Senior Implementation Manager - Sword Intelligence
SWORD Health
Portugal
Posted on Sep 18, 2025
Sword Health is on a mission to free two billion people from pain.
With 67% of members achieving a pain-free life and a 70% reduction in surgery intent, at Sword, we are using AI Care to change lives, and save millions for our 25,000+ enterprise clients across three continents. Today, we hold the majority of industry patents, win 70% of competitive evaluations, and have raised more than $400 million from top venture firms like Founders Fund, Sapphire Ventures, General Catalyst, and Khosla Ventures.
Recognized as a Forbes Best Startup Employer in 2025, this award highlights our focus on being a destination for the best and brightest talent. Not only have we experienced unprecedented growth since our market debut in 2020, but we’ve also created a remarkable mission and value-driven environment that is loved by our growing team. With a recent valuation of $4 billion, we are in a phase of hyper growth and expansion, and we’re looking for individuals with passion, commitment, and energy to help us scale our global impact.
Joining Sword means committing to a set of core values, chief amongst them to “do it for the patients” every day, and to always “deliver more than expected” on behalf of our members and clients.
This is an opportunity for you to make a significant difference on a massive scale as you work alongside 1000+ (and growing!) talented colleagues, spanning three continents. Your charge? To help us build a pain-free world, powered by AI, enhanced by people — accessible to all.
About the role
Hospitals are hemorrhaging staff, insurance claims are drowning in bureaucracy, and governments can't keep up with demand. While everyone else talks about "digital transformation," we're actually doing it – deploying human + AI solutions that work in the real world, not just in demos.
As our Senior Implementation Manager, you'll be the person who takes our technology from brilliant concept to life-changing reality. You'll work shoulder-to-shoulder with our engineering team, translating what you see in hospital corridors into product improvements, then taking those improvements back to deploy at scale.
You will start hands-on, leading deployments at the most complex healthcare organizations on the planet. As you prove what works (and what doesn't), if all goes well you'll naturally evolve into Head of Implementation – building the playbook, scaling the team, and owning our global deployment methodology.
This role combines immediate operational impact with clear leadership upside – perfect for someone who wants to shape the future of healthcare delivery.
About Sword Intelligence
See our website for more information.
We’re scaling our proven AI technology into some of the most complex healthcare environments worldwide. The Implementation Manager will be pivotal in:
Turning pilots into enterprise-grade deployments. Creating the blueprint for how our technology is adopted at scale. Building trust with clinicians, administrators, and executives in high-stakes settings.
Think of this role as joining at a seed-stage moment inside a hypergrowth company: high-impact, fast pivots, and the opportunity to shape an entirely new function.
What you’ll be doing:
- Phase 1 — Hands-on Implementation
- You'll be the person who makes impossible healthcare transformations actually happen. Think massive hospital systems, government agencies, and insurance giants that everyone says are "too complex to change" – you'll prove them wrong by leading deployments that stick.
- Become a workflow detective and change architect. You'll shadow doctors, interview IT directors, and observe how things really work (not how people think they work). Then you'll translate that messy reality into crystal-clear implementation plans that engineering can actually build.
- Be the translator between worlds that rarely speak the same language. Clinical teams think in patient outcomes, IT thinks in systems, executives think in budgets – you'll get them all aligned and moving in the same direction without losing anyone along the way.
- Be the bridge between our engineering team and the healthcare frontlines. You'll take what you learn from deployments back to engineering, helping them understand why certain features matter and what needs to change. Pack your bags for impact. This role means being on-site where the real work happens, making sure implementations don't just go live but actually get adopted by the people who matter most.
- Phase 2 — Transition to Head of Implementation (Note: This progression isn't automatic, it requires demonstrating real leadership capabilities and systems thinking. We're describing the opportunity, not making promises. The right person will earn this evolution.)
- You'll codify what works into a repeatable system. Take everything you've learned from front-line deployments and turn it into the definitive playbook that other implementation managers can follow.
- Build your own elite implementation team. Hire people who can do what you do, then scale their impact.
- Orchestrate multiple complex deployments like a conductor. While your team handles day-to-day execution, you'll ensure every deployment maintains the quality and consistency that made you successful.
- Become the operational backbone connecting every department. Product needs real-world feedback, Engineering needs implementation requirements, Sales needs deployment timelines, Customer Success needs handoff protocols – you'll be the person who makes sure nothing falls through the cracks.
- Spot problems before they become disasters. Use your deep operational experience to identify risks, navigate compliance requirements, and continuously refine how we deliver. You'll be the reason our deployments get smoother over time, not more complicated.
What you need to have:
- 4–8 years making complex technology actually work in the real world. Whether that's implementation, project management, or customer deployments – bonus points if you've done it in healthcare or enterprise tech.
- You speak both "workflow" and "technical requirements" fluently. You can watch a nurse navigate their daily routine and immediately know what needs to be built (and what definitely shouldn't be).
- You're equally comfortable in the C-suite and the server room. Clinicians trust your judgment, executives respect your timelines, and engineers actually listen to your feedback because you understand their constraints.
- You deliver on time and on budget, period. Whether you're Lean, Agile, PMP, or just naturally organized – you have a proven track record of making complex projects happen without drama.
- You're ready to be where the action is. This means frequent travel to deployment sites because that's where you learn what really matters.
What we would love to see:
- You've built and scaled teams before. You know the difference between doing the work yourself and teaching others to do it at your level.
- Healthcare software doesn't intimidate you. You've navigated HIPAA, dealt with legacy EMR systems, and understand that "go-live" in healthcare means lives are literally on the line.
- You thrive in startup ambiguity. When the playbook doesn't exist yet, you write it. When the process breaks, you fix it. When things get messy, you get energized.
- You think like an architect, not just an executor. Every process you design today needs to work when you're managing 10x more deployments tomorrow.
Portugal - Sword Benefits & Perks:
• Health, dental and vision insurance
• Meal allowance
• Equity shares
• Remote work allowance
• Flexible working hours
• Work from home
• Discretionary vacation
• Snacks and beverages
• English class
Note: Please note that this position does not offer relocation assistance. Candidates must possess a valid EU visa and be based in Portugal.
Sword Health complies with applicable Federal and State civil rights laws and does not discriminate on the basis of Age, Ancestry, Color, Citizenship, Gender, Gender expression, Gender identity, Gender information, Marital status, Medical condition, National origin, Physical or mental disability, Pregnancy, Race, Religion, Caste, Sexual orientation, and Veteran status.