Head of Quality & Training

About this role

We are building our Operational Excellence function, and Quality & Training is its first pillar. This is a build and scale role: you will strengthen the strong foundation already in place while designing the QA program, systems, and standards that a practice of our size and ambition needs for its next stage of growth.

Today, a small dedicated team supports quality across 400 frontline agents, working largely through manual processes and in close partnership with our BPO. There is significant opportunity to build: to introduce our first QA platform and automation, to establish independent quality oversight of outsourced work, and to stand up quality assurance for our growing set of AI agents. You will own that build end-to-end.

As Head of Quality & Training, you will design and implement Talkiatry's QA operating model, select and roll-out our first QA platform, define how we measure and coach quality, and build the capability to quality-assure both human and AI interactions as we scale. You will lead a small team, including a manager who owns training, knowledge, and change management, while you own the quality program end-to-end.

ABOUT TALKIATRY:

Talkiatry is transforming mental health care by making high-quality psychiatry more accessible, human, and sustainable for both patients and clinicians. Co-founded by a patient and a triple-board-certified psychiatrist, we were built to solve one of healthcare’s most urgent challenges: millions of people struggle to access mental health care, while clinicians face growing administrative burden and burnout. Through our technology-powered, in-network platform, we’re changing that, creating a better experience for patients and empowering clinicians to focus on delivering exceptional care.

Today, Talkiatry is the largest dedicated psychiatry practice in the U.S., with 750+ psychiatrists, 250+ therapists, and more than two million patient visits delivered nationwide. At our scale, every innovation has real impact. Every workflow we improve, every technology solution we build, and every patient experience we redesign helps thousands of clinicians provide better care to hundreds of thousands of patients. We’re not just growing quickly — we’re redefining how behavioral healthcare is delivered in America.

Joining Talkiatry means joining a mission-driven team that is solving complex problems at scale, driving meaningful change in healthcare, and building the future of mental health care with compassion, innovation, and purpose.

YOU WILL:

What You’ll Own First (Year One)

- Design and stand up a QA operating model built for our scale. Define a risk-based sampling and coverage strategy, and use automation to move us from manual, ad-hoc review to statistically meaningful coverage.

- Stand up our first real QA platform capability. Evaluate whether to build on ServiceNow's QA features, adopt a dedicated QA/AI-QA tool, or combine them. You will own the business case, configuration, and rollout.

- Establish an independent, automated QA signal over BPO-handled volume. Rather than adding headcount, build automated/AI scoring that runs independent of the BPO's own scores, and focus human time on calibration and adjudication where scores diverge or risk is high.

- Stand up QA for our AI agents. Define how we evaluate agentic AI interactions for accuracy, tone, empathy, and compliance, and build the human-in-the-loop feedback mechanisms that improve them.

- Bring the compliance and liability-sensitive audits, such as crisis protocol and HIPAA/compliance review, into the standing program so coverage is consistent rather than bandwidth-dependent.

Key Responsibilities

Vision & Leadership

- Define and lead the long-term strategy for the Quality & Training function, aligned to Talkiatry's growth and operational goals.

- Build and lead the team. A manager reporting to you will own training, knowledge base, and change management. You own the quality program directly.

- Own the roadmap for QA systems and platforms, including the automation and AI needed to run quality at scale.

- Balance onshore and offshore QA staffing to optimize scale and quality, and set the governance model for how we work with and oversee our BPO.

- Foster a culture of excellence, learning, and accountability.

Quality Philosophy & Scorecard Design

- Own how we define and measure quality. Design a scorecard and QA philosophy that separates non-negotiable protocol adherence from judgment-based quality.

- Keep a small set of critical, auto-fail items where following protocol exactly is required – HIPAA verification, crisis protocol, safety escalations, clinical boundaries.

- Score the rest (tone, empathy, whether the response fit the patient's actual situation, whether it was the best answer and not just a compliant one) on graduated quality, not literal script adherence.

- Weight quality dimensions so that a cold, by-the-book script read cannot earn a top score. We want agents who adapt appropriately to the patient in front of them.

- Carry this philosophy into calibration and coaching, so that alignment sessions reward patient outcomes and appropriate judgment, not rigid compliance.

Quality Assurance & Insights

- Establish and maintain QA standards that reflect both healthcare professionalism and a high-quality patient experience.

- Run QA for both human agents and AI interactions, ensuring consistent tone, accuracy, and compliance.

- Conduct root cause analysis on QA and CSAT data to surface process gaps, training needs, and system improvements.

- Deliver real-time visibility into quality, throughput, and efficiency through dashboards and reporting.

- Partner with Operations and Clinical leadership to embed QA insights into process and system design.

AI-Integrated QA & Knowledge

- Partner with the AI Ops & Strategy team to align AI performance metrics with Talkiatry’s QA standards for accuracy, empathy, safety, compliance, and…