Overview
The Senior Director of Operations provides operational leadership across DCH Health System and serves as a senior administrative leader at Northport Medical Center. The position supports the Chief Operating Officer in ensuring effective day-to-day operations at Northport, facilitating collaboration across departments, resolving operational barriers, and advancing organizational priorities.
The Senior Director also has direct system-wide responsibility for designated clinical and support services, ensuring consistent performance, quality, financial stewardship, workforce effectiveness, and service excellence across DCH facilities.
Areas of Direct Responsibility - The Senior Director provides system-wide leadership and oversight for:
- Environmental Services
- Food and Nutritional Services
- Security
- Laundry Services
- Pastoral Care
- Rehabilitation and Therapy Services
- Behavioral Health Services
Responsibilities
Operational Leadership
- Serve as a visible senior administrative leader at Northport Medical Center and support effective day-to-day hospital operations.
- Partner with nursing, medical staff, clinical, and administrative leaders to identify and resolve operational issues.
- Facilitate coordination across departments to improve patient flow, service delivery, patient experience, and operational efficiency.
- Escalate significant operational, safety, workforce, physician, or patient concerns to the COO and other appropriate leaders.
- Support implementation of system strategic and operational priorities at Northport Medical Center.
- Represent Administration on committees, initiatives, and special projects as assigned.
System-Wide Departmental Leadership
- Provide direct leadership and accountability for assigned departments across DCH Health System.
- Establish consistent expectations, performance standards, and operating practices across facilities.
- Coach and develop department leaders and hold leaders accountable for operational, financial, quality, workforce, and service outcomes.
- Evaluate staffing models, productivity, workflows, resource utilization, and organizational structures.
- Identify opportunities to standardize services, improve efficiency, reduce unnecessary variation, and strengthen collaboration across facilities.
- Ensure appropriate coordination between system-wide departments and local hospital leadership.
Performance & Financial Management
- Establish and monitor key performance indicators for assigned departments, including quality, patient experience, workforce, productivity, and financial performance.
- Develop and implement corrective action plans when performance does not meet expectations.
- Provide oversight of departmental operating and capital budgets in collaboration with department leaders and Finance.
- Monitor labor, productivity, supplies, purchased services, contracts, and other significant expenses.
- Identify opportunities for cost reduction and operational improvement while maintaining quality, safety, and service.
- Support annual operating and capital planning for assigned areas.
Quality, Safety & Regulatory Compliance
- Promote a culture of quality, safety, accountability, and continuous improvement.
- Ensure assigned departments maintain compliance with applicable regulatory, accreditation, and organizational requirements.
- Partner with Quality, Patient Safety, Infection Prevention, Risk Management, Compliance, Human Resources, and other leaders to address identified concerns.
- Ensure corrective actions resulting from audits, surveys, safety events, or performance reviews are completed and sustained.
Leadership & Organizational Effectiveness
- Develop high-performing leaders and promote a culture of collaboration, accountability, and service.
- Partner with Human Resources on recruitment, retention, succession planning, employee engagement, and leadership development.
- Promote a system-first approach to decision-making and service delivery.
- Lead or participate in strategic initiatives, service development, operational redesign, and other projects as assigned by the COO.
Leader Standards:
- Manages departmental budget
- Interviews, selects, hires, and retains employees
- Ensures orientation and training for employees
- Manages performance, including other management positions
- Promotes, demotes, or transfers employees to meet organizational needs
- Executes employee accountability process up to and including termination
- Manages departmental productivity standards
- Provides strategic leadership for department(s)
- Performs long range planning and overall direction setting at the departmental level
- Responsible for department organizational structure and alignment to meet forecasted business needs
- Responsible for development, implementation and interpretation of system policies within a major organizational/functional area or the development and review of system policies within a recognized discipline
- Performs compliance requirements
- Approves payroll and is responsible for accurate payment of employees
- Assures meeting/exceeding of DCH mission, vision, and departmental goals
DCH Standards:
- Maintains performance, patient and employee satisfaction and financial standards as outlined in the performance evaluation.
- Performs compliance requirements as outlined in the Employee Handbook
- Must adhere to the DCH Mission, Vision, and Values including creating positive relationships with patients/families, coworkers, colleagues and with self.
- Performs essential job functions in a manner that ensures the safety of patients, visitors and employees.
- Identifies and reduces unsafe practices that may result in harm to patients, visitors and employees.
- Recognizes and takes appropriate action to reduce risks and hazards to promote safety for patients, visitors and employees.
- Requires use of electronic mail, time and attendance software, learning management software and intranet.
- Must adhere to all DCH Health System policies and procedures.
- All other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Required:
- Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Health Services Administration, Business Administration, Nursing, Public Health, or a closely related field from an accredited institution
- Minimum of five (5) years of progressively responsible healthcare leadership experience.
- Minimum of three (3) years of experience at the Director level or above.
- Demonstrated responsibility for departmental operations, financial performance, workforce management, and performance improvement.
- Experience leading multiple departments, service lines, or complex operational functions.
- Demonstrated ability to lead and develop other leaders and achieve measurable performance improvement
Preferred:
- Leadership experience in an acute-care hospital or multi-hospital health system.
- Experience with multi-facility or system-wide operations.
- Experience overseeing both clinical and non-clinical services
Other Skills:
- Strong healthcare operational and financial acumen.
- Demonstrated ability to lead through both direct authority and influence.
- Strong analytical, problem-solving, and performance-management skills.
- Ability to manage multiple priorities and diverse operational areas.
- Effective physician, clinical, and executive relationship-management skills.
- Strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Knowledge of healthcare regulatory, accreditation, quality, and safety requirements.
- Demonstrated ability to lead change, develop leaders, and drive accountability.
- Commitment to patient-centered care, employee engagement, operational excellence, and responsible stewardship of organizational resources
Must be able to read, write legibly, speak, and comprehend English.
WORKING CONDITIONS
Work Context
- Various communication and interaction with leadership, employees, visitors, and patients.
Physical Factors
- Travel between facilities required.
- Light work. Exerting up to 20 pounds of force occasionally, and/or up to 10 pounds of force frequently, and/or a negligible amount of force constantly to move objects.
- Must be able to perform the duties with or without reasonable accommodation.
- Hearing and vision must be normal or corrected to within normal range.
- Physical presence onsite is essential
