Chief Operating Officer

Overview

Southeast Primary Care Partners, an independent and physician-led primary care network spanning over 50 locations across more than four states, is seeking a Chief Operating Officer (COO). Reporting directly to the CEO and collaborating closely with the CFO and executive leadership, this exempt-level role is based at headquarters in Alpharetta, GA, and involves frequent travel to multiple clinical sites. The COO will spearhead operational excellence across the enterprise, translating strategic goals into consistent execution while supporting physician engagement and preserving local practice identities.

Key Responsibilities

• Direct overall operational management of 50+ primary care clinics across multiple states, covering front office, clinical workflows, and patient access.
• Optimize practice performance including throughput, quality, cost efficiency, staffing models, scheduling, and revenue cycle coordination alongside finance.
• Manage integrations of new practices, ensuring operational readiness, effective change management, and implementation of standardized processes.
• Contribute to new market entry and de novo clinic support with operational due diligence in cooperation with CEO and growth teams.
• Develop and enforce an operating cadence featuring KPIs, site reviews, leadership development, and accountability mechanisms.
• Lead day-to-day network operations, focusing on clinic performance, staffing, patient flow, access, service recovery, and leadership support at sites.
• Create and refine playbooks, workflows, and policies to enhance consistency without sacrificing physician engagement.
• Identify operational challenges and apply Lean methodologies to enhance cycle times, capacity, and reliability.
• Translate value-based care objectives into actionable operational plans including preventive care, chronic disease management, care gap closure, risk adjustment, and patient engagement.
• Collaborate with clinical leaders to integrate quality metrics into workable clinic processes.
• Ensure preparedness for payer audits and maintain documentation standards.
• Develop strong relationships with physicians and clinical leaders, fostering open forums to address barriers and expedite solutions.
• Inspire teams through transparent communication, shared goals, and alignment of incentives, operations, and culture.
• Coach and mentor medical directors and site leaders in operational leadership skills.
• Oversee integration execution of acquired practices ensuring targets for access, team stability, quality, and patient experience are met.
• Support new business development via operational due diligence, transition, and capacity planning.
• Prepare and present succinct, data-driven reports to the CEO, highlighting risks and recommendations.
• Collaborate with CEO and CFO on budgeting, staffing models, and performance forecasting.
• Establish enterprise-wide performance goals with executive leadership and implement operating rhythms to achieve them.
• Build and develop high-performing leadership teams regionally and at sites, promoting retention and career progression.

Qualifications

• Extensive senior leadership experience managing multi-site healthcare operations, preferably within primary care, with comprehensive operational accountability.
• Minimum 10 years of progressive leadership overseeing multi-location healthcare operations including access, staffing, patient experience, quality, and cost management.
• At least 5 years experience leading managerial teams such as regional directors and site managers across multiple locations or states.
• Demonstrated success in optimizing practices via staffing, scheduling, patient throughput, access management, service recovery, and KPI-driven operational systems.
• Expertise in developing scalable systems including standardized workflows, playbooks, governance models, and accountability frameworks.
• Proven ability to lead physician-centered organizational change through trust, clear communication, and disciplined management.
• Bachelor’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business, Nursing, Public Health, or a relevant field or an equivalent mix of education and experience.
• Willingness and capability to travel regularly across multiple clinical sites as required.

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degrees such as MBA, MHA, MPH, or related credentials.
• Significant experience in value-based or risk-bearing care models, including executing quality initiatives, risk adjustment, and utilization management.
• Experience leading integration and scaling efforts involving mergers and acquisitions, rapid expansion across numerous sites, and multi-state operational planning.
• Track record of building and retaining high-performing leadership teams with strong accountability and succession planning.

Leadership Characteristics

• Focuses on physician and patient-centered operations incorporating clinical realities into business strategies.
• Data-oriented and pragmatic, uses metrics decisively to guide action.
• Keeps a balance between necessary standardization and preserving local autonomy.
• Maintains a calm, direct, and responsible approach, ensuring clarity and follow-through.
• Innovative system builder fostering scalable solutions and leadership development.

Physical and Mental Demands

• Ability to lift and handle objects weighing up to 50 pounds.
• Capability to exert force for pushing or pulling items up to 50 pounds.
• Endurance to sit or stand for prolonged periods.
• Fine motor skills for operating office equipment and machinery.
• Competence in receiving and understanding both verbal and written instructions.
• Logical reasoning capacity for simple to complex problem solving.
• Flexibility to travel to various workplaces as necessary.

Additional Information

Southeast Primary Care Partners is committed to equal employment opportunities. Candidates will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics.