Director, Medical & Academic Affairs

The Hospital for Sick Children; Toronto; On-site; CAD 180,000 - 230,000; Full time

Job summary

The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto seeks a senior executive to provide strategic, financial and operational leadership to the Chief Medical Officer and the Medical & Academic Affairs Team. You will align clinical, academic and research priorities with the organization’s long‑range plans and governance framework.

Develop senior‑level partnerships with universities, ministries and medical colleges; oversee budgeting for a multi‑million‑dollar portfolio; and guide transformation

Qualifications

• Master's degree required in a relevant field (MBA/Health Admin/Public Admin).
• Minimum five years of progressive leadership experience in health care or academic settings.
• Experience with physicians, faculty, and senior leaders in complex organizations.
• Knowledge of relevant Ontario health regulations and governance practices.
• Strong financial management, analytics, and decision-making skills.
• Ability to influence and lead change across multiple stakeholders without formal authority.
• Excellent planning, relationship management and communication capabilities.
• PMI-PMP designation is an asset; familiarity with process improvement is expected.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, administrative, financial and operational leadership to the CMO and Medical & Academic Affairs Team.
• Direct financial planning, budgeting, reporting and long‑range planning exceeding $70 million.
• Oversee physician and academic appointment processes and governance standards.
• Develop senior-level relationships with academic, government and regulatory partners.
• Drive enterprise-wide initiatives and coordinate board deliverables and strategic priorities.
• Lead quality improvement, process re‑engineering and change management initiatives.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Financial management

Healthcare administration

Stakeholder engagement

Change management

Negotiation

Education

Master's degree in Business Administration, Health Care Administration, or Public Administration

Tools

PeopleSoft

Microsoft Excel

PowerPoint

Word

AI for research drafting

Job description

Dedicated exclusively to children and their families, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) is one of the largest and most respected paediatric healthcare centres in the world. As innovators in child health, we lead and partner to improve the health of children through the integration of healthcare, leading-edge research and education. Our reputation would not have been built - nor could it be maintained - without the skills, knowledge and experience of the extraordinary people who come to work here every day. SickKids is committed to ongoing learning and development, and features a caring and supportive work environment that combines exceptionally high standards of practice.

When you join SickKids, you become part of our community. We share a commitment and determination to fulfill our vision of Healthier Children. A Better World.

Don't miss out on the opportunity to work alongside the world's best in paediatric healthcare.

Here's What You'll Do

• Provide strategic, administrative, financial, and operational leadership to the Chief Medical Officer and the Medical & Academic Affairs Team, ensuring efficient delivery of services and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Provide strategic business support to the Chiefs and faculty of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine, Psychiatry, and Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, integrating clinical, academic, research, administrative, and financial priorities.
• Lead medical staff governance processes, including credentialing, annual reappointment, Hospital By-Law compliance and updates, Medical Advisory Committee support, and improvements to credentialing standards.
• Oversee physician talent and academic appointment processes, including international recruitment, endowed chair selection and review, departmental five-year reviews, and practices that attract, retain, and develop medical staff.
• Direct financial planning and stewardship, including operating and long-range plans, budget development, performance and variance analysis, financial reporting, resource optimization, and physician compensation budgets exceeding $70 million.
• Provide financial reporting, forecasting, and decision support to senior medical leadership.
• Steward implementation of the Medical & Academic Affairs strategic plan; prioritize objectives, coordinate annual business and board deliverables, and ensure initiatives align with corporate strategy and support functions.
• Develop and maintain senior‑level relationships with academic, government, regulatory, and system partners (e.g., University of Toronto, Ministry of Health, Ontario Health, CPSO).
• Enterprise‑wide influence across clinical departments and corporate functions.
• Authority to lead strategic initiatives, provide senior advisory input, and elevate risks and issues to executive leadership.

Here's What You'll Need

• Master's degree in Business Administration, Health Care Administration, Public Administration, or a comparable combination of education and relevant work experience.
• Minimum five years of progressive experience in a health care or academic organization, including significant responsibility for complex financial and operational portfolios.
• Demonstrated experience working closely with physicians, faculty, senior leaders, and administrative teams in a complex, multi-tiered organization.
• Knowledge of the Public Hospitals Act, Hospital By-Laws, College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario licensing requirements, and applicable legal and organizational risk frameworks.
• Strong financial management, analytical, business acumen, problem‑solving, and decision‑making skills, including the ability to identify trends, establish benchmarks, and provide credible recommendations.
• Proven ability to influence, lead transformational change, negotiate, and build cooperative relationships across multiple stakeholders without relying solely on formal authority.
• Excellent planning, organization, relationship management, communication, and project leadership skills, with the ability to balance competing needs and deliver results in complex situations.
• Significant project management experience required. Project Management Professional (PMP) designation is an asset.
• Experience in quality or process improvement and process re‑engineering.
• Advanced proficiency with Microsoft Excel, PowerPoint and Word; experience with PeopleSoft is preferred.
• Familiarity with design thinking.
• Intermediate level experience and knowledge of AI with the ability to use AI for research drafting and data synthesis.

Employment Type: Full‑time, Permanent.

SickKids is committed to championing equity, diversity and inclusion in all that we do, fostering an intentionally inclusive and culturally safe environment that reflects the diversity of the patients, families and communities we serve. Learn more about workplace inclusion.

Every application is reviewed by a human recruiter and all hiring decisions are made by people. In some cases, AI‑assisted tools are used to help review applications based on job‑related qualifications.

All positions posted on the SickKids Hospital's Careers Site represent current vacancies, unless otherwise posted in the job description.