Professional Development Specialist, Emergency Dept. & Behavioral Health - Full time

Valley Health System; Virginia; On-site; USD 58,000 - 85,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Zero-deductible Health Plan

Dental and vision insurance

Generous Paid Time Off

Tuition Assistance

Retirement Savings Match

Employee Assistance Program

Healthy U membership

Health savings account & flexible-spn…

Discounts to on-campus dining

Job summary

Valley Health System seeks a Senior Professional Development Specialist to design and standardize education across the system. You will partner with leaders and frontline staff to translate priorities into scalable learning programs that improve clinical quality, safety, and workforce readiness.

This role focuses on governance, onboarding, competency validation, and professional development, driving data-informed improvements and reducing variation across facilities within Virginia and adjacent

Qualifications

• Master's degree in nursing or related field.
• 5 years of recent clinical, educational, or nursing leadership experience.
• 3+ years of NPD or nursing education experience preferred.
• Nursing Professional Development Board Certification preferred; must be obtained within 18 months of hire.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification required.

Responsibilities

• Lead system-wide education strategy, governance, and design for standardized curricula and competency frameworks.
• Develop and sustain system-wide onboarding, transition to practice, and leadership development programs.
• Oversee competency programs and standardize validation, assessment, and documentation processes.
• Establish KPIs and dashboards to measure impact on clinical quality, safety, onboarding, and retention.
• Lead educators and participate in system-level committees to advance education and practice.

Skills

NPD leadership

Educational governance

Program design

Education

Master's degree in nursing or related field

Job description

As one of the nation's Top 15 Health Systems, recognized by Premier and Modern Healthcare, Valley Health is a place where excellence, compassion, and purpose come together. This distinction reflects our commitment to exceptional patient care, clinical quality, and the caregivers who make it all possible.

Department CLINICAL EDUCATION - 206030
Worker Sub Type Regular Work Shift
Pay Range $42.15 - $61.94

Job Description

The Professional Development Specialist serves as an advanced Nurse Professional Development (NPD) practitioner accountable for the design, standardization, and evaluation of system-wide educational strategies, programs, and competency frameworks. This role leads the development and operationalization of education governance to ensure consistency, quality, regulatory compliance, and efficient use of organizational resources across all entities. The Specialist partners with leaders, subject matter experts, frontline educators, and other key stakeholders to translate organizational priorities into scalable learning and workforce development solutions that improve clinical quality, patient safety, workforce readiness, and staff retention while reducing variation, duplication, and costs associated with onboarding inefficiencies, turnover, and regulatory risk. Operating at a systems level, the Professional Development Specialist drives innovation in education and leads large-scale workforce and practice initiatives that standardize onboarding, competency validation, and professional development processes across the organization. This role centralizes program design, governance, and standardization to optimise resource utilisation and reduce duplication of effort. Through data-driven decision-making, the Professional Development Specialist evaluates the impact of educational initiatives on organisational, clinical, and workforce outcomes, including time-to-productivity, competency compliance, and retention, and leads continuous improvement efforts that support high reliability care and operational efficiency.

Core Responsibilities

• System Education Strategy, Governance, and Design Leads the development and sustainment of system-wide education strategy, frameworks, and governance structures to ensure consistency, quality, regulatory compliance, and efficient use of resources across all entities. Defines and maintains standardized educational models, curricula, and competency frameworks that reduce variation and support scalable implementation across the system. Establishes and enforces standards for instructional design, delivery, and evaluation to eliminate redundancy and promote consistent, high-quality learning experiences. Partners with executive and clinical leadership to identify enterprise learning needs and translate organizational priorities into strategic education plans that align with workforce and financial objectives. Collaborates with Professional Development Educators, leaders, and frontline staff to create education content and programs that conform to organizational standards while addressing the unique needs of diverse practice settings, professional disciplines, and patient populations. Facilitates and ensures effective and efficient education and development delivery across the health system.
• Program Development and Standardization Designs, implements, and continuously improves system-level programs (e.g., onboarding, transition to practice, competency validation, leadership development, specialty pathways) to improve workforce readiness and reduce variability in practice. Develops and maintains standardized educational content, tools, and resources to optimise use of system resources and reduce duplication across departments and sites. Ensures all educational programming aligns with regulatory, accreditation, and professional standards to mitigate compliance risk and support survey readiness.
• Competency Management & Practice Alignment Provides system-level oversight of competency programs, ensuring alignment with clinical practice standards, organisational priorities, and regulatory requirements. Standardises processes for initial and ongoing competency validation, assessment, and documentation to ensure consistency and reduce risk associated with variable practice. Integrates clinical judgment, critical thinking, and evidence-based practice into competency frameworks to support safe, high-quality patient care.
• Quality Outcomes, Measurement, and Continuous Learning Establishes and monitors key performance indicators and dashboards to assess effectiveness, identify gaps, and drive data-informed decision-making. Applies quality improvement and change management methodologies to reduce variation, improve efficiency, and sustain practice change across the system. Leads evaluation of educational initiatives using defined metrics, including impact on: Clinical quality and patient safety outcomes ; Time-to-productivity and onboarding efficiency ; Staff retention and workforce stability ; Competency compliance and regulatory readiness.
• Professional Leadership & Role Development Functions in advanced NPD roles including leader, change agent, consultant, and educator at a systems level. Leads or contributes to system-wide committees, councils, and governance structures to advance education, quality, and professional practice. Maintains advanced knowledge of trends, emerging evidence, and best practices in nursing professional development and healthcare education. Contributes to the advancement of the profession through program innovation, scholarship, presentations, or dissemination of best practices.

Education

Master's degree in nursing or related field required

Experience

5 years of recent clinical, educational, or nursing leadership experience is required. 3+ years of NPD or nursing education experience is preferred.

Certification & Licensures

• Nursing Professional Development Board Certification (NPD-BC) is preferred at the time of hire. NPD-BC is required within 18 months of hire.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification

Qualifications

Based on primary state of residency and in accordance with current Virginia and West Virginia Board of Nursing Regulations, must be licensed or eligible to practice pending licensure as a Registered Nurse in the Commonwealth of Virginia with a Multi-state license, or in West Virginia with a multi-state license.

Benefits

• Zero-deductible Health Plan
• Dental and vision insurance
• Generous Paid Time Off
• Tuition Assistance
• Retirement Savings Match
• Robust Employee Assistance Program to help with many aspects of emotional wellbeing
• Membership to Healthy U: An incentive-based wellness program
• Health savings account & flexible spending account for childcare, life insurance, short-term and long-term disability, and professional development
• Discounts to on-campus dining, and more (see valleyhealthbenefits.com)

Our Growth is Creating Great Opportunities! Our team is expanding, and we want to hire the most talented people we can. Continued success depends on it!