Director, Program Management, Graduate Medical Education (GME)

Kaiser Permanente; Pasadena (CA); Hybrid; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente Southern California is seeking a Director of Graduate Medical Education to lead regional GME operations. The role oversees 39 residency and fellowship programs across six medical centers, providing supervision of hospital GME managers and collaboration with regional teams on budgets, staffing, space planning, and compliance.

The DGME will partner with hospital leadership, manage vendor relationships, and drive program development.

Qualifications

• Minimum four (4) years experience in a leadership role with direct reports.
• Minimum three (3) years experience managing operational or project budgets.
• Bachelors degree from an accredited college or university and minimum twelve (12) years experience in project management or a directly related field, including minimum seven (7) years program management experience OR Minimum fifteen (15) years experience in project management or a directly related field including minimum seven (7) years program management experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide regional leadership and administrative oversight for Kaiser Permanente Southern California-s sponsoring institution with 39 residency/fellowship programs across six medical centers.
• Oversee budgeting, staffing, space planning, compliance, and development of new residency/fellowship programs.
• Oversee vendor performance and contract negotiations; manage relationships with key stakeholders and leadership.

Skills

Ambiguity management

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Communication

Education

Bachelors degree

Job description

Job Summary:

Directs the delivery of large-scale programs or components with multiple workstreams and strategic business goals across departments, functions, or regions with responsibility and accountability for achieving program outcomes from initiation to close-out in an extended or open-ended time frame. Directs programs team, holding the team accountable for results, and oversees the decisions of others regarding internal and/or external resource requests. Proactively monitors, identifies, and mitigates risks, issues, and trigger events within and across multiple interdependent programs by leveraging expertise and recommending changes. Directs compliance of program activities by ensuring program plans and team members adhere to relevant policies and procedures. Directs the alignment, buy-in, engagement and support of diverse program stakeholders. Oversees vendor performance, provides direction for service improvements, and directs partnerships and contract negotiations with vendors.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Reporting to the Senior Director, GME, the Director, Graduate Medical Education (DGME) provides regional leadership and administrative oversight for Kaiser Permanente Southern California-s sponsoring institution, currently encompassing 39 physician residency and fellowship programs across six medical centers. The Director provides direct supervision of hospital-level GME managers and indirect supervision of program managers and administrators, and serves on the regional OneGME leadership team as a liaison for the residency and fellowship programs. In partnership with regional support teams, the Director oversees key operational functions across the GME enterprise, including budget management, staffing, space planning and maintenance, compliance with accrediting and regulatory agencies, and the development of new residency and fellowship programs. The Director also establishes and maintains critical business relationships with key stakeholders and hospital leadership to support GME operations across the region. Based in Pasadena, CA, this is a flexible in-person/work-from-home position requiring local travel to the medical centers, with optional travel to professional development conferences as recommended.
• Prepares individuals for growth opportunities and advancement; builds internal collaborative networks for self and others. Solicits and acts on performance feedback; drives collaboration to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to foster performance improvement. Demonstrates continuous learning; oversees the recruitment, selection, and development of talent; ensures performance management guidelines and expectations to achieve business needs. Stays up to date with organizational best practices, processes, benchmarks, and industry trends; shares best practices within and across teams. Motivates and empowers teams; maintains a highly skilled and engaged workforce by aligning resource plans with business objectives. Provides guidance when difficult decisions need to be made; creates opportunities for expanded scope of decision making and impact.
• Oversees the operation of multiple units within a department by identifying member and operational needs; ensures the management of work assignment completion; translates business strategy into actionable business requirements; ensures products and / or services meet member requirements and expectations while aligning with organizational strategies. Gains cross-functional support for business plans and priorities; assumes responsibility for decision making; sets standards, measures progress, and fosters resolution of escalated issues. Communicates goals and objectives; analyzes resources, costs, and forecasts and incorporates them into business plans; prioritizes and distributes resources. Removes obstacles that impact performance; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; ensures teams accomplish business objectives.
• Directs the delivery of large-scale programs or components with multiple workstreams and strategic business goals across departments, functions, or regions with responsibility and accountability for achieving program outcomes from initiation to close-out in an extended or open ended time frame. Reviews program plans and determines program demands for the most complex program initiatives in order to identify and manage scope, and supply appropriate staffing to complete program plans within scope, budget and schedule. Oversees the program financials of large, high profile, dynamic program initiatives and ensures they are managed within budget allocations. Reviews performance across a portfolio of programs to ensure programs effectively deliver maximum long term value or benefit to the organization, and makes adjustments as needed in an uncertain environment where scope may be fluid. Develops and disseminates processes and procedures for the development and execution of organizational change management (e.g., user adoption, implementation, and training plans). Establishes and oversees proper program management practices in regard to allocation of resources, schedules and task assignments. This role may perform project management duties in addition to program management responsibilities.
• Directs programs team and holds team accountable for results. Oversees the decisions of others in reference to internal and/or external resource requests based on the alignment of team member skills and program demands. Leverages expertise to create a clear vision of overall program goals and objectives. Delivers performance feedback to team.
• Proactively monitors, identifies, and mitigates program risks, issues, and trigger events across multiple interdependent programs by leveraging expertise and recommending changes to program processes based on the analyses and identification of trigger events.
• Directs adherence of program activities to policies and procedures by ensuring program plans and team members follow KP, departmental, and/or business line policies and procedures.
• Directs the alignment, buy-in, engagement and support of diverse programs stakeholders to set long-term program goals by building and maintaining relationships as well as communicating appropriately with internal customers, third party vendors, executive management, and business leaders; and clarifying accountability and authority across stakeholders. Builds close relationships with key stakeholders across multiple functions based on their level of influence and decision making and guides teams in identifying the right stakeholders for their programs. Directs programs goals, influences the prioritization of deliverables, coordinates all business processes (e.g. project change management, communication) and facilitates decisions necessary for programs delivery by partnering with programs sponsors and/or review boards. Communicates tough issues to stakeholders while maintaining an independent opinion, providing recommendations, delivering formal presentations, and providing reports to executive audiences. Engages with senior and executive stakeholders to identify long term value to the organization and define success.

