Senior Manager, Sterile Processing

Kaiser Permanente; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 120,000 - 160,000; Full time

Job summary

Kaiser Permanente is seeking a Senior Sterile Processing Manager to oversee the collection, decontamination, assembly, sterilization, and disinfection of instruments across multiple sites. You will drive training, inventory management, and compliance programs to optimize safety, quality, and cost efficiency.

You will mentor leaders, shape policy improvements, and coordinate with department heads to ensure instrument availability and regulatory adherence.

Qualifications

• Minimum one year of experience managing operational or project budgets.
• Minimum five years of experience in a leadership role with or without direct reports.
• Minimum six years of experience in sterile processing and/or processing reusable medical/surgical equipment/instruments.
• Bachelor-or higher level degree plus required experience as specified; or extended equivalent experience in sterile processing and healthcare operations.
• Registered Central Service Technician Certificate or Sterile Processing Distribution Technician Certificate at hire.

Responsibilities

• Create and advocate for development opportunities; coach and set goals for teams.
• Translate business plans into tactical action and ensure policy adherence across units.
• Lead staff training on sterile processing techniques across multiple sites.
• Oversee equipment inventory management and cost optimization.
• Monitor sterilization and processing of equipment across sites; improve KPIs.
• Lead audits for regulatory compliance and implement corrective actions.

Skills

Ambiguity/Uncertainty Management

Attention to Detail

Business Knowledge

Communication

Constructive Feedback

Critical Thinking

Cross-Group Collaboration

Decision Making

Dependability

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion

Drives Results

Leadership

Mentoring and Coaching

Organizational Savvy

Problem Solving

Strategic Thinking

Team Building

Teamwork

Topic-Specific Communication

Education

Bachelor's degree in Health Care Administration, Public Health, Health Sciences, Business, or related field

Registered Central Service Technician Certificate

Sterile Processing Distribution Technician Certificate

Job description

Job Summary:

Manages the collection, decontamination, assembly, sterilization, and disinfection of instruments and equipment across the department and/or multiple sites. Monitors preparation of surgical trays and case carts, implementing procedures for optimization and standardization. Refines sterile processing policies and procedures and recommends audits of sterile processing performance, leading the design of improvement strategies. Oversees and provides guidance on the management of inventory across multiple sites. Identifies opportunities to prevent waste and reduce costs. Identifies training needs and establishes and maintains education and training programs on sterile processing activities. Serves as an expert resource across multiple sites on sterile processing activities. Develops partnerships with leaders across departments to ensure efficient, safe, and effective instrument and equipment availability. Serves as a resource for maintaining compliance with applicable regulations and requirements. Drives audits and analyzes results to assess compliance with relevant regulations and policies, developing solutions and overseeing the implementation of corrective action plans for compliance concerns.

Essential Responsibilities:

• Creates and advocates for developmental opportunities for others; builds collaborative, cross-functional relationships. Solicits and acts on performance feedback; works with leaders and employees to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to drive performance improvement. Pursues professional growth; hires, trains, and develops talent for growth opportunities; strategically evaluates talent for succession planning; sets performance management guidelines and expectations across teams / units. Oversees implementation, adapts, and stays up to date with organizational change, challenges, feedback, best practices, processes, and industry trends; shares best practices within and across teams. Fosters open dialogue amongst team members, engages, motivates, and promotes collaboration within and across teams; motivates teams to meet business objectives. Delegates tasks and decisions as appropriate; provides appropriate support, guidance and scope; encourages development and consideration of options in decision making; fosters access to stakeholders.
• Manages designated units or teams by translating business plans into tactical action items; oversees the completion of work assignments and identifies opportunities for improvement; ensures all policies and procedures are followed; partners with key stakeholders and business leaders to ensure products and/or services meet requirements and expectations while aligning with departmental strategies. Aligns team efforts; builds accountability for and measuring progress in achieving results; assumes responsibility for decision making; fosters direct reports to resolve escalated issues as appropriate. Communicates goals and objectives; incorporates resources, costs, and forecasts into team and unit plans; ensures matrixed resources are fulfilling service or performance requirements across reporting lines. Removes obstacles that impact performance; identifies and addresses improvement opportunities; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; influences teams and units to operate in alignment with operational and business objectives.
• Leads sterile processing knowledge development by: identifying training needs and developing and implementing staff trainings on sterile processing techniques and procedures across multiple sites, ensuring staff receive appropriate training; establishing and maintaining education and training programs across multiple sites on sterile processing activities; and serving as an expert resource across multiple sites for sterile processing activities.
• Leads the management of equipment inventory by: overseeing the management of inventory levels to ensure adequate supplies across multiple sites, providing guidance on inventory management strategies and standards; identifying opportunities and solutions to prevent wasted supplies/resources and reduce costs across multiple sites; and working with leaders to establish and review department budgets, purchasing and/or approving purchases of additional supplies as needed to maintain inventory.
• Oversees the sterilization and processing of equipment by: managing the safe and efficient collection, decontamination, assembly, sterilization, and disinfection of all instruments and equipment across the department and/or multiple sites; monitoring the consistent preparation of surgical trays and case carts with appropriate instruments and equipment across multiple sites and implementing procedures for optimization, standardization, and improving KPIs; refining sterile processing policies and procedures to meet organizational needs in collaboration with departmental leaders; and recommending audits to identify gaps between sterile processing performance standards and actual performance, analyzing highly complex audit results and leading the design of corrective action plans to improve processes.
• Reviews regulatory compliance by: serving as a resource across multiple sites for maintaining compliance with regulations and requirements; driving the execution of regular audits and analyzing the results of audits to assess compliance with relevant regulations and policies; developing solutions to identified problems of non-compliance and overseeing the implementation of corrective action plans; and developing reports on departmental compliance with regulations to provide to leadership.

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
• Organizational Savvy
• Problem Solving
• Short- and Long-term Learning & Recall
• Strategic Thinking
• Team Building
• Teamwork
• Topic-Specific Communication

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (Functional)

• Audits
• Bloodborne Pathogen Knowledge
• Business Acumen
• Business Operations
• Cleaning Policies and Procedures
• Compliance Management
• Consulting
• Cost Optimization
• Delegation
• Facilities Management/Operations
• Hazardous Materials and Chemicals
• Infection Control
• Instrumentation
• Internal Audit Processes
• Inventory Planning
• Maintain Files and Records
• Medical Equipment
• Medical Sanitation and Infection Control
• Medical Waste Management
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Operational Excellence
• Operations Management
• Preventative Maintenance
• Quality Assurance Process
• Resource Management
• Safety Management
• Safety and Environmental Health Knowledge
• Sterile Processing
• Systems Thinking
• Talent Management
• Vendor Management

Minimum Qualifications:

• Minimum one (1) year of experience managing operational or project budgets.
• Minimum five (5) years of experience in a leadership role with or without direct reports.
• Minimum six (6) years of experience in sterile processing and/or processing reusable medical/surgical equipment/instruments.
• Bachelors degree in Health Care Administration, Public Health, Health Sciences, Business, or related field AND minimum six (6) years of experience in sterile processing, health care operations, health care administration, materials management, supply distribution, inventory control, or directly related field OR Minimum nine (9) years of experience in sterile processing, health care operations, health care administration, materials management, supply distribution, inventory control, or a directly related field.
• Registered Central Service Technician Certificate required at hire OR Sterile Processing Distribution Technician Certificate required at hire

Preferred Qualifications:

• Certified Flexible Endoscope Reprocessor (CFER) OR Certified Endoscope Reprocessor (CER).
• Certified Healthcare Leader (CHL) OR Management in Sterile Processing (CSPM).