoperations improvementAI implementation

Skills & requirements

Required

Quality StrategyAI MonitoringTest AutomationRelease ValidationProcess DesignEscalation FrameworkTeam Leadership

Preferred

Six SigmaLean Methodology

Stack & domain

Healthcare

About the role

Original posting from Phil via Ashby

ABOUT PHIL

Getting a prescription filled shouldn't be the hardest part of starting treatment. Yet for many patients, it is. PHIL is a Series D health-tech company building the platform that connects patients, prescribers, pharmacies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers so patients can get their medication quickly and affordably.

Our digital hub and pharmacy platform handles everything from enrollment and benefits verification to prior authorization, copay support, and home delivery. For manufacturers, that means more patients start therapy and stay on it, plus the commercial insight to keep improving access.

We're a dedicated team of people from a wide range of backgrounds, united by a focus on the patient experience.

THE ROLE

We're hiring a Director of Operational & Quality Excellence to drive a best-in-class operational and technical platform, using automation and AI to . This is a build-and-lead role, not an audit-management or Six Sigma role. Our operations span patient support, pharmacists, and pharmacy technicians, and manual review no longer scales with that volume. This role is how we grow coverage without growing headcount in a straight line.

You'll report to the VP of Operational Excellence and work closely with Operations, Engineering, Product, and Client Success. You'll set the quality and process agenda and own the outcomes; Engineering and Product are your build partners for the systems you specify.

WHAT YOU'LL OWN

  • Quality strategy and AI-enabled monitoring: Define and run the roadmap that moves quality from manual, after-the-fact audits to automated, real-time controls, including AI monitoring that flags error signals before they reach a patient.
  • Software and operational quality: Own quality for our operational workflows and the platform behind them, including test automation and release validation, working side by side with Engineering and Product.
  • Process design at the point of work: Standardize workflows, documentation, and tooling across patient support, pharmacist, and pharmacy technician teams, and embed controls where the work happens.
  • Cross-functional accountability: Run an escalation framework in which every quality issue has an owner, a date, and a path forward, and hold partner leaders to it.
  • A tenured team and executive visibility: Lead the audit, analysis, and quality engineering team (about 10 people, mostly experienced subject-matter experts) through a change in how they work, and give leadership real-time visibility into error rates and their drivers.

WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN YOUR FIRST YEAR

By 90 days: You've learned the core workflows firsthand, met every partner leader, and delivered a data-backed root cause review of our top error drivers with specific corrective actions. A live initiative tracker is in place, and you have a plan for the team that the team has helped shape.

By 6 months: Your first automated or AI-enabled control is running in production, the escalation framework is in regular use, and quality reporting is standardized and executive-ready.

By 12 months: Error rates across all operational and technical workflows are down 50% from baseline, quality coverage has expanded without adding audit headcount, and your team is operating on the new model with at least one emerging leader under you.

WHAT YOU'LL BRING

Our strongest candidates have led quality or operational improvement in a high-accuracy, high-volume environment and have personally built AI or automation into how the work gets done. Quality engineering, process excellence, and special-projects paths all work, as long as you've created leverage through teams and systems, not only through your own output.

  • 10+ years in operational quality, quality engineering, operational excellence, or process improvement in a complex, high-volume environment
  • 5+ years leading and building a team or function, not only running an existing one
  • Hands-on experience deploying AI, LLM, or automation tools to solve a real quality or operational problem, and you can name the tools and the results
  • Experience shifting work from manual, after-the-fact review to controls embedded in systems, including partnering with Engineering on test automation, release validation, or defect prevention
  • A record of driving results across teams without direct authority, including root cause analyses that led to documented fixes
  • You originate work, escalate early with a proposed path forward, and present data-driven narratives to senior leaders

Nice to have

  • Experience in a regulated, high-accuracy setting such as pharmacy, healthcare, or clinical operations
  • Experience leading tenured subject-matter experts through a change in how they work
  • Experience reporting quality performance to external clients

Travel: up to 20%.

WHY PHIL

  • Fully remote working environment available in the following states: AZ, CA, CO, FL, GA, IA, ID, IL, IN, MA, MI, MO, NC, NH, NJ, NY, OH, OK, OR, PA, SC, TN, TX, UT, VA, WA, WI, WV
  • Competitive compensation (commensurate with experience)
  • Full benefits (medical, dental, vision)
  • 401(k) contribution opportunity
  • Paid Parental Leave

PHIL is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds and don't discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, or any other protected characteristic.

Source: Phil careers (Ashby)

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