Head of Business Development, IDD & Behavioral Health

Founded in 2015 by a dad of two, Bark is an online safety company that helps families protect their kids online and in real life. Over the past decade, we’ve transformed into the industry leader of safer tech for children, garnering recognition from TIME Magazine, Wired, The New York Times, Forbes, and countless other publications.

We’re at the forefront of the online safety revolution, designing and building smart devices that families need with parental controls that actually work. Our Bark Phone, Bark Watch, Bark Home, and Bark app are enabling today’s parents to help keep their kids safe like never before — and we’re just getting started.

Bark is also deeply committed to education and community impact. Through our Bark Community Partners program, we work with schools, nonprofits, and local organizations to provide online safety resources, training, tools, and safer technology to families and educators. 

At the heart of Bark is our hard-working team of remote employees who are passionate about our mission. We care about our work, each other, and building a safer digital world each and every day.

Job Responsibilities:

This is a business development role. The primary job is building relationships, identifying and developing champions, and creating the conditions for Bark to move through state approvals, MCO contracting, and provider network development in multiple states simultaneously.

This is not primarily a policy research role. You will need to understand how waiver programs work — but your competitive advantage is your ability to get the right person on the phone, earn their trust, and help them understand why Bark belongs in their program. Policy fluency is a tool; relationships are the product.

1. Build and Activate Multi-State Market Pipelines

• Maintain an active outreach pipeline across 6–10 target states at any time
• Identify and cultivate champions inside MCOs, state Medicaid agencies, HCBS waiver programs, and behavioral health plans
• Drive market entry from cold to contracted — you own the full lifecycle
• Travel regularly to attend conferences, state agency meetings, MCO partner sessions, and provider events

2. Develop Payer and Agency Relationships

• Build relationships with key decision-makers: VP Government Programs, Network Development leads, Medical Directors, and waiver administrators
• Engage state agency contacts before and during formal approval or contracting processes –  not just when submitting documents
• Create referral and champion pipelines that accelerate both formal approvals and informal advocacy

3. Navigate Contracting and Approval Processes

• Lead or co-lead MCO network participation discussions, reimbursement conversations, and contract negotiations
• Support HCBS waiver and state Medicaid approval processes – with internal or external policy support for technical drafting
• Translate payer and agency requirements into clear internal asks for operations, compliance, and product teams

4. Build the System, Not Just the Deals

• Create and maintain a multi-state opportunity tracker with active status, key contacts, and next actions
• Document what works — champion maps, contact frameworks, contracting templates — so your approach is scalable
• Partner with sales teams downstream to ensure warm handoffs when markets are activated

Requirements:

• 8+ years of Business Development experience, with a minimum of 3–5 years in Medicaid/Public Health BD, managed care partnerships, government programs sales, or payer-facing network development
• Demonstrated track record of building relationships inside MCOs, state agencies, or similar public payer organizations — not just working alongside them
• Active network in Medicaid managed care, HCBS, IDD, or behavioral health that you can tap from day one
• History of owning a pipeline, managing outreach volume, and being accountable to results in ambiguous, early-stage territory
• Comfortable with and energized by travel — in-person relationship development is core to this role, not supplemental
• Resilient, high-agency, and able to build process from scratch without waiting for infrastructure to exist

Preferred:

• Experience at an MCO, managed care-focused vendor, or health-tech company selling into state Medicaid programs
• IDD, behavioral health, or HCBS waiver program experience
• Track record of opening new state markets, not just expanding within existing ones
• History of working in companies with fewer than 200 employees, or in a division where you were one of very few BD staff

Benefits:

• Competitive compensation commensurate with experience
• Equity stake in Bark
• Paid time off 
• Paid sick time
• Health Benefits:
• • Medical
  • Dental
  • Vision
  • Healthcare Support
  • On-Demand Primary Care
  • Online Mental Health Therapy
  • Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
  • Supplemental Life Insurance
  • 401(k)
  • Voluntary Long-term and Short-term Disability Insurance

We recognize people come with a wealth of experience and talent beyond just the technical requirements of a job. If your experience is close to what you see listed here, please consider applying. Diversity of experience and skills combined with passion is a key to innovation and excellence. We encourage people from all backgrounds to apply to our positions. Please let us know if you require accommodations during the interview process.

Bark is committed to creating a diverse environment and is proud to be an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, gender, gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, national origin, genetics, disability, age, or veteran status.