Executive Director, Clinical Performance & Transformation

Job description

Are you a highly motivated individual with a solid understanding of data from a nursing operations, clinical outcomes and financial lens? Our world-class academic healthcare system is looking to bring an accomplished professional into a newly created role as the Executive Director, Clinical Performance & Transformation . The successful candidate will provide strategic and operational leadership for Adult Inpatient and Emergency Department initiatives that translate organizational priorities into measurable, sustainable outcomes, advance external performance and strengthen patient, family, and workforce engagement.
We are seeking a leader who has made their mark at a similar complex health system - driving sustained improvement at an enterprise level in clinical outcome measures influencing U.S. News & World Report (USNWR) rankings, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Star ratings, Leapfrog performance, organizational length of stay (LOS) and patient experience benchmarks. Working in partnership with clinical, operational, physician, quality, and frontline leaders, the Executive Director translates performance data and identified opportunities into actionable strategies, coordinates implementation, and monitors progress against established targets. This highly visible role requires exceptional analytical judgment, strong communication and presentation capabilities, and the ability to drive accountability across a complex, matrixed organization.
Reporting to the Vice President, Patient Care Services, and Chief Nursing Officer, this role bridges organizational strategy and frontline execution by facilitating cross-functional collaboration, supporting the adoption of evidence-based practices, addressing barriers to implementation, and promoting reliable, reproducible performance across nursing units and service lines. The role facilitates collaboration at all levels, removes barriers to implementation, monitors progress, and supports timely course correction to promote reliable, reproducible, and sustained improvement. Success in this role is demonstrated by measurable and sustained improvements in organizational performance through collaboration, effective alignment, implementation, and integration of improvement strategies into daily operations.
This position is based in Chicago with the expectation that you will be onsite.
Who you are:
• Master’s degree in nursing, healthcare administration, public health, organizational development, business administration, or related field required. Doctoral degree in nursing, healthcare administration, public health, organizational development, or related field preferred.
• Minimum of 10 years of Nursing experience, including progressive operational leadership experience in a complex healthcare or academic medical center environment.
• Current RN licensure or eligible for licensure in the state of Illinois.
• National nursing certification strongly preferred. Must sit for a national nursing certification within 12 months of eligibility required.
• Experience working within a complex health system, academic medical center, or similarly complex matrixed environment where you have led system initiatives across nursing units/service-line boundaries is a solid requirement.
• Demonstrated experience leading initiatives involving engagement, performance improvement, transformation, implementation, or organizational change in complex organizations.
• Demonstrated experience working directly with frontline leaders and interdisciplinary teams to implement and sustain change.
• Notable track record with external assessment, rankings, benchmarking, publicly reported performance and patient experience/engagement methodologies strongly preferred.
• Experience leading large-scale organizational transformation and spread of evidence-based practices preferred. Formal training or certification in Lean/Six Sigma, change management, project management, or organizational transformation valuable.
• Ability to influence and drive accountability across functions and levels without direct authority.
• Strong written and verbal communicator with strong executive presence and the judgment to execute and operate effectively with diverse stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to balance multiple concurrent initiatives with competing priorities and deadlines.

What you’ll gain as the Executive Director, Clinical Performance & Transformation:
• Opportunity to work at a world-class organization, engaging numerous stakeholders, with the mission of providing a strong vision for the future of UChicago Medicine.
• Join a nursing leadership team of dedicated and passionate individuals committed to transformational change and the highest echelon of patient care.

