Senior Manager, Clinical Experience

Western Governors University; Salt Lake City (UT); Remote; USD 98,000 - 162,000; Full time

Job summary

WGU is seeking a Senior Director, Clinical Experience to lead clinical placement management and the development of education programs that advance student competency in patient care. You will manage budgets, staffing, and partnerships, while guiding HR processes and policy updates across the Health Professions domain.

Collaborating across the university, you will align initiatives with accreditation standards and institutional goals, supervise staff, and ensure high quality experiences for

Qualifications

• Influences others and communicates effectively to promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving.
• Collaborates across the organization to achieve shared objectives and gains buy-in.
• Manages ambiguity and makes decisions with incomplete information.
• Demonstrates resilience under pressure and recovers from setbacks.
• Drives for results with a continuous improvement mindset.
• Encourages organizational learning and quick adaptation to new situations.

Responsibilities

• Responsible for clinical placement management directing planning, coordination, and quality assurance of student clinical placements.
• Designs, implements, and evaluates clinical education programs to support student and faculty competency in patient care.
• Manage budgets, staffing models, scheduling, and resourcing for clinical and lab operations; align resources with needs and priorities.
• Oversee and support training and guidance to stakeholders regarding clinical experiences, compliance, and partnerships.
• Builds and maintains strategic relationships with clinical partners and healthcare organizations; liaison for placement logistics.
• Hires, manages, coaches, and develops direct reports through performance processes.
• Support staff as they work with students to demonstrate professional behaviors and dispositions.
• Provide strategic leadership to improve programs and services; align with accreditation standards and institutional goals.
• Collaborate across the university to meet changing requirements and practices.
• Oversee all HR functions on the team including compensation, disciplinary actions, and expense approvals.
• Maintain and update policies for Health Placement and Health Professions Success; manage projects.
• Communicate with students, mentors, and external professionals; set team initiatives.
• Provide high-level support for escalated concerns and student issues.
• Oversee security and storage of documents for compliance and data requests.
• Guide long-term projects supporting stakeholders and student experience.
• Exhibit professional conduct as a representative of the company and department.
• Lead programs and services improvements for didactic and clinical experiences.
• Conduct annual performance reviews for team members.

Skills

Influences others

Effective communication

Collaboration

Managing ambiguity

Resilience

Results-driven

Organizational learning

Education

Master’s degree in related field

Leadership experience

Job description

If you’re passionate about building a better future for individuals, communities, and our country—and you’re committed to working hard to play your part in building that future—consider WGU as the next step in your career.

Driven by a mission to expand access to higher education through online, competency‑based degree programs, WGU is also committed to being a great place to work for a diverse workforce of student‑focused professionals. The university has pioneered a new way to learn in the 21st century, one that has received praise from academic, industry, government, and media leaders. Whatever your role, working for WGU gives you a part to play in helping students graduate, creating a better tomorrow for themselves and their families.

Pay Range: $98,200.00 - $162,100.00

Primary Responsibilities

• Responsible for clinical placement management directing the planning, coordination, and quality assurance of student clinical placements.
• Designs, Implements, and evaluates clinical education programs to support student and faculty competency in patient care.
• Manage budgets, staffing models, scheduling, and resourcing for clinical and lab operations. Align resources with programmatic needs and institutional priorities to maximize clinical capacity.
• Oversee and supports training and support to stakeholders regarding clinical experiences, compliance, clinical partner/affiliation agreements, and updates to policies and procedures.
• Builds and maintains strategic relationships with clinical partners and healthcare organizations. Serve as the primary liaison to address placement logistics, resolve issues, and align expectations.
• Hires, manages, coaches, and actively develops direct reports accountable through established performance management processes.
• Supports staff as they work with students to develop and demonstrate professional behaviors and dispositions.
  Serves as subject matter expert for Health Professions.
• Provides strategic leadership to improve programs and services. Aligns programs and policies with accreditation standards, licensing requirements, and institutional goals.
• Collaborates cross‑functionally across the university to meet the needs of changing requirements and practices.
• Responsible for all Human Resources functions on the team including compensation, disciplinary actions (in coordination with Supervisors), and expense reimbursement approvals/reviews.
• Supervises the maintenance and updates to all policies and procedures for Health Placement and Health Professions Success.
  Implements and manages ongoing projects.
• Communicate with students, mentors, other WGU personnel, and outside professionals, i.e. Clinical Faculty, Clinical Facility Coordinators.
• Set team initiatives/goals in alignment with the university and Clinical Experience department.
• Provide high‑level support and consultation regarding escalated concerns, student issues and communications.
• Supervises and delegates security and storage of all documents, policies and procedures to maintain the historical record to respond to data requests from Compliance and Accreditation or other WGU Departments.
• Oversee and guide long‑term projects that support stakeholders, improve student experience, and develop department and team initiatives/goals.
• Exhibit professional conduct, interaction, and communication as a representative of the company and the department.
• Provides strategic leadership to improve programs and services to support students, WGU stakeholders and external stakeholders during didactic and clinical experiences.
• Conduct annual performance reviews for team members.
• Completes additional responsibilities as directed by the Senior Director, Clinical Experience.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

This job description includes a general representation of job requirements rather than a comprehensive inventory of all required responsibilities or work activities. The contents of this document or related job requirements may change at any time with or without notice.

