Principal Operations Informaticist (Local / Hybrid)

Vanderbilt Health; Nashville (TN); On-site; USD 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Vanderbilt Health in Nashville seeks a Principal Operations Informaticist to bridge operational leadership and HealthIT teams. You translate clinical and operational needs into technology strategy and guide initiatives across the full tech lifecycle.

Working with executives, clinicians, and vendors, you lead evaluation, planning, governance, implementation, adoption, and optimization to improve patient care, safety, quality, and efficiency.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required.
• Clinical or healthcare experience strongly preferred.
• Comfortable with healthcare technology solutions.

Responsibilities

• Serve as liaison among executives, clinicians, HealthIT teams, and vendors.
• Lead evaluation, planning, implementation, and optimization of HealthIT initiatives.
• Assess workflows, readiness, resources, risks, and value.
• Define success measures and present recommendations to leadership.

Skills

Clinical informatics

Operational partnership

Stakeholder management

Education

Bachelor's degree

Job description

Discover Vanderbilt Health : With eight hospitals and over 180 clinics, we are the region's largest comprehensive academic health system. Vanderbilt Health has a long tradition of providing world‑class care to the people of the Mid‑South, living out our mission of moving medicine forward through preeminent programs in patient care, education and research. Here you'll find a spirit of collaboration and a supportive community where your expertise is valued, your knowledge expanded and your uniqueness celebrated. We are committed to fostering an environment where talented, compassionate people are united in bringing the most advanced care to our neighbors throughout the region.

Organization:

HealthIT Clinical Informatics Group

Job Summary:

The Principal Operations Informaticist is a senior individual contributor who bridges the gap between operational leaders and HealthIT teams, serving as a trusted advisor and subject matter expert on complex clinical and operational technology initiatives.This role translates clinical and operational needs into technology and guides initiatives across the technology lifecycle, including evaluation, planning, governance, implementation, adoption, optimization, and outcome measurement. The Principal Operations Informaticist partners with executive and operational leaders, HealthIT teams, clinicians, and vendors to evaluate and implement emerging technologies and technology‑enabled workflow improvements.Working independently, this role resolves highly complex problems, builds consensus across diverse stakeholder groups, and develops clear, data‑informed recommendations that support patient care, safety, quality, operational efficiency, and organizational priorities.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Partnership

• Serve as a liaison among executive and operational leaders, clinicians, HealthIT teams, and vendors.
• Translate complex clinical and operational needs into actionable technology and requirements.
• Provide clinical and operational perspective to technical teams and guidance to leadership.
• Build consensus across stakeholder groups and facilitate resolution of complex issues and escalations.

Technology Implementation

• Lead the evaluation, planning, implementation, and optimization of emerging technologies and complex HealthIT initiatives.
• Assess workflow fit, operational readiness, resource requirements, risks, dependencies, and anticipated value.
• Guide initiatives through applicable governance, intake, security, compliance, contracting, validation, and operational processes.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams through build, testing, piloting, implementation, and post‑go‑live optimization.

Clinical & Operational Informatics

• Serve as a subject matter expert (SME) on clinical workflows, operational processes, end‑user needs, and technology impacts.
• Conduct workflow and gap analyses and translate current‑state challenges into future‑state solutions.
• Identify workflow variation, unintended consequences, and opportunities to improve patient care, safety, quality, efficiency, and user experience.
• Ensure technology solutions align with clinical best practices and operational requirements.

Change Management & Adoption

• Develop strategies to support organizational readiness, technology adoption, and sustained workflow change.
• Partner with operational, informatics, education, and communication teams to develop training, communications, and implementation resources.
• Support users and leaders through pilots, implementation, stabilization, and optimization.
• Monitor utilization and user feedback to identify opportunities for additional education, workflow redesign, or technology optimization.

Measurement & Value Realization

• Define success measures for technology initiatives and evaluate adoption, utilization, workflow impact, operational outcomes, and end‑user experience.
• Analyze quantitative and qualitative data and translate findings into clear, actionable recommendations for leadership.
• Evaluate pilot and post‑implementation outcomes to inform optimization, expansion, continued investment, or discontinuation.
• Present complex clinical, operational, and technology information through concise, compelling narratives and executive‑level recommendations.

REQUIREMENTS

• Bachelor's degree - Required
• Clinical or Healthcare experience - strongly preferred
• Comfortable with working with healthcare technology solutions

Technical Capabilities

• BUSINESS ACUMEN (Expert): Demonstrates expert understanding of complex academic medical center operations, systems, priorities, and challenges. Connects technology initiatives to clinical operations, organizational strategy, and operational outcomes.
• CLINICAL & OPERATIONAL INFORMATICS (Advanced): Translates complex clinical workflows and operational requirements into actionable technology, workflow designs, and recommendations.
• CRITICAL EVALUATION (Advanced): Analyzes complex clinical, operational, and technology issues using quantitative and qualitative in