Nurse Director, Hospital - Nursing Practice Professional Development

Kaiser Permanente; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente is seeking a senior leader to oversee hospital-wide care delivery and operational strategy across multiple units. The role drives performance, resource planning, and cross-functional collaboration to ensure high-quality, compliant patient care.

The incumbent leads teams across locations, aligns programs with KP mission, and guides regulatory readiness and continuous improvement initiatives.

Qualifications

• Experience leading multiple units in a healthcare setting.
• Strong knowledge of nursing practice standards and regulatory requirements.
• Proven ability to develop strategic plans and manage care delivery.
• Ability to recruit, mentor, and develop talent across locations.

Responsibilities

• Oversees operation of multiple units and assigns work to meet objectives.
• Translates strategy into actionable business requirements and budget plans.
• Directs hospital administrative functions supporting patient care and safety.
• Manages 24/7 care delivery operations and collaborates with clinical leaders.
• Drives strategic improvement projects to enhance quality, safety, and efficiency.
• Ensures compliance with Nursing Practice Act and regulatory standards.

Skills

Ambiguity/Uncertainty Management

Attention to Detail

Communication

Critical Thinking

Leadership

Decision Making

Health Care Industry

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Drives Results

Influencing Others

Integrity

Learning Agility

Job description

Job Summary:

In addition to the responsibilities below, this position is also responsible for establishing best practice models; performing strategic planning and designing patient care delivery systems and practice standards in several locations; leading the investigation of patient/family/member concerns regarding patient care and services; partnering with physicians, outside healthcare providers, and other health care team members to achieve optimal and safe patient care across the continuum; managing resource needs in clinical areas to ensure appropriate assignment and utilization; evaluating the use and maintenance of equipment, supplies and medications; assuming accountability for patient and employee safety; maintaining clinical expertise, providing clinical supervision, competency and licensing necessary to fulfill job responsibilities and to direct the provision of care in the unit; delegating tasks and duties that are aligned to scope of practice; and performing clinical duties as required. Collaborates with Nursing Clinical Practice to ensure assistants and staff provide the highest quality of care and are in compliance with the Nursing Practice Act, The Joint Commission, federal, state, and local requirements.

Essential Responsibilities:

• 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 hospital administrative functions to support patient care by: approving timelines, considering the development of strategies with stakeholders to identify factors contributing to business value; developing and reviewing ad hoc reports and workflows, directing department response and assuming accountability for department performance targets; championing short- and long-term operational initiatives and directing program, services, and/or systems development; aligning cross-functional programs including workplace and patient safety, human resources (e.g., recruitment, selection, promoting active recruitment, performance evaluation and management), labor relations, training and development, and quality/risk management issues with KPs mission and values; directing continuous survey readiness activities including mock rounds and mitigating issues to maintain compliance and regulatory standards, and reviewing prepared audit documentation, information, and reports; and overseeing the development of budgets for assigned areas (e.g., branch office, staffing, business services departments) and ensuring overall financial performance meets expectations.
• Manages care delivery operations and programs within a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operational environment by: partnering with physicians and other clinical leaders to align key care delivery initiatives across KP, providing oversight over all workstreams; overseeing the development and implementation of long-term plans, policies, and processes for data-gathering and analysis while ensuring guideline and regulation alignment; driving cross-functional patient management solutions with internal and external leaders; aligning resources in hospital areas to ensure appropriate assignment and utilization; directing multidisciplinary hospital team(s) and holding team(s) accountable for performance; collaborating on and overseeing the design of emergency preparedness programs; adjusting departments emergency preparedness and recovery plans as needed, ensuring managers and staff are trained and understand expectations for during and after an emergency; providing strategic direction to project teams leading initiatives and ensuring implementation, equitable distribution of resources, and delivery on objectives; and overseeing teams responsible for the delivery of nursing services and patient care within a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operational environment in alignment with cost, quality, and clinical and utilization standards.
• Directs improvements to operations and technology processes by: driving internal and external strategic projects designed to achieve goals related to issue remediation and improved quality, service, affordability, and/or operating efficiency; defining standards for clinical teams to identify root causes of escalations, make recommendations, and implement solutions to improve the performance of operations system processes and address quality and safety issues; driving the development of strategic plans with the goal of achieving integrated services across the continuum of care in alignment with enterprise-wide goals; and consulting with senior and executive management to identify and implement relevant performance metrics to monitor the success of strategic improvement projects.
• Ensures safe, quality, and standardized care delivery within a twenty-four-hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week operational environment by: developing and implementing strategies to support the continuous improvement of the quality and safety of clinical practices, services, and operations for patients and staff; holding managers accountable for maintaining compliance with legal and regulatory requirements (e.g., Nursing Practice Act, The Joint Commission [TJC], federal, state, and local requirements) updated by governmental and regulatory agencies; and establishing and monitoring outcome objectives including overseeing design and implementation for systems, processes, and methods to evaluate and improve patient care within assigned department and across the continuum of care.

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