Qualifications

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Influences Others and Communicates Effectively – Communicates to improve and promote teamwork, decision making, and problem solving. Listens and responds effectively to the reactions and positions of others and encourages the expression of diverse ideas and opinions. Adjusts message and style to fit the audience. Provides timely and helpful feedback.
• Communicates appropriately to win support with all.
• Collaborates - Works cooperatively with others across the organization to achieve shared objectives. Represents own interests while being fair to others and their areas. Partners with others to get work done. Credits others for their contributions and accomplishments. Gains buy‑in, trust and support of others.
• Manages Ambiguity - Deals comfortably with the uncertainty of change. Effectively handles risk. Can decide and act without the total picture. Is calm and productive, even when things are up in the air. Deals constructively with problems that do not have clear solutions or outcomes.
• Being Resilient - Is confident under pressure. Handles and manages crises effectively. Maintains a positive attitude despite adversity. Bounces back from obstacles and setbacks. Grows from hardships and negative experiences.
• Drives for Results - Has a strong outcomes‑based orientation. Persists in accomplishing objectives despite obstacles and setbacks. Has a track record of successfully exceeding goals. Pushes self and helps others achieve results to positively impact WGU and our students. Has a continuous improvement mindset.
• Builds Effective Teams - Forms teams with appropriate and diverse mix of styles, perspectives, and experience. Establishes common objectives and a shared mindset. Creates a feeling of belonging and strong team morale. Shares wins and rewards team efforts. Fosters open dialogue and collaboration among the team. Creates a team that works well cross‑functionally.
• Organizational Learning - Learns quickly when facing new situations. Experiments to find new solutions and enhance the student experience. Takes on the challenge of unfamiliar tasks. Extracts lessons learned from failures and mistakes. Expands knowledge base through ongoing curiosity.

Minimum Qualifications

• Master’s degree in a school/discipline related field. Education is verified and must be from an accredited institution. Note, in lieu of the educational requirement, a bachelor's degree and five (5) years of direct experience applicable to the position may be accepted.
  Experience
• Three (3) years of leadership or supervisory experience in the following areas: managing projects in a fast‑paced and complex environment, leading cross‑functional teams, leading teams to impact organizational outcomes through specific interventions, facilitating training, analyzing data, using data to drive decisions, presenting to diverse audiences
• Experience in lieu of education - Equivalent relevant experience performing the essential functions of this job may substitute for education degree requirements. Generally, equivalent relevant experience is defined as 1 year of experience for 1 year of education and is the discretion of the hiring manager.

Preferred Qualifications

• Terminal degree from an accredited institution in a school/discipline related field
• Applicable licenses or certifications.
• Experience with Field Placement.
• Experience handling and resolving student behavior/conduct concerns.
• Experience leading process improvement projects.
• Compliance and Accreditation experience

Physical Requirements

Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer.
Must be able to lift up to 15 pounds at times.
This position requires occasional travel of up to 20%, including required attendance at designated company summits (typically one to two per year). Additional travel may include conferences, visits to company locations, and other business‑related events as needed. Additional travel may be assigned as needed to support business requirements.

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Additional Information

Full‑Time Regular Positions (classified as regular and working 40 standard weekly hours): This is a full‑time, regular position (classified for 40 standard weekly hours) that is eligible for; medical, dental, vision, telehealth and mental healthcare; health savings account and flexible spending account; basic and voluntary life insurance; disability coverage; accident, critical illness and hospital indemnity supplemental coverages; legal and identity theft coverage; retirement savings plan; wellbeing program; discounted WGU tuition; and flexible paid time off for rest and relaxation with no need for accrual, flexible paid sick time with no need for accrual, 11 paid holidays, and other paid leaves, including up to 12 weeks of parental leave.

• Disclaimer: The job posting highlights the most critical responsibilities and requirements of the job. It’s not all-inclusive.
• Accommodations: Applicants with disabilities who require assistance or accommodation during the application or interview process should contact our Talent Acquisition team at [e-mail].
• Equal Employment Opportunity: All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic as required by law.