Sr Director of Nursing, DCH WC and Periop in Portland, Oregon at Oregon Health & Science University

Sr Director of Nursing, DCH WC and Periop

US-OR-Portland

Requisition ID: 2026-39409
Position Category: Management/Supervisory
Job Type: Unclassified Administrative
Position Type: Regular Full-Time
Posting Department: DCH Nursing Admin
Posting Salary Range: $180,710 - $307,154 with offer based on experience, education and internal equity
Posting FTE: 1.00
Posting Schedule: Primarily Monday-Friday, with weekend availability as needed
Posting Hours: 8-5p as needed to support 24-hour operations
HR Mission: Healthcare
Drug Testable: No

Department Overview

The Senior Nursing Director, Women’s & Children’s (W&C) provides system-wide executive nursing leadership across all Women’s & Children’s Peri-Operative, Fetal and Inpatient Care Doernbecher Children’s Hospital. The incumbent provides senior level leadership over Doernbecher emphasizing safe, high quality, patient-centered, cost effective, and integrated care by collaborating effectively with physician, hospital and department leadership ensuring seamless, high-quality care across the inpatient continuum. The Senior Director is also responsible for driving service line change initiatives of strategy, and clinical program development. The Senior Director of Nursing is a Registered Nurse (RN) responsible for upholding excellence in the provision of nursing care through the implementation of the Profession Practice Model. The role oversees operational, human resources, quality, and financial management of the assigned departments. This role requires a high level of understanding of healthcare delivery, the regional pediatric and women’s healthcare markets, and the ability to think strategically to present innovative solutions to the complex challenges faced by pediatric and women’s health providers in Oregon and SW Washington.

This position also comes with great benefits! Some highlights include:

• Comprehensive health care plans that cover 100% for a full-time employee and 88% for dependents for .75 FTE and higher.
• $50K of term life insurance provided at no cost to the employee
• Two separate above market pension plans to choose from
• Paid time off- 208 hours per year (full-time), prorated for part-time
• Extended illness bank- 64 hours per year, prorated for part-time
• 9 paid holidays per year
• Three weeks of paid parental leave
• Adoption assistance program (up to 5k)
• Substantial Tri-met and C-Tran discounts
• Tuition Reimbursement
• Innovative Employee Assistance Program (EAP)

Function/Duties of Position

The role reports to the Vice President/Chief Nursing Officer of W&C Services. The Directors of Nursing in inpatient, women's and peri-operative report to this role. The Senior Director W&C service line partners with the other directors of nursing, adult leadership teams, Department Chairs of Pediatrics and OB/GYN, Vice Chairs, Division Chiefs, and Pediatric and OB/GYN Medical Directors. This position also collaborates with Department of Pediatric and OB/GYN Program Directors, the Doernbecher W&C Services Senior Leadership Team, OHSU ambulatory care senior leaders, and the W&C Director of Strategy.

Decisions and actions adhere to the American Nurses Association's Code of Ethics; the ANA Nursing Administration: Scope and Standards of Practice; the Oregon State Board of Nursing Nurse Practice Act; and the Nurse Executive Competencies developed by the American Organization for Nursing Leadership (AONL). The Senior Nursing Director exemplifies OHSU’s Culture of Safety by fostering a Just, Reporting, Learning, and Engaged/Informed culture.

Leadership System Leadership & Enterprise Strategy:

• Facilitate department excellence and drive decisions with clinical leaders, medical directors, and administrative partners. • Facilitates and drives alignment, performance, and accountability across scare areas

• Foster interdisciplinary collaboration across nursing, medicine, ancillary services, and system partners to advance integrated, cost-effective pediatric and women’s care.

• Participate in key committees/task forces to identify and resolve patient care, operational, and strategic issues.

Operational & Financial Performance

• Drive operational excellence by analyzing and acting on key outcomes (e.g., ALOS, case mix index, utilization, variances to budgets, access and throughput, inpatient/outpatient volumes) to recognize trends, evaluate status, and implement interