Chief Operating Officer (COO)

Socket.dev; Washington (District of Columbia); On-site; USD 250,000 - 360,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical, dental & vision insurance

25 days PTO annually + holidays

Educational reimbursement

Job summary

Mary’s Center is seeking a Chief Operating Officer who will translate strategy into execution across health center and nursing operations, patient access, and related functions. The role partners with the CEO and executive team to align operational performance with strategic goals and ensure sustainable care delivery across sites.

The COO will lead cross-functional collaboration, drive lean processes, enhance data-informed decision making, and improve access, quality, and patient experience

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Public Health, Nursing, or a related field preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive healthcare leadership experience, including responsibility for complex ambulatory, multisite, or integrated healthcare operations.
• Senior leadership experience in a safety-net healthcare organization strongly preferred.
• Experience with Lean or comparable continuous-improvement methodologies, including huddles, standard work, root-cause analysis, and rapid-cycle improvement.
• Strong understanding of Medicaid, managed care, value-based reimbursement, healthcare compliance, and financial dynamics of ambulatory care.
• Proficiency with operational reporting, dashboards, and performance metrics to drive accountability and data-informed decision-making.
• Experience with digital health, EHR optimization, automation, virtual care, or other technology-enabled operational improvement preferred.
• Strong executive leadership, communication, change-management, and team-development skills.

Responsibilities

• Provides enterprise leadership for day-to-day operations across Mary’s Center, translating organizational strategy into clear operating priorities, measurable goals, and accountable execution.
• Shapes and implements Mary’s Center’s operating model across sites and service lines, aligning workflows, staffing models, technology, space, access strategies, and performance expectations to support integrated, team-based, population-focused, and increasingly value-based care.
• Establishes and drives consistent expectations for access, volume, productivity, staffing efficiency, quality, patient experience, financial performance, and other key operating indicators across sites and service lines.
• Leads a consistent performance-management approach, including the Monthly Operating Review, using timely data to identify variation, surface barriers, establish corrective actions, and ensure accountability for results.
• Builds operational reporting and management tools that provide leaders with timely, actionable data and strengthens managers’ ability to interpret performance information, identify trends, and make data-informed decisions.
• Strengthens integration across clinical, operational, population health, behavioral health, dental, and programmatic functions to reduce fragmentation, improve handoffs and shared accountability, and support a more coordinated patient experience.
• Evaluates opportunities to centralize, standardize, simplify, automate, or redesign services and workflows where doing so improves access, quality, consistency, productivity, patient experience, or financial sustainability.
• Optimizes use of clinical and administrative space across sites and partners on facility and infrastructure changes to ensure space, equipment, workflows, and care-team design support access, efficiency, safety, and future service needs.
• Establishes and reinforces management practices including huddles, standard work, visual management, structured problem solving, root-cause analysis, and other Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous-improvement approaches that improve reliability, reduce unnecessary variation and waste, and strengthen operational performance.
• Identifies opportunities to improve provider and team productivity, optimizes staffing and capacity, reduce avoidable administrative burden, and better align resources with patient demand and organizational priorities.
• Partners with clinical and operational leaders to strengthen care coordination, population health infrastructure, and other capabilities needed for Medicaid, managed care, and value-based reimbursement.
• Advances appropriate use of digital and technology-enabled tools to improve access, workflows, care coordination, operational efficiency, and the patient experience.
• Oversees service-line and program performance, including clinical, operational, and financial results, and works with leaders to address underperformance and identify opportunities to strengthen, redesign, expand, consolidate, transition, or grow services.
• Assesses revenue-generating and growth opportunities across service lines, sites, partnerships, and new care models, working with Finance and clinical leaders to evaluate market need, operational feasibility, capacity, financial return, and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Provides focused operational leadership for Mary’s Center’s Maryland strategy, including growth, site and service configuration, market opportunities, partnerships, and infrastructure needs.
• Ensures grant-funded and other programmatic initiatives are operationalized effectively, meet established goals and requirements, and are evaluated for performance, impact, and ongoing organizational fit.
• Promotes cross-functional accountability for outcomes that span departments and ensures leaders work collectively to resolve operational barriers rather than managing performance within silos.
• Partners with clinical, quality, compliance, and risk leaders to strengthen operational reliability, patient safety, regulatory readiness, and adherence to nationally recognized standards and best practices, with the goal of operating at a level consistent with high-performing healthcare organizations.
• Partners with Finance and other leaders to align staffing, operating plans, resource allocation, capital and infrastructure needs, and improvement priorities with organizational financial goals and long-term sustainability.
• Develops operational leaders and teams in the use of data, Lean and continuous-improvement methods, structured problem solving, and change management to improve performance and sustain results over time.