What you’ll do as the Executive Director, Clinical Performance & Transformation:
• Lead implementation of high-priority strategies and transformation initiatives assigned by the Chief Nursing Officer. Translate strategic priorities into clear implementation plans, milestones, ownership structures, and measurable outcomes.
• Partner with unit-level leaders and interdisciplinary clinical team members to implement, hardwire, and monitor evidence-based practices that reduce central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), address unit-specific barriers, and sustain reliable central-line insertion and maintenance practices.
• Partner with unit-level leaders and interdisciplinary clinical team members to strengthen catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) prevention, including appropriate urinary catheter use, timely removal, and reliable care and maintenance practices.
• Support unit-level implementation and sustainment of hospital-acquired pressure injury (HAPI) prevention practices, using performance data and case reviews to identify gaps, reinforce reliable workflows, and reduce variation.
• Partner with unit-level leaders and frontline teams to strengthen fall-prevention practices through risk-informed interventions, reliable execution of prevention plans, and review of fall events and contributing factors.
• Work with unit-level and interdisciplinary clinical teams to hardwire effective discharge-planning processes, address barriers to timely discharge, and support strategies that improve patient flow and reduce avoidable length of stay (LOS).
• Partner with unit-level clinical teams to improve discharge readiness, patient and caregiver education, medication understanding, and care-transition coordination to reduce preventable readmissions.
• Collaborate with unit-level leaders and frontline clinical team members and other stakeholders to implement and sustain patient-experience practices, including effective communication, responsiveness, patient and family engagement, and consistent delivery on organizational priorities and unit-level service standards.
• Advance strategies that strengthen patients, family, and nursing workforce engagement. Monitor engagement, experience trends, and identify opportunities for improvement.
• Partner with organizational stakeholders to ensure sustained positive outcomes related to USNWR, CMS, Leapfrog, organizational LOS. Partner to develop targeted improvement strategies and reporting that provides clear visibility into external performance, gaps, risks, and opportunities. Identify performance gaps and facilitate development of targeted improvement strategies.
• Integrate engagement, external performance, and transformation priorities into a coherent performance agenda. Utilize organizational outcomes (e.g., dashboards, scorecards, nationally benchmarked performance measures) to connect strategic priorities to frontline execution and outcomes.
• Foster efforts to positively impact the organization’s visibility, image, and relationship with its surrounding community.

E4 Leadership (Equity, Engage, Evolve, Excel) is a patient centered management system that empowers teams to improve on a daily basis. This is done through daily readiness huddles, real time process monitoring, performance review huddles and structured problem solving. E4 Leadership is an evolving system where leaders work together to cultivate a culture of equity and continuous improvement that enables:
• Each person to realize their full potential for contribution
• The organization to achieve high performance outcomes
• System-wide integration, coordination, and seamless execution
• Clear focus on exceptional, equitable patient care and experiences.

As part of the leadership team, this position will be instrumental in reinforcing and sustaining UCM’s E4 Leadership Culture.
About Us
We’ve been at the forefront of medicine since 1899. We provide superior healthcare with compassion, always mindful that each patient is a person, an individual. To accomplish this, we need employees with passion, talent and commitment… with patients and with each other. We’re in this together: working to advance medical innovation, serve the health needs of the community, and move our collective knowledge forward. If you’d like to add enriching human life to your profile, UChicago Medicine is for you. Here at the forefront, we’re doing work that really matters. Join us. Bring your passion.
UChicago Medicine is an equal opportunity employer. We evaluate qualified applicants without regard to race, color, ethnicity, ancestry, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, civil union status, parental status, religion, national origin, age, disability, veteran status and other legally protected characteristics.
As a condition of employment, all employees are required to complete a pre-employment physical, background check, drug screening, and comply with the flu vaccination requirements prior to hire. Medical and religious exemptions will be considered for flu vaccination consistent with applicable law.
Compensation & Benefits Overview
UChicago Medicine is committed to transparency in compensation and benefits. The pay range provided reflects the anticipated wage or salary reasonably expected to be offered for the position.
The pay range is based on a full-time equivalent (1.0 FTE) and is reflective of current market data, reviewed on an annual basis. Compensation offered at the time of hire will vary based on candidate qualifications and experience and organizational considerations, such as internal equity. Pay ranges for employees subject to Collective Bargaining Agreements are negotiated by the medical center and their respective union.
Review the full complement of benefit options for eligible roles at Benefits - UChicago Medicine .