Chief Executive Officer

About Northwoods

Caseworkers make decisions every day that shape the safety and future of children, families, and older adults. Too much of their time goes to paperwork instead of people. Northwoods exists to improve their productivity and give them time back.

For more than 20 years, Northwoods has served state and county health and human services (HHS) agencies, with a team that includes former case workers and social workers. Its Traverse platform supports roughly 45,000 caseworkers across child welfare, child support, economic assistance, and adult services. Grove pairs trained specialists with Traverse to take administrative work off caseworkers' plates.

The Opportunity

Northwoods is seeking a CEO to lead its next chapter: growing its position as a trusted partner for county HHS agencies across child welfare, child support, economic assistance, and adult services, while expanding into new HHS markets.

The market is asking exactly this:

Eligibility workloads are surging as federal SNAP funding shifts to states and Medicaid adds work requirements and six-month renewals.

Child welfare modernization has stalled. After a decade of investment, fewer than a third of state CCWIS projects are operational.

The workforce is overwhelmed. Agencies need technology and AI that return time to case workers, with decisions regarding people.

This is a hands-on operating role for a leader who combines credibility with HHS agencies, a measurable record of launching products, and the judgment to expand while strengthening the core business.

Role Overview

The CEO will have full P&L responsibility and accountability for Northwoods' financial performance, organizational health, and strategic execution. The mandate includes:

Growing the county Traverse and Grove business

Expanding into new HHS markets, including state agencies, with a scalable, productized approach

Bringing AI into Traverse and Grove to measurably improve caseworker capacity

Entering adjacent markets where Northwoods has a clear right to win

Building the capture, delivery, and partnership capabilities statewide work requires

Financial discipline is core to the role. The role balances investment in new growth with consistent, profitable performance.

Key Responsibilities

Strategy & Growth

Set and execute a multi-year strategy that grows the county business and expands into new HHS markets

Prioritize opportunities based on market need, funding, and Northwoods' ability to win

Keep the product scalable and productized

Government Relationships

Personally lead relationships with state HHS leaders, state CIOs, and county HHS directors

Lead statewide capture, from pre-RFP shaping through award and contract negotiation

Build effective partnerships across the HHS ecosystem, including systems integrators

Apply a working knowledge of federal funding and approval processes to pricing and deal structure

Sustain land-and-expand momentum and reference networks in county markets

Product, Technology & AI

Own product strategy and roadmap for all products and solutions

Launch new products with clear adoption, revenue, and margin targets

Use AI to increase caseworker capacity and engineering productivity

Delivery & Operations

Build a delivery organization ready for larger, more complex implementations

Protect service quality for existing customers during expansion

Run a disciplined operating cadence with strong forecasting, cost visibility, and accountability

Leadership & Culture

Lead and develop the existing leadership team, and add talent where needed

Preserve Northwoods' mission-driven, caseworker-first culture

Model accountability, transparency, and integrity

What Success Looks Like

Continued, profitable growth of the county business

Successful entry into new HHS markets, including at the state level

AI capabilities that measurably expand caseworker capacity

Sustained financial performance while investing in growth

A strong, stable leadership team with the bench to enable county and statewide growth

What You Must Have Done Before

Owned a P&L as CEO, President, GM, or equivalent at a software business serving state or local government

Built or scaled a business in the state and local HHS market and earned the trust of its leaders. You know the programs we support, the stakeholders involved, the policy environment, and how agencies buy and implement technology, and you understand how much relationships matter in this market. We will ask for references from state and county agency leaders you have worked with.

Run two growth motions at once. You have invested in a long-cycle opportunity while continuing to grow and protect a faster-moving core business.

Launched a product and grown it. Be ready to share the adoption, revenue, and margin results.

Preferred Experience

Captured and delivered a statewide HHS system (child welfare, child support, eligibility, adult services, or similar), or played a leading role in one, including federal funding and approval processes

Entered an adjacent market with an existing product or platform

Experience across multiple HHS programs and federal oversight agencies

Working experience with federal funding strategies, modular modernization efforts, and state HHS procurement. You don't need to be our funding expert, but you should know how these forces shape how opportunities progress and how vendors succeed once engaged.

Leadership at a commercial HHS software vendor, not solely at a systems integrator

Built AI-enabled products for regulated data

Private equity, permanent-capital, or investor-owned environments

This Role Is Not a Fit If

Your growth record depends mainly on large custom implementations

You prefer strategy work to customer meetings, deals, and hiring

You need a large team in place before you can deliver results

You see growing the core business and pursuing new markets as a tradeoff rather than a shared priority

Why Join Northwoods & Banyan

As a Banyan CEO, you will lead with autonomy in a long-term ownership environment, join a trusted peer community of software CEOs, access optional operating resources without losing independence, and share meaningfully in value created through EBITDA growth and multiple expansion.

This role offers the chance to build the modern HHS platform agencies have been waiting for on a foundation 45,000 case workers already trust.

Location: Dublin, OH or remote (USA), with travel.