Manager Nursing Inpatient (RN) - Med/Surg Ortho

Advocate Aurora Health; Town of Grafton (WI); On-site; USD 120,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Advocate Health is seeking a Nursing Director to lead clinical excellence and governance across the organization. You will drive staffing optimization, financial stewardship, and high-reliability patient care initiatives while partnering with senior leaders to align with strategic priorities.

The role requires an RN license, BSN, 3+ years of nursing leadership experience, and a track record of improving quality, safety, and workforce performance in complex healthcare settings.

Qualifications

• Advanced knowledge of nursing management concepts and facilities policies.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills with conflict resolution ability.
• Strong aptitude in human resource management.
• Ability to handle multiple demands simultaneously.
• Sound decision making and critical thinking skills.
• Proficient in computers, software, and electronic systems.

Responsibilities

• Maintains accountability for nursing standards of practice and unit outcomes.
• Champions professional development and lifelong learning for self and team.
• Leads nursing governance initiatives and professional autonomy across the organization.
• Drives alignment between unit performance and organizational mission and priorities.
• Ensures safety, quality, patient experience, and cost objectives through planning and performance monitoring.
• Leads change management to embed high-reliability principles and a safety culture.
• Partners with senior leadership to influence policies and advocate for resources.
• Cultivates partnerships with physicians, executives, and interdisciplinary leaders to reach enterprise goals.
• Serves as liaison for stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and collaborative decision-making.
• Oversees workforce planning, talent acquisition, retention, and succession planning.
• Anticipates regulatory changes and market dynamics impacting care delivery.
• Integrates quality, safety, and performance improvement methodologies into workflows.
• Leads accreditation readiness and compliance initiatives.
• Manages departmental financial performance and budgets.
• Drives data analytics to optimize resources and contain costs.
• Aligns nursing objectives with growth strategies and leads innovation projects.
• Acts as a transformational leader promoting inclusivity and equity.
• Partners with Professional Governance and empowers staff participation in decisions.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

HR management

Conflict resolution

Decision making

Critical thinking

Computer skills

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Nursing

Job description

Major Responsibilities:

• Demonstrates unwavering integrity and ethical decision-making, serving as a role model for clinical and leadership excellence.
• Holds ultimate accountability for nursing standards of practice and operational outcomes within the unit.
• Champions continuous professional development for self and team, fostering a culture of lifelong learning and evidence-based practice.
• Leads initiatives to advance nursing governance and professional autonomy across the organization.
• Drives alignment between unit performance and organizational mission, vision, and strategic priorities.
• Ensures achievement of safety, quality, patient experience, and cost objectives through proactive planning and performance monitoring.
• Leads change management efforts to embed high-reliability principles and sustain a culture of safety and accountability.
• Partners with senior leadership to influence organizational policies and advocate for resources that support optimal care delivery.
• Cultivates strategic partnerships with physicians, executives, and interdisciplinary leaders to achieve enterprise-wide goals.
• Serves as the primary liaison for complex stakeholder engagement, conflict resolution, and collaborative decision-making.
• Oversees workforce planning, talent acquisition, and retention strategies to maintain a high-performing, diverse team.
• Implements succession planning and leadership development programs to build future nurse leaders.
• Anticipates trends, regulatory changes, and market dynamics impacting care delivery.
• Integrates quality, safety, and performance improvement methodologies into workflows.
• Leads accreditation readiness and compliance initiatives.
• Develops strategies to optimize patient experience and clinical outcomes.
• Manages departmental financial performance, including operational and capital budgets.
• Uses data analytics to drive resource optimization and cost containment.
• Aligns nursing objectives with organizational growth strategies and leads innovation projects to enhance efficiency and scalability.
• Acts as a transformational leader who inspires vision, fosters inclusivity, and champions equity.
• Promotes and is a partner with Professional Governance and empowers staff participation in decision-making.
• Serves as a catalyst for organizational change, shaping culture and advancing nursing practice.
• Creates and optimizes staff scheduling and workforce allocation to ensure schedules are balanced to skills, competencies, and evenly covered for patient support and coverage.
• Maintains accountability for staffing models that balance patient acuity, regulatory requirements, and budget constraints.
• Performs human resources responsibilities for staff which include interviewing and selection of new employees, promotions, staff development, performance evaluations, compensation changes, resolution of employee concerns, corrective actions, terminations, and overall teammate engagement.
• Develops and recommends operating and capital budgets and controls expenditures within approved budget objectives.
• Responsible for understanding and adhering to the organization's Code of Ethical Conduct and for ensuring that personal actions, and the actions of employees supervised, comply with the policies, regulations and laws applicable to the organization's business.
• Must be able to demonstrate knowledge and skills necessary to provide care appropriate to the age of the patients served.
• Must demonstrate knowledge of the principles of growth and development over the life span and possess the ability to assess data reflective of the patient's status and interpret the appropriate information needed to identify each patient's requirements relative to his/her age-specific needs, and to provide the care needed as described in the department's policies and procedures.
• Age-specific information is developed further in the departmental job standards.

Licensure, Registration, and/or Certification Required:

• Active RN License in current state of practice.
• Graduate of a Board of Nursing approved nursing education program.
• Basic Life Support (BLS). Additional education, training, certifications, or experience may be required based on specialty.
• Active registered nurse (RN) multi-state compact and/or single-state license with privileges to practice in the state(s) where the RN is providing client nursing services.
• Licensed nurses practicing via telehealth/telenursing/virtual modalities are required to be licensed or hold the privilege to practice in the state(s) where the client(s) is/are located.
• Licensed nurses are responsible and accountable for knowing, understanding, and practicing in compliance with the laws, rules, regulations, and standards of practice of the state(s) where the client(s) is/are located.

Education Required:

• Bachelor's Degree in Nursing.

Experience Required:

• Typically requires 3 years of experience in nursing that includes experiences in multiple areas.
• Includes 1 year of supervisory experience in managing staff and budgets in a nursing environment at the supervisory/management level.

Knowledge, Skills & Abilities Required:

• Advanced knowledge of nursing management concepts, clinical practice, and facilities policies and procedures.
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to deal with conflict resolution.
• Strong aptitude in human resource management.
• Ability to handle multiple demands simultaneously.
• Sound decision making and critical thinking skills.
• Proficient in use of computers, software, and other electronic systems.

Physical Requirements and Working Conditions:

• Must be able to sit, stand, walk, lift, squat, bend, reach above shoulders, and twist frequently during work shift.
• Must be able to lift and support the weight of 35 pounds in handling patients, medical equipment, and supplies.
• Must be able to push/pull with 30 lbs. of force and perform a sliding transfer of 150 lbs. with a second person present.
• Required to use foot pedals on carts or machines.
• Must have functional sight and hearing.
• Exposed to the following hazards on a continuous basis: mechanical, electrical, chemical, radiation, blood and body fluids.
• Required to wear gloves, goggles and gowns on an as-needed basis.
• Operates equipment essential to performing the duties of the job.

DISCLAIMER

All responsibilities and requirements are subject to possible modification to reasonably accommodate individuals with disabilities.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only responsibilities to be performed by an employee occupying this job or position. Employees must follow any other job-related instructions and perform any other job-related duties requested by their leaders.