Job Description

Senior Manager for Research & Client Success

Department: Client Engagement

Employment Type: Full Time

Location: Washington, DC

Reporting To: Sarah Burgess

Description

Surgo Health is building the Behavioral Intelligence layer for healthcare — revealing why people behave as they do, predicting what they will do next, and helping organizations make the decisions that change outcomes.

A Public Benefit Corporation grounded in two decades of global health experience, Surgo generates foundational behavioral data that reveals the unseen why and builds the AI products that powers decision-grade insights at population scale — equipping healthcare organizations, funders, and public agencies to act on what actually shapes health outcomes: people's beliefs, motivations, and barriers.

From predicting who will enroll and remain in a clinical trial, to understanding what drives treatment decisions, to designing more effective health programs, Surgo brings the missing human layer into decisions traditionally made with clinical data alone.

Backed by 40+ peer-reviewed publications and trusted by partners including the Gates Foundation, J&J, Takeda, Pivotal Ventures, and the Clinton Health Access Initiative, Surgo is building a future where healthcare organizations don't just understand human behavior, but anticipate it — making healthcare more personal, precise, and effective for everyone.

Role Summary:

Derin is a behavioral science-backed, AI-powered adaptive research platform built for healthcare that conducts in-depth interviews to reveal the unseen “why” behind health decisions— with the depth and rigor of expert-led research, at unprecedented scale and speed. Partners and clients from a wide range of technical areas – health care organizations, payers, public health and philanthropy – are using Derin to gather in-depth data, surfacing new insights about the communities they serve, and new ways to reach them.

As demand for Derin scales, this is a great opportunity to be part of a growing team in an emerging research area. The Senior Manager for Research & Client Success will own the execution of Derin research projects in collaboration with our outstanding clients and partners. As the first hire in this role, you'll define how we serve clients, help shape the Derin product, build an operating model that gets the best from both AI and human expertise, and find creative ways to deliver what clients need.

This is a connector role: you'll work closely with clients and partners while collaborating with Surgo's bench of researchers, behavioral scientists, engineers, and healthcare leaders. It's the right role for you if you love making complex projects run well, enjoy building something new with a dynamic team, and want to see data improve healthcare.

What you’ll achieve

Lead Client Engagement and drive Derin research delivery

• Own Derin research projects from start to finish: onboarding and coordinating closely with clients and partners to scope their projects, understand what type of data they need, and help translate those needs into concrete execution plans
• Serve as the day-to-day contact for Derin clients: run status calls, write clear updates, and manage scope and expectations
• Be the voice of Surgo and Derin to the client, representing our mission, product and values
• Support clients in engaging with Derin data to gain as much insight as possible around their research objectives and goals

Drive Derin project execution through cross-functional coordination

• Act as connective tissue between research, behavioral science, engineering, partners and clients, helping drive alignment, decisions and action. Drive decisions quickly: lay out the trade-offs, get the right people aligned, document what was decided, and follow through
• Collaborate with research leads to translate client study objectives into survey instruments for the AI-driven Derin interface.
• Collaborate with engineering team to configure Derin to meet client needs, considering trade-offs between long-term development product goals and short-term client projects
• Drive day-to-day execution. Set timelines, setup, test, launch, fieldwork monitoring, and data delivery. Coordinate thorough quality checks before launch, covering interview flows, prompts, skip logic, translations, and edge cases. Monitor live fieldwork, spot issues early, and escalate when necessary.
• Make sure every deployment follows Surgo’s safeguarding and data protection rules for AI-moderated interviews

Product and systems development

• Turn lessons from projects and client feedback into structured input and guidance for the Derin product team
• Develop systems; build and maintain the checklists, templates, documentation, and standard processes that make Derin delivery repeatable

Thought leadership

• Contribute to Surgo's external writing on Derin (articles, social content, and peer-reviewed publications) drawing on what you see working in client projects.

About you

• 5+ years of experience in research, consulting, or client services in a health-related area
• Knowledge of US healthcare, familiarity with various types of healthcare stakeholders (payers, providers, etc), ability to understand their varying needs and objectives and speak their language
• Attention to detail: you listen closely to client needs, and can track details of delivery across multiple projects at once
• Working knowledge of both qualitative and quantitative research. You understand how survey instruments, interview guides, sampling, and basic analysis work, and can engage thoughtfully with researchers. Advanced statistical skills are not required
• Strong written and verbal client communication skills
• A track record of building consensus quickly across people with different priorities
• Experience in a fast-moving, mission-driven organization
• Preferred: Experience working with engineers or product developers, and translating client project needs into options for product updates. Coding or software development skills are not required

Location: Based in Washington DC with 2 days/week in office

Travel: Minimal travel expected

Benefits

What you’ll love about Surgo:

• A collaborative, mission-driven team
• Competitive salary and equity compensation
• We pay 100% of premiums for a Platinum healthcare plan, for employees and dependents
• Flexible PTO with 11 holidays
• 401(k) employer match up to 4%
• 3 months paid parental leave
• Public Benefit Corporation with an impact mission

Surgo Health is committed to fair, equitable, and transparent practices. Compensation packages are based on several factors such as skill set, prior relevant experience, education, certifications, and market considerations. In addition to base compensation, individuals may be eligible for annual performance-based bonuses and equity (if applicable). We aim to pay salaries that are competitive, benchmarked against companies that are similar in stage, size, and market to Surgo Health. Our recruiter may be able to share more about our total rewards offerings and the specific salary range for the relevant role during the hiring process.

Our hiring philosophy

We hire for passion and core competencies.

We look for problem solvers and lateral thinkers.

We love it if you have done different things with your time.

If you think you are ideal for this position, write to us even if your experience doesn’t match all the requirements listed above.

Equal Opportunity and Diversity Policy

Surgo believes a diverse, inclusive staff makes a stronger team and more impactful organization and we are committed to building and developing this team and environment. Qualified people of all races, ethnicities, cultures, ages, sex, genders, sexual orientation, gender identities and expressions, languages, social class, marital status, religions, veterans status, and disabilities are strongly encouraged to apply.