About Hike Medical

Hike Medical is building the defining company in musculoskeletal care. We sit at the intersection of AI, robotics, and healthcare, operating across three product lines: a proprietary AI-vision platform that turns a 30-second, web-based foot scan into custom 3D-printed orthotics; an AI agent platform that automates the entire DME workflow from pre-visit processing through claims and revenue cycle; and SoleForge, our vertically integrated 3D-printing factory producing custom medical devices at a scale the industry has never seen.

Insoles today, full DME tomorrow, bionics by 2040. Custom insoles are just the wedge. Our long-term vision is bionics: AI-designed, robotically manufactured orthotic and prosthetic devices at scale, replacing a fragmented, manual industry that hasn’t changed in decades. Read the full vision at bionics2040.com.

We’re live across the industry’s largest national orthotics-and-prosthetics providers and tracking toward a $50M run rate by the end of 2026. We’ve stealthily raised $22M across Seed and Series A from top-tier investors who backed OpenAI, Anduril, and Mercury early, and we run a fast, results-first, high-ownership culture out of our SF Rincon Hill office.

About the Center of Excellence

The Center of Excellence is the intelligence engine of Hike. It owns the clinical and coding knowledge that powers every AI agent — producing agent guides per code block, setting evaluation standards, informing all compliance policies, and managing the human-in-the-loop team. CoE roles are the highest-leverage positions in the company: the documents and workflows you build determine how fast we expand into new device categories.

The Role

The Protocol Specialist translates deep orthotic and prosthetic clinical experience into the structured decision logic that powers our AI platform. You are the bridge between what clinicians know and what our systems need: you map clinical evaluation findings to medical necessity criteria, define the decision paths that determine appropriate device selection, and ensure every protocol we ship is defensible against LCD policy and payer scrutiny. This role is roughly equivalent to what a seasoned orthotist or physiatrist would do if their job were to document and systematize their entire clinical judgment.

What You Will Do

• Develop clinical protocols for each device category: required evaluation, criteria to document, medically appropriate devices, and work order contents.

• Map clinical evaluation form fields to medical necessity criteria from LCDs and policy articles — so a completed evaluation automatically satisfies documentation requirements.

• Define the structured evaluation modules for Hike Clinical: what questions to ask, in what sequence, and what each answer implies for device selection and coding.

• Work with the Clinical Intelligence Lead so completing an evaluation automatically generates the right L-codes and auth packet.

• Review and sign off on agent guide content for clinical accuracy.

• Stay current with clinical evidence, outcomes research, and guideline changes in O&P and relevant DME categories.

What We Are Looking For

• Licensed clinician (ABC/BOC certified orthotist/prosthetist, PT, OT, or equivalent) OR deep clinical policy experience (5+ years in utilization management, medical policy, or clinical documentation for DMEPOS).

• Direct knowledge of AFO and lower-extremity orthotic indications: rigid/solid, articulated, carbon fiber, spiral, floor reaction, SMO, KAFO — including when each is appropriate and how it's documented.

• Familiarity with CMS LCD L33686 and Policy Article A52457; working knowledge of the five-criterion custom fabrication rule.

• Ability to write precise structured protocols, not just clinical notes.

• Experience at an O&P practice, health system, or payer (medical policy team at a major insurer also strong).

Why This Role

The work you map here is the template for every category we expand into. The protocol for AFOs becomes the model for bracing, for prosthetics, and beyond. You are building the clinical intelligence layer that makes the whole platform defensible.