Clinical Director & Practice Lead

Seeking Creative & Collaborative Humans With A Passion For Changing Mental Health Care In Fun And Meaningful Ways.

Ellie Mental Health is seeking a licensed Clinical Director / Practice Lead to help lead and grow an outpatient mental health practice in Sherman Oaks, CA. This is a strong opportunity for a licensed clinician who wants more than a traditional private practice therapy role. We are looking for someone who wants to lead a clinical team, shape the patient care culture, mentor clinicians, uphold high standards of patient care, and help build a practice that is clinically strong, collaborative, and sustainable.

This role offers meaningful clinical leadership and autonomy, with the support of established operational infrastructure for billing, credentialing, HR, payroll, marketing, technology, and administrative processes. You will be able to focus on clinical leadership, supervision, quality of patient care, and team development, without having to carry the full administrative or financial burden of running a practice alone.

Many clinicians who want to grow into leadership face two imperfect options: remain primarily clinical with limited influence or take on the risk and complexity of owning a practice by themselves. This role is designed to offer a better balance. As Clinical Director / Practice Lead, you will have the opportunity to:

• Lead and develop a growing clinical team
• Shape the clinical culture and care standards
• Maintain a small, intentional caseload
• Provide supervision and mentorship
• Partner on thoughtful practice growth
• Operate with clinical independence while being supported by experienced administrative and operational resources

This is not a solo private practice ownership role. It is also not a low-responsibility clinical role. It is ideal for someone who wants real leadership, meaningful impact, and the support needed to build something well.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading clinical direction, care standards, and clinical quality for the practice
• Providing individual and/or group supervision in accordance with California BBS requirements
• Supporting hiring, onboarding, development, and retention of clinicians
• Maintaining a small caseload, generally expected to be approximately 610 clients
• Promoting strong documentation, treatment planning, and ethical care standards
• Supporting clinicians through complex client situations and clinical escalations
• Helping build a culture that is warm, collaborative, accountable, and sustainable
• Partnering with operational leadership on staffing, client experience, referral growth, and practice development
• Representing the clinical voice of the practice in key decisions affecting care delivery and team success

Success in this role will include:

• A stable, engaged, and growing clinical team
• Strong supervision and support for clinicians
• High-quality documentation and care standards
• A positive culture where clinicians feel supported and accountable
• Effective partnership between clinical and operational leadership
• Thoughtful growth in client access, referral relationships, and community presence

We are looking for a clinically strong and emotionally steady leader who wants to help build a high-quality outpatient mental health practice. The ideal candidate is someone who:

• Wants to lead, mentor, and develop clinicians
• Has strong clinical judgment and professional boundaries
• Communicates clearly and constructively
• Can hold people accountable while maintaining a supportive culture
• Values both clinical autonomy and collaborative partnership
• Understands that a healthy practice requires strong care, strong documentation, and strong follow-through
• Is comfortable working in a supported practice model with defined clinical and non-clinical responsibilities
• Wants to build something meaningful

Required qualifications include:

• Active, independent California clinical license in good standing: LCSW, LMFT, LPCC, PsyD, or PhD
• Experience in outpatient mental health, group practice, community mental health, or a similar clinical setting
• Strong clinical judgment and understanding of ethical care standards
• Ability to supervise, mentor, and support clinicians
• Strong communication, documentation, and leadership skills
• Ability to partner effectively with operational and administrative support teams

Preferred qualifications include:

• Prior experience as a Clinical Director / Practice Manager, Clinical Supervisor, Lead Therapist, Program Director, or similar leadership role
• Experience supervising pre-licensed clinicians in accordance with California BBS requirements
• Experience helping build, scale, or stabilize a clinical team
• Familiarity with outpatient therapy practice operations
• Interest in community relationships, referral development, and thoughtful practice growth

Compensation and benefits include:

• Base salary: $120,000 - $140,000, depending on experience
• Performance-based bonus opportunity tied to clinic's success
• Health, dental, and vision benefits
• 401(k)
• Paid time off
• Leadership growth opportunity as the practice expands
• Operational support infrastructure designed to reduce administrative burden

Ellie Mental Health is built on the belief that mental healthcare should be accessible, human, and sustainable, for both clients and clinicians. Our model is designed to reduce administrative burden, support clinicians, and create a culture where high-quality care can thrive. This clinic is locally led and supported by broader operational resources, combining strong clinical leadership with the infrastructure needed to grow thoughtfully and responsibly.

Don't meet EVERY requirement?

Studies have shown that women and people of color are less likely to apply to jobs unless they meet every single qualification. Ellie Mental Health is devoted to purposefully building an inclusive and diverse workplace where all of our humans can be their authentic selves! (Authenticity is one of our core values, after all) If you're excited about the chance to be a change-maker with us, but your past experience doesn't perfectly align with every single qualification of the job description, we encourage you to apply anyways. Our mental health jobs need dedicated individuals from every background who are willing to care for others. And who knows, you might just be the perfect candidate for another role!

Employee Experience

We take care of our people. It's that simple. From investing in their financial future, to providing wages that shatter the ceiling in our industry to reasonable caseload expectations we ensure that our people are happy. Happy employees do better work and provide better client care! No matter what it is that you do in your mental health career at Ellie, our clients depend on us cultivating an environment where our employees can thrive so that they can thrive too!

Jobs in mental health are tough jobs with a high risk of emotional fatigue and burnout. At Ellie, we use all of our core values of humor, creativity, authenticity, acceptance, determination, and compassion not just out in our communities, but we turn them inwards too! Our employees have clear growth paths for advancing their careers.

We have created a culture that reminds us that our employees are our leaders!

Company Structure

Ellie is a socially responsible for-profit business, which allows us to be flexible and responsive to our community's needs. Many mental health and wellness-focused companies are non-profits or government agencies, which rely on the general public, grants, or large donors for funding. This model often results in little creativity and lower compensation for employees, promoting a work culture that just makes people feel "blah."

Feeling blah doesn't help employees stay motivated, engaged, or even in their jobs for a very long time! So we created a new model: one that puts flexibility, innovative decision-making, creativity, and our people first, while remaining a socially conscious and responsible for-profit business focused on changing how we treat mental health.

In short, we're just people helping people. Wanna join the herd?

Ellie Mental Health - Manchester, New Hampshire