Skills

Strategic leadership

Operational leadership

Healthcare administration

Change management

Education

Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration or related field

MBA preferred

Tools

Lean / Six Sigma

Data dashboards

Job description

Position Summary

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) serves as a senior executive leader responsible for operational performance, organizational effectiveness, and long-term sustainability across Mary’s Center. The COO translates strategy into execution and provides leadership for health center operations, nursing operations, patient access, and other assigned operational functions.

Working closely with the Chief Executive Officer and executive leadership team, the COO strengthens accountability, financial and operational performance, and care delivery models in response to a changing healthcare environment. Therolepartners across clinical, financial, compliance, quality, and technology functions to ensure care is accessible, high-quality, compliant, and sustainable.

The successful candidate will be a collaborative, bottom-up leader who can retool structures and workflows, engage frontline teams, and bring a practical digital-first mindset toimprovingcare delivery and the patient and staff experience.

Reportability

This position reports directly to the Chief Executive Officer and serves as a member of the Executive Leadership Team. The COO provides executive leadership for Mary’s Center’s operational functions, including health center operations, nursing operations, patient access, and otherareas asassigned.

The COO works collaboratively across clinical, financial, quality, compliance, technology, and administrative functions to align operational performance with organizational strategy and long-term sustainability. In partnership with clinical leadership, the COO also helps develop and operationalize models of care that improve access, quality, patient experience, workforce effectiveness, and financial sustainability.

EssentialDuties and Responsibilities

To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily.

• Provides enterprise leadership for day-to-day operations across Mary’s Center, translating organizational strategy into clear operating priorities, measurable goals, and accountable execution.

• Shapes and implements Mary’s Center’s operating model across sites and service lines, aligning workflows, staffing models, technology, space, access strategies, and performance expectations to support integrated, team-based, population-focused, and increasingly value-based care.

• Establishes and drives consistent expectations for access, volume, productivity, staffing efficiency, quality, patient experience, financial performance, and other key operating indicators across sites and service lines.

• Leads a consistent performance-management approach, including the Monthly Operating Review, usingtimelydata toidentifyvariation, surface barriers,establishcorrective actions, and ensure accountability for results.

• Builds operational reporting and management tools that provide leaders withtimely, actionable data and strengthens managers’ ability to interpret performance information,identifytrends, and make data-informed decisions.

• Strengthens integration across clinical, operational, population health, behavioral health, dental, and programmatic functions to reduce fragmentation, improve handoffs and shared accountability, and support a more coordinated patient experience.

• Evaluates opportunities to centralize, standardize, simplify, automate, or redesign services and workflowswheredoing so improves access, quality, consistency, productivity, patient experience, or financial sustainability.

• Optimizesuse of clinical and administrative space across sites and partners on facility and infrastructure changes to ensure space, equipment, workflows, and care-team design support access, efficiency, safety, and future service needs.

• Establishes and reinforces management practices including huddles, standard work, visual management, structured problem solving, root-cause analysis, and other Lean, Six Sigma, and continuous-improvement approaches that improve reliability, reduce unnecessaryvariationand waste, and strengthen operational performance.

• Identifiesopportunities to improve provider and team productivity,optimizestaffing and capacity, reduce avoidable administrative burden, and better align resources with patient demand and organizational priorities.

• Partners with clinical and operational leaders to strengthen care coordination, population health infrastructure, and other capabilities needed for Medicaid, managed care, and value-based reimbursement.

