Pelago is the leading specialty substance use care provider, built on the belief that effective treatment means matching care intensity to what each member actually needs rather than defaulting to the most expensive intervention. Our programs guide members through every stage of the substance use spectrum, from unhealthy habits to active use disorders, delivering personalized treatment for tobacco, alcohol, opioid, cannabis, and stimulant use based on individual health, habits, genetics, and goals.
With Sona, our voice-first AI Mental Health Specialist, Pelago now applies that same clinically-driven model to mental health, pairing deep clinical expertise with technology to expand access without compromising care quality. We believe technology should make clinical care more precise and more human, not replace the judgment behind it.
Pelago has scaled to helping hundreds of employers and health plans and has already helped more than 750,000 members better manage their substance use. If you're passionate about AI and making an impact on the health of others, join us and make it happen!
About Pelago Engineering:
Our engineering team operates as empowered, outcome-oriented problem solvers, working in close partnership with product, design, and clinical teams to improve member outcomes at scale.
As AI transforms how software is built, we are intentionally evolving our development lifecycle so we spend less time on mechanical implementation and more time on system design, judgment, and impact.
How We Work:
- Outcome-driven: Engineers are given problems to solve, not just features to build. Success is measured by learning, impact, and outcomes—not velocity alone
- AI-native: We use AI across the SDLC to accelerate implementation, testing, and review. Engineers focus on defining intent, validating behavior, and designing resilient systems
- High autonomy, high accountability: Teams have real ownership over their domains. With autonomy comes responsibility for quality, safety, and results
- Cross-functional by default: Engineers partner deeply with Product, Design, Data, and Clinical. Discovery, experimentation, and delivery are shared responsibilities
- Quality and safety matter: We build in a regulated, member-impacting domain. Reliability, observability, and correctness are first-class concerns
What You’ll Do:
Instead of task lists, anchor on ownership:
- Own meaningful problem spaces end-to-end, from discovery through delivery and iteration
- Design and evolve systems that support safe, scalable, AI-augmented development
- Use data and experimentation to validate whether solutions actually work
- Collaborate cross-functionally to balance member impact, clinical constraints, and technical tradeoffs
- Shape how we work—our tools, processes, and culture
What We Look For:
We explicitly assess for empowerment:
- You start with "why" before diving into "how"
- You're energized by ambiguity and collaborative problem-shaping
- You use AI to amplify your judgment and move faster on what matters
- You think in systems and anticipate second-order effects
- You want to own outcomes, not just ship features
Overview of the Role:
Pelago's clients trust us with some of the most sensitive data a person has, and our SOC 2 Type II and HITRUST certifications are central to how we earn and keep that trust. We already hold both. The Director of Information Security & Compliance will keep that foundation strong as our business, data, and AI platform grow, setting Pelago's security strategy and leading the team that executes it. The hire we're looking for has owned accreditation outcomes in a regulated environment, is hands-on enough to do the work alongside a small team, and has the commercial judgment to make security something that accelerates deals rather than slowing engineering down.
This is a hybrid role with a high-collaboration rhythm (3 days/week in our NYC office).
In this role you will:
- Own SOC 2 Type II and HITRUST certification end to end, including audits, remediation, and recertification.
- Develop and manage Pelago's security roadmap, budget, and tooling, and present key risks and recommendations to the executive team and Board.
- Serve as the security lead in client security reviews, RFPs, questionnaires, and partner due diligence, partnering with Sales to position our security posture as a competitive advantage.
- Maintain security policies and third-party vendor risk reviews, including reviews of new AI tools.
- Automate evidence collection and implement continuous control monitoring so compliance scales with the business.
- Own incident response, vulnerability management, and the penetration testing program.
- Partner with Engineering on security monitoring, disaster recovery, secure design, and the security of our AI platform.
- Partner with IT on identity and access management, and own the periodic access reviews our audits depend on.
- Partner with Legal on the privacy program (HIPAA, GDPR, BAAs) and lead breach assessments.
- Lead, coach, and grow the security team as a player-coach, building the case for and hiring the next people onto the team (1–2 direct reports today).
- Set the bar for the function: clear ownership, sustainable on-call, career paths, and performance expectations.
- Build security literacy across the company, from engineering to clinical, commercial, and operations teams.
The background we are looking for:
- Direct accountability for SOC 2 Type II and HITRUST outcomes.
- Experience leading information security and compliance in healthcare, health tech, or another regulated industry; strong working knowledge of HIPAA.
- Cloud security expertise in a modern stack (AWS, infrastructure as code, containers, CI/CD).
- Working knowledge across GRC, security operations, application security, and identity and access management.
- Player-coach leadership experience: hands-on in the work while building a team.
- Sound judgment about risk in a commercial context, including when to accept risk and when to escalate.
- Ability to communicate clearly with engineers, clients, auditors, executives, and the Board
Nice to haves:
- Experience securing AI/LLM systems, agentic tools, or data used in model workflows.
- Experience scaling a security program at a Series B or C company.
- Certifications such as CISSP, CISM, CCSP, or HITRUST CCSFP.
- Experience working with US health plans, PBMs, or large self-insured employers.
What you’ll love about us:
We have a whole host of perks for our people! From life essentials to nice-to-haves, there are more than a few good reasons to love working with us. We strive to ensure Pelago employees have equitable access to healthcare, wellbeing, time away, and then some.
- Generous and meaningful equity package
- Full Medical, Dental, & Vision coverage
- 401k Plan
- Unlimited PTO Policy, 10 paid holidays, & company wide “Me Time” Days
- Paid maternity, paternity & new parent leave
- Flexible working environment
- Annual Learning and Development stipend to support continued learning and career development
- Wellness Reimbursement Program
- Access to Reproductive & Family Planning Care
- Substance Use Support for employees and family members
At this time, we are unable to offer visa sponsorship for this position.
Please note that Pelago is dedicated to providing accommodations to candidates upon request. If you need accommodations at any point throughout the interview process, please reach out to your recruiter.
Before you apply, see how we build.
We write about our technical decisions, product philosophy, and the real challenges of scaling behavioral health. Read the blog → https://pelagohealth.ai/
