Director, Payment Integrity

About Alaffia & Our Mission

Every year, U.S. health plans lose billions to improper payments and administrative waste. That wasted spending ultimately trickles down across the healthcare ecosystem, driving up costs for plans, providers, and patients alike. We're here to change that paradigm.

Alaffia is a new kind of claims operations partner for health plans. Using expert clinicians and transparent AI, we deliver deeper insights, smarter automation, and consistently better outcomes across the entire lifecycle of claims. With Alaffia, health plans can cut wasted spending more effectively than ever — and provide their members the most affordable care.

We're a high-growth, venture-backed Series B healthtech startup based in NYC and are actively scaling our company. Join us in helping to build a healthcare system that works better for everyone.

About the Role

As the Director, Payment Integrity , you'll own the strategy, performance, and scale of Alaffia's Payment Integrity review programs — including DRG Validation, Clinical Validation, Itemized Bill Review (IBR), Hospital Bill Audit (HBA), medical record review, readmissions, short stay, complex outpatient, and related facility PI review functions across both prepay and postpay. You'll lead a team of Managers (and, through them, a broader bench of Medical Bill Reviewers/Payment Integrity Analysts), setting the direction for how the program grows, translating client and executive priorities into operational execution, and serving as the senior clinical and operational authority for Payment Integrity across the company.

This role is ideal for a seasoned Payment Integrity or clinical audit leader who has already managed managers, owns program-level P&L or KPI accountability, and wants to help build a payment integrity function from a scaling stage into a mature, best-in-class operation.

What You'll Be Doing

Program Strategy & Leadership

Own the overall strategy, roadmap, and operating model for the Payment Integrity review program, including DRG Validation, Clinical Validation, IBR/HBA, readmissions, short stay, complex outpatient, and IRF/SNF/BH facility audit workstreams, across prepay and postpay

Lead and develop a team of Managers, providing them the coaching, structure, and resources to run high-performing review teams

Set org-wide performance standards and targets for audit accuracy, throughput, SLA adherence, and findings quality, and hold managers accountable to them

Build the multi-quarter capacity plan for the review organization, forecasting headcount, hiring needs, and workload against client growth

Represent Payment Integrity in company-wide planning, budgeting, and leadership discussions

Clinical & Audit Quality Governance

Serve as the senior clinical authority for audit quality across the program, setting the standards that Managers and reviewers are held to

Establish escalation paths for high-complexity, high-dollar, or high-risk audit disputes, and make final calls when needed

Ensure audit methodology and findings remain defensible and consistent with national coding guidelines (CMS, CPT, ICD-10, HCPCS, DRG, APC, revenue codes) and payer-specific policy across all client programs

Own the audit quality assurance framework, including calibration across reviewers/managers and periodic program-level quality reviews

Partner with Product/Engineering on how AI and automation get incorporated into review workflows, ensuring clinical accuracy and defensibility are preserved as the program scales

Program & Workflow Ownership

Own the end-to-end operating model connecting operations (intake, documentation requests, provider outreach) with clinical review execution, in partnership with Payment Integrity Operations leadership

Approve and continuously refine SOPs across all audit workflows: intake, review methodology, documentation, escalation, and appeals support

Identify systemic bottlenecks across the program and drive cross-functional initiatives to improve cycle time, capacity, and reviewer efficiency

Own SLA performance across the full review queue and ensure contractual commitments are met at scale across multiple client programs

Client & Executive Relationship Management

Serve as a senior point of contact for client executives on Payment Integrity program performance, escalations, and strategic account decisions

Own client-facing reporting on program performance — accuracy, savings/findings, throughput, and trends — and present at executive business reviews

Lead client escalations, appeals discussions, and provider dispute resolution for the most complex or highest-stakes cases

Partner with Sales/Managed Services on scoping new client programs, staffing models, and program design during Implementations & onboarding

Team Building & Organizational Development

Hire, develop, and retain a strong bench of Managers, building a leadership pipeline within the review organization

Establish career paths, training curricula, and audit playbooks that support reviewer and manager growth across the org

Build a culture of clinical rigor, accountability, and continuous improvement across the entire Payment Integrity organization

Own root-cause analysis and corrective action processes for program-level quality or client escalation trends, reporting findings and remediation plans to leadership

Operational Governance & Reporting

Own the KPI framework for the Payment Integrity organization: audit accuracy, throughput, SLA compliance, findings per case, appeal overturn rate, and client savings/impact metrics

Establish and lead the reporting cadence to company leadership on program health, growth, quality trends, and capacity

Stay ahead of coding guideline updates, CMS policy changes, and payer requirements, ensuring the org adapts proactively

Contribute Payment Integrity domain expertise to company-level strategic initiatives, including product roadmap input and AI/automation strategy

Who You Are

Required Qualifications

Active RN license or higher-level clinical license — required

Experience working at a Payment Integrity vendor (not health plan or MCO alone) — understanding the pace, client expectations, program implementation, audit delivery, provider abrasion, and performance accountability of a vendor environment

8+ years in Payment Integrity, clinical auditing, or facility claims review, including 4+ years managing managers / team leads (not just directly supervising auditors)

Deep hands-on operational experience across both DRG Validation / Clinical Validation AND Itemized Bill Review (IBR) / Hospital Bill Audit (HBA) — including inpatient facility claims, medical record review, ICD-10-CM/PCS, revenue codes, charge validation, and audit methodology

Broad facility PI breadth — DRG + IBR plus meaningful ownership of other audit types such as medical record / clinical review, readmissions, short stay, complex outpatient, IRF/SNF, or behavioral health

Experience leading both prepay and postpay PI programs — not postpay alone

Has built or scaled a PI program, service line, workflow, or operating model from the ground u