MBA Summer Internship: Operations and Strategy

Ally Behavior is a full-time, center-based, early intervention Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy program, serving children with autism ranging from 18 months to 6 years of age. Our mission is to deliver the highest quality therapy to help our early learners reach their potential to communicate, improve social skills, and prepare for academic success. The children we serve are at the heart of everything we do and we are passionate about our commitment to having a meaningful impact in the lives of our children and their families. MBA Summer Internship Job Description: A ten week summer internship for MBA students who want to run businesses. It is the front door to our Chief of Staff (CXO) and Sandy Spring Operations Leadership Development Program (LDP) roles. Location: Tysons, VA. In person, with travel to Ally centers across Maryland, Virginia, and the DC area. Reports to: An executive sponsor on the leadership team, with direct exposure to the CEO. Dates: Ten weeks, June through August. Some flexibility on start and end dates. Please include a cover letter so we can get to know you better and understand why you believe you will be a good fit for our team! Applications submitted without a cover letter will not be considered. About Ally Behavior Centers:   Ally Behavior is a fast-growing autism therapy company, built around exceptional clinical quality and an unmatched family experience. We have grown at roughly 70% CAGR over the last four years and we are building toward our next chapter: 10x’ing our center footprint over the next five years. Scaling something this important requires more than plans; it requires leaders who can translate strategy into execution, build durable operating systems, and do the hard, unglamorous work to drive outcomes for kids and families. This company has been built by investing in high-potential people earlier in their career and giving them meaningful responsibility as the business scales. Many of our leaders have grown into their roles by taking ownership of hard problems, delivering impact, and earning expanded scope over time. This internship is how we start that relationship earlier. Overall, Ally Behavior is a dynamic, fun, and rewarding place to work that offers superior growth and leadership opportunities in a supportive, engaging environment. We have a unique and collaborative culture that is driven by our diverse team of professionals and our core values of Serving Others , Treatment Excellence , All One Ally , Resourceful in Finding Solutions , and Striving to Grow . We are looking for someone to help us provide the best possible service to our clients. Why This Internship Exists: We believe great companies are built from the ground up, and that is how we intend to build out our leadership team. We are not going to scale this business by buying our operators and executives on the open market. The talent does not exist at the volume we need, and even when it does it has been shaped by other companies with different standards. We need to build our own bench, and we would rather find and partner those people early. The program has two focuses. First, you learn the business from the inside through rotations across Ally’s business functions. Second, you own one project tied to a live business initiative, with a defined scope, an executive sponsor, and output we expect to make its way into production. This is not a watch from the sidelines internship. It is not a summer of shadowing that ends in a deck nobody uses. It is a role for someone with a do-whatever-is-necessary mindset. If the best way to win is to build the tracker, run the analysis, map the workflow, fix the handoff, sit with operators, draft the communications, and drive implementation, you will do that. Ally wants leaders who run toward the problems, not away. We hold MBA interns to a senior standard. You should expect to be treated like a contributor from the start, and to be given more than you think you can handle, supported through it, and expected to deliver. How the Summer Works: Weeks 1 to 4: Learn the business Time in centers. You will work with the Operations Managers to learn how centers operate, shadow BCBAs and therapists, coordinate with the back office teams for authorizations and compliance, and help build the schedule.  Rotations across corporate functions: Enrollment, Sales and Marketing, Talent Acquisition and HR, Insurance and Revenue Cycle, Clinical Quality, Finance, and Operations. Structured learning on ABA, Speech, OT and Psychology service delivery, client outcomes, payor and authorization mechanics, clinical workflows, family experience, and unit economics. Scoping sessions with your executive sponsor to sharpen your project into a clear problem, a set of owners, a timeline, and success metrics. Weeks 5 to 9: Own the project You own one initiative end to end. You do the analysis, build the thing, work with the operators who have to live with it, and drive it into use. Weekly working sessions with your executive sponsor. Regular time with the CEO and functional leaders. You are expected to move quickly with imperfect information while maintaining rigor and integrity, and to escalate with a recommendation rather than a question. Midpoint review at roughly week 7, where we look hard at progress, adjust scope if the business has changed, and give you direct feedback. Week 10: Land it Present results to the CEO and the leadership team. We want the recommendation, the trade offs, the numbers, and what you would do next. Hand off cleanly. A documented process, a working dashboard, a trained owner, whatever it takes for the work to keep running without you. Return offer decision. Example Projects: Projects are assigned based on where the business needs help and where your background gives you an edge. Recent and likely examples include: Patient journey and time to start: intake funnel, paren