Director of Behavioral Health Operations & Administration

About the Position

Caring Hands Behavioral Health Center is seeking an experienced behavioral health/healthcare operations leader to serve as Director of Behavioral Health Operations & Administration. This position requires prior professional experience in healthcare, behavioral health, mental health, medical practice, or a closely related healthcare setting. Candidates whose management experience is exclusively in IT, engineering, retail, hospitality, construction, or other non-healthcare industries will not meet the minimum qualifications.

This is not a traditional administrative assistant or office manager position.

We are looking for an experienced healthcare leader who can take ownership of the day-to-day operations of a growing behavioral health organization, manage staff and workflows, solve problems independently, maintain accountability, and ensure that operational responsibilities are completed accurately and timely.

The successful candidate will function as the organization's second-in-command for day-to-day operations, allowing the CEO/Executive Director to focus on executive leadership, strategy, growth, and organizational development.

This position requires someone who can lead, not simply complete assigned tasks. The ideal candidate identifies what needs to be done, takes initiative, follows issues through resolution, holds others accountable, and understands when an issue requires escalation to the CEO.

Key Responsibilities

The Director of Operations & Administration will:

• Oversee the day-to-day administrative and operational functions of the organization.
• Serve as the primary operational liaison between the CEO/Executive Director, administrative staff, clinical providers, PRP staff, contractors, and other team members.
• Supervise administrative personnel and support accountability across departments.
• Monitor staff performance, attendance, assignments, deadlines, and completion of required responsibilities.
• Coordinate employee and contractor onboarding, orientation, training, and administrative offboarding.
• Oversee referrals, intake processes, scheduling, authorizations, eligibility verification, and other administrative patient-service workflows.
• Monitor documentation requirements and follow up with staff regarding outstanding or incomplete documentation.
• Assist with coordination of Medicaid, payer, authorization, credentialing, and billing-related administrative matters.
• Review payroll documentation and contractor invoices for accuracy, completeness, authorized services, approved rates, and required supporting documentation.
• Approve routine payroll and invoice documentation for submission to the CEO/Executive Director for final payment processing.
• Monitor operational reports, outstanding tasks, deadlines, and key performance indicators.
• Implement and enforce organizational policies, procedures, and standard operating procedures.
• Coordinate preparation for audits, licensing reviews, regulatory inspections, and quality-assurance activities.
• Track corrective-action items and ensure identified deficiencies are addressed timely.
• Maintain organized operational, compliance, and personnel documentation.
• Lead or coordinate staff meetings and follow up on action items.
• Address routine employee, patient, provider, and operational concerns before escalation to the CEO.
• Identify operational problems and implement appropriate solutions.
• Provide the CEO/Executive Director with concise updates regarding staffing, compliance, financial/operational concerns, outstanding issues, risks, and matters requiring executive decisions.
• Maintain continuity of day-to-day operations when the CEO/Executive Director is unavailable.
• Perform other leadership and operational responsibilities necessary for the effective functioning of the organization.

Qualifications

Required:

• Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Health Services, Public Health, Behavioral Health, or a related field.
• Minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible healthcare, behavioral health, or medical-practice operations experience.
• Previous supervisory or management experience.
• Demonstrated ability to manage employees, contractors, multiple priorities, and competing deadlines.
• Strong understanding of healthcare administrative workflows and compliance.
• Excellent leadership, communication, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Strong attention to detail and follow-through.
• Ability to work independently and make sound operational decisions.
• High level of professionalism, discretion, confidentiality, and accountability.
• Proficiency with Microsoft 365, electronic health records, and healthcare administrative systems.

Strongly Preferred:

• Master's degree in Healthcare Administration, Health Services, Business Administration, Public Health, Mental Health, or a related field.
• Previous leadership experience within an Outpatient Mental Health Center (OMHC), Psychiatric Rehabilitation Program (PRP), behavioral health organization, or Maryland healthcare organization.
• Knowledge of Maryland Medicaid and behavioral health requirements.
• Experience with authorizations, credentialing, billing/revenue cycle, licensing, audits, quality assurance, and regulatory compliance.
• Experience supervising multidisciplinary healthcare teams.

The Person We Are Looking For

We are seeking someone who is:

• A leader, not simply an administrator.
• Highly accountable and dependable.
• Comfortable supervising and holding staff accountable.
• Proactive rather than waiting to be given every assignment.
• Able to identify a problem and follow it through resolution.
• Organized enough to manage multiple departments and deadlines simultaneously.
• Confident making routine operational decisions independently.
• Able to distinguish between matters they can resolve and matters requiring CEO involvement.
• Comfortable working directly with the CEO/Executive Director in a high-trust leadership position.

We are especially interested in candidates who can bring structure, accountability, efficiency, and consistency to a growing behavioral health organization.

Schedule & Compensation

Employment Type: Part-Time, Salaried
Schedule: Approximately 30-35 hours per week, Monday–Friday
Compensation: $52,000–$65,000 annually, commensurate with experience
Work Location: Baltimore, Maryland, primarily on-site

This is a leadership position requiring consistent weekday availability during the organization's primary business hours.

Authority & Financial Controls

The Director of Operations & Administration will have substantial authority over routine day-to-day operations while reporting directly to the CEO/Executive Director.

The CEO/Executive Director retains final authority over major financial decisions, banking, accounting-system access, compensation changes, executive hiring and termination decisions, major contracts, strategic decisions, and other matters specifically reserved for executive approval.

This position will not have access to company bank accounts or QuickBooks and will not independently issue company payments.

The Director will review and approve appropriate payroll and payment documentation and submit approved items to the CEO/Executive Director for final processing.

Why Join Caring Hands Behavioral Health Center?

This is an opportunity for an experienced healthcare operations professional to have a meaningful leadership role within a growing behavioral health organization.

The successful candidate will work directly with executive leadership, have significant responsibility for organizational operations, and help strengthen the systems, people, and processes necessary for continued growth.

Caring Hands Behavioral Health Center is an Equal Opportunity Employer.