• Advancesappropriate useof digital and technology-enabled tools to improve access, workflows, care coordination, operational efficiency, andthe patientexperience.

• Oversees service-line and program performance, including clinical, operational, and financial results, and works with leaders to address underperformance andidentifyopportunities to strengthen, redesign, expand,consolidate, transition, or grow services.

• Assesses revenue-generating and growth opportunities across service lines, sites, partnerships, and new care models, working with Finance and clinical leaders to evaluate market need, operational feasibility, capacity, financial return, and alignment with organizational priorities.

• Provides focused operational leadership for Mary’s Center’s Maryland strategy, including growth, site and service configuration, market opportunities, partnerships, and infrastructure needs.

• Ensures grant-funded and other programmatic initiatives are operationalized effectively, meet established goals and requirements, and are evaluated for performance, impact, and ongoing organizational fit.

• Promotes cross-functional accountability for outcomes that span departments and ensures leaders work collectively to resolve operational barriers rather than managing performance within silos.

• Partners with clinical, quality, compliance, and risk leaders to strengthen operational reliability, patient safety, regulatory readiness, and adherence to nationally recognized standards and best practices, with the goal of operating at a level consistent with high-performing healthcare organizations.

• Partners with Finance and other leaders to align staffing, operating plans, resource allocation, capital and infrastructure needs, and improvement priorities with organizational financial goals and long-term sustainability.

• Develops operational leaders and teams in the use of data, Lean and continuous-improvement methods, structured problem solving, and change management to improve performance and sustain results over time.

Qualifications

The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skills, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities–

• Master’s degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Public Health, Nursing, ora relatedfield preferred.

• Minimum of 10 years of progressive healthcare leadership experience, including responsibility for complex ambulatory, multisite, or integrated healthcare operations.

• Senior leadership experience in an FQHC, community health center, health system, medical group, or other safety-net healthcare organizationstronglypreferred.

• Demonstrated success improving operational and financial performance, including access, productivity, staffing, service-line performance, and resourceutilization.

• Experience developing or implementing new care models, clinical services, programs, or healthcare sites.

• Demonstrated experience with Lean or comparable continuous-improvement methodologies, including huddles, standard work, root-cause analysis, and rapid-cycle improvement.

• Strong understanding of Medicaid, managed care, value-based reimbursement, healthcare compliance, and the financial dynamics of ambulatory care.

• Demonstrated ability to use operational reports, dashboards, and performance metrics to drive accountability and support data-informed decision-making.

• Experience with digital health, EHR optimization, automation, virtual care, or other technology-enabled operational improvement preferred.

• Strong executive leadership, communication,change-management, andteam-developmentskills.

Skills and Abilities

• Strategic and operational thinker with the ability to align organizational priorities, operational performance, and long-term sustainability.

• Strong leadership and team-development capabilities, including coaching, mentoring, and holding leaders accountable for results.

• Excellent verbal and written communication skills, including the ability to translate complex operational and financial information into clear, actionable insights.

• Demonstrated ability to work collaboratively across clinical, operational, financial, quality, compliance, technology, and administrative functions.

• Proficiencywith operational reporting, business intelligence tools, dashboards, and performance-management systems to supporttimely, data-informed decision-making.

Language Requirement

• Proficiencyin Englishrequired. Bilingual or multilingual abilities are a plus.

Work Style and Personal Attributes

• Commitment to the mission and values of Mary’s Center, including health equity, inclusion, and service to underserved populations.

• Demonstrates professionalism, collaboration, and sound judgment in complex operational and financial environments.

• Forward-thinking, solution-oriented, and able to navigate complexity with resilience and flexibility.

Benefits:

• Competitive benefits package, including medical, dental & vision insurance, plus retirement options
• 25 days of paid time off (PTO) annually, in addition to 10 paid holidays, plus educational days to attend training and conferences
• License renewals, if applicable
• $2000/year educational reimbursement to attend training and conferences
• NHSC/HRSA loan repayment options, if applicable
• WMATA metro/bus subsidy