Chief Program Officer - Onsite Manhattan at Athena (New York, NY)Chief Program Officer - Onsite Manhattan

AthenaPsych is a New York State mental health-approved provider of community mental health services for children, adults, and families with behavioral and emotional challenges. We specialize in individual and group psychotherapy for clients with a focus on trauma-informed care. We are dedicated to improving the quality and accessibility of mental health care for all, especially individuals from underserved communities. Here at Athena, we pride ourselves on hiring a diverse group of mental health clinicians and staff who are passionate and dedicated to improving our clients’ overall emotional well-being. We provide both in-person and telehealth services for our clients and offer a competitive compensation plan and amazing benefits to our staff. Are You a Good Fit For Us? We are seeking a Chief Program Officer to provide strategic and clinical leadership across our existing service lines while driving the thoughtful expansion of programs to address evolving community needs and increase access to high-quality behavioral healthcare.

The Chief Program Officer (CPO) is Athena’s senior clinical and programmatic executive responsible for the quality, effectiveness, consistency, and continued development of the organization’s clinical programs and services across New York State. As a member of the Executive Leadership Team, the CPO ensures that Athena’s continued growth is supported by strong clinical infrastructure, evidence-based practice, regulatory compliance, measurable outcomes, and exceptional patient care.

The CPO provides executive oversight of clinical leadership, program performance, quality improvement, workforce development, and new program implementation, working closely with the CEO, COO, CMO, and other organizational leaders.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide executive oversight of Athena’s clinical quality, clinical leaders, and standards of care across locations and service lines to support consistency in treatment outcomes
• Establish consistent, evidence-based, patient-centered, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive clinical practices.
• Ensure appropriate systems for clinical supervision, high-risk case review, treatment planning, care coordination, and continuity of care.
• Develop and mentor clinical and program leaders while promoting accountability, collaboration, and professional excellence.
• Establish and monitor clinical quality, outcomes, access, engagement, retention, and program performance metrics.
• Use clinical data to proactively identify risks, trends, and opportunities for improvement.
• Ensure adherence to OMH and other applicable regulatory and clinical requirements.
• Lead clinical quality-improvement initiatives and support regulatory reviews, audits, and corrective action activities.
• Provide clinical leadership for the development, implementation, and stabilization of new programs, locations, and models of care.
• Evaluate opportunities for program expansion based on community need, outcomes, organizational strategy, and clinical feasibility.
• Lead the executive team in aligning clinical strategy with organizational growth, operations, workforce planning, and financial sustainability.
• Represent Athena’s clinical programs and capabilities with regulators, health systems, payers, community organizations, and other external stakeholders.

Key Performance Areas: Success in this role will be measured through demonstrated improvement and sustained performance in areas including

• Patient access and timely engagement in care
• Clinical quality and patient outcomes
• Patient retention and continuity of care
• High-risk patient management and clinical safety
• Clinical documentation and regulatory compliance
• Clinician productivity, retention, and engagement
• Clinical supervision and leadership effectiveness
• Successful implementation and stabilization of new programs
• Patient and referral-partner experience
• Consistency of clinical standards across programs and locations
• Ensuring financial stability of behavioral health programs

Qualifications:

• Master’s degree or doctorate in social work, psychology, counseling, mental health counseling, or another relevant behavioral health discipline required.
• Active New York State clinical licensure strongly preferred; independent clinical licensure such as LCSW, LMHC, or psychologist preferred.
• Minimum of 8 years of progressive behavioral health leadership experience, including significant responsibility for clinical programs, quality, and staff leadership.
• Demonstrated experience overseeing multi-site and/or large-scale outpatient behavioral health services. Strong knowledge of New York State behavioral health regulations and OMH-licensed services strongly preferred.
• Demonstrated experience developing, implementing, and scaling clinical programs. Strong understanding of evidence-based treatment, clinical risk management, quality improvement, measurement-based care, and behavioral health outcomes.
• Experience leading senior clinical leaders and multidisciplinary teams.
• Demonstrated ability to use clinical and operational data to identify trends, improve performance, and drive organizational decision-making.
• Exceptional communication, leadership, collaboration, and change-management skills.