Director, Experience and Culture

NVA General Practice; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 170,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

National Veterinary Associates seeks a Director, Experience & Culture in Nashville, TN to set strategy and operating model for strengthening team member engagement, culture, and day-to-day experience across 1300 sites and the support center.

Reporting to the VP, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness, you will own listening architecture, culture activation, recognition, and belonging, translating values into scalable programs, leadership practices, and measurable workforce outcomes.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in People Management, Organizational Development, or related field.
• Master's degree in OD or Healthcare Administration preferred.
• SHRM-SCP, SPHR or comparable senior-level certification preferred.
• Experience advising executives and leading large, multi-site teams.
• Familiarity with HRIS platforms such as Dayforce.

Responsibilities

• Define and lead a multi-year Experience & Culture strategy aligned with business priorities.
• Own the team member-listening strategy, including surveys and pulse checks.
• Establish culture and leadership-behavior framework with clear expectations.
• Set experience standards across onboarding, tenure, transitions, and leadership changes.
• Develop field activation model with playbooks, toolkits, and site champion networks.
• Integrate culture into transformations, acquisitions, and major workforce initiatives.
• Lead inclusion, belonging, and community-building strategy.
• Lead and develop the Experience & Culture team.
• Manage operating plan, budget, vendors, governance, and measurement.

Skills

Team member experience

Engagement

Organizational development

Culture

Change management

People partnering

Leadership development

Executive communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in People Management/Organizational Development

Master's degree in OD/Healthcare Administration (preferred)

SHRM-SCP/SPHR or similar certification (preferred)

Tools

Dayforce

HRIS platforms

Job description

Job Summary

The Director, Experience & Culture sets the company strategy and operating model for strengthening team member engagement, culture, and the day-to-day team member experience across National Veterinary Associates. Reporting to the VP, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness, this role serves as a strategic advisor to People, Field Operations, Medical, and business leaders and translates NVA's values and people priorities into scalable programs, leadership practices, and measurable workforce outcomes. The Director owns the company team member-listening architecture, culture activation roadmap, recognition and belonging strategy, and experience standards across key moments in the team member lifecycle.

Role Location

Nashville, Tennessee

Essential Job Responsibilities

• Define and lead a multi-year Experience & Culture strategy aligned with NVA's business priorities, People strategy, values, and workforce needs across 1300 sites and the support center
• Own the company team member-listening strategy, including annual engagement surveys, targeted pulse checks, lifecycle surveys, focus groups, qualitative listening, segmented insight generation, and action-planning governance
• Establish the company culture and leadership-behavior framework, translating NVA's values into clear expectations, practical leader routines, team agreements, and consistent ways of working
• Set experience standards across priority moments in the team member lifecycle, including onboarding, early tenure, role transitions, leadership changes, development, internal mobility, and exit
• Develop the field activation model for Experience & Culture, including hospital playbooks, leader toolkits, site champion networks, implementation guidance, and targeted interventions for hospitals, regions, or functions showing engagement or retention risk
• Integrate culture and team member-experience considerations into company transformations, acquisitions, operating-model changes, technology implementations, and major workforce initiatives; establish listening and adoption measures for affected populations
• Lead NVA's inclusion, belonging, and community-building strategy, including ally and team member resource groups, to foster connection, representation, and an environment where all team members can thrive
• Lead, coach, and develop the Experience & Culture team; establish clear accountabilities, operating rhythms, and performance expectations
• Manage the Experience & Culture operating plan, budget, technology, vendors, program governance, implementation risks, and measurement approach; evaluate program effectiveness and redirect investment when impact is not demonstrated

Key Deliverables/Outcomes

• Three-year Experience & Culture strategy and annual operating plan approved, funded, and translated into clear company priorities, milestones, accountabilities, and outcome measures
• Company team member-listening architecture implemented with annual survey, targeted pulses, lifecycle listening, segmented insight readouts, confidentiality standards, and action-planning governance across all divisions
• NVA culture and leadership-behavior framework developed and embedded into onboarding, leadership development, performance expectations, recognition, communications, and team routines
• Experience & Culture dashboard and quarterly executive review established with actionable trends, workforce risks, intervention priorities, and progress against company outcomes

Success Metrics / KPIs

• Engagement index: year-over-year improvement in favorable responses on core engagement items at company, division, region, and hospital levels
• Action-plan completion and effectiveness: percentage of required plans completed on time and measurable improvement in the priority items addressed
• Priority-site recovery rate: percentage of identified hospitals or regions showing sustained improvement in engagement, leadership, wellbeing, or retention indicators following intervention
• Recognition reach and participation: percentage of team members giving or receiving meaningful recognition and representation across roles, locations, and work schedules
• Program adoption and impact: participation, completion, behavior change, and targeted workforce outcomes for culture, leadership, onboarding, wellbeing, and recognition programs
• Team member confidence in follow-through: favorable response to whether leaders listen, communicate actions, and make meaningful improvements based on feedback

Key Internal and External Stakeholders

Internal: Chief People Officer; VP, Talent; People Leadership Team; People Business Partners (PBPs); Field Operations and Medical Operations leadership; Internal Communications; Learning & Development; Talent Management and Succession; People Operations; People Analytics and People Systems; Total Rewards and Benefits; Talent Acquisition; Inclusion & Belonging; Legal, Compliance, and Safety; M&A and Integration teams; and hospital leadership teams.

External: Engagement and pulse-survey platform vendors; recognition technology providers; wellbeing, mental-health, and team member-assistance partners; leadership?development and executive-coaching providers; culture and organizational-development consultants; facilitation and learning partners; employer-brand agencies; veterinary professional associations; and healthcare and workforce benchmarking organizations.

Experience

• 8+ years of progressive expertise in team member experience, engagement, organizational development, culture, change, talent management, people partnering, leadership development, or closely related People roles
• Experience supporting large, multi-site, distributed, frontline-heavy organizations; veterinary services, healthcare, hospitality, retail health, or another clinical or service environment strongly preferred
• Demonstrated experience developing and executing a company Experience & Culture strategy and translating broad priorities into scalable programs, field tools, governance, and sustained operating routines
• Experience advising senior executives and influencing leaders across People, Field Operations, Medical, and other functions in a complex, matrixed organization
• Experience integrating culture and team member experience into acquisitions, Reorganizations, Technology Implementations, Or Other Complex Company transformations preferred
• Exceptional executive communication, facilitation, storytelling, and data-to-insight skills, with the ability to simplify complex workforce issues for varied audiences
• Education / Certifications / Licensing: Bachelor's degree in People Management, Organizational Development, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Communications, Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, or a related field required
• Master's degree in Organizational Development, Industrial-Organizational Psychology, Business Administration, Healthcare Administration, or a related discipline preferred
• SHRM-SCP, SPHR, or a comparable senior-level People certification preferred
• Certification or demonstrated proficiency in Gallup, or a comparable tool preferred
• Familiarity with People systems, analytics, learning, recognition, and workflow platforms such as Dayforce, , or comparable systems preferred
• Veterinary or clinical license is not required; familiarity with veterinary healthcare, clinical teams, or 24/7 care environments is strongly preferred

Job requirements, including essential job responsibilities, key deliverables and outcomes, and success metrics, are subject to change based on business needs

Compensation

FLSA Status: Exempt, Salaried

Base Salary: $170,000-180,000

Annual Incentive Plan: 20%