• Oversees vendor performance and provides direction for service improvements or revisions to strategy. Partners with Procurement and/or Legal to develop service level and/or scope of work agreements as appropriate. Directs partnerships and contract negotiations with vendors.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (Core)

• Ambiguity/Uncertainty Management
• Attention to Detail
• Business Knowledge
• Communication
• Constructive Feedback
• Critical Thinking
• Cross-Group Collaboration
• Decision Making
• Dependability
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Support
• Drives Results
• Facilitation Skills
• Health Care Industry
• Influencing Others
• Integrity
• Leadership
• Learning Agility
• Organizational Savvy
• Problem Solving
• Short- and Long-term Learning & Recall
• Strategic Thinking
• Team Building
• Teamwork
• Topic-Specific Communication

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (Functional)

• Applied Data Analysis
• Business Relationship Management
• Change Management
• Conflict Resolution
• Financial Acumen
• Managing Diverse Relationships
• Negotiation
• Project Management
• Project Management Tools
• Quality Assurance Process
• Risk Assessment
• Service Focus
• Strategic Program Management

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum four (4) years experience in a leadership role with direct reports.
• Minimum three (3) years experience managing operational or project budgets.
• Bachelors degree from an accredited college or university and minimum twelve (12) years experience in project management or a directly related field, including minimum seven (7) years program management experience OR Minimum fifteen (15) years experience in project management or a directly related field including minimum seven (7) years program management experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Five (5) years of experience working with international workforce optimization.
• Five (5) years of experience working with labor relations.
• At least 5 years graduate medical education leadership experience.
• Understanding of ACGME institutional and program accreditation requirements and other accrediting bodies that inform and define the quality of the residency programs and fellowships
• Demonstrated knowledge of relevant federal, state, and local laws and regulations including labor/union relations, state and federal licensing, and regulatory oversight
• High degree of initiative and independent judgement to ensure integrated approach to providing GME within KP SCAL, and fulfilling the clinical, research and medical education objectives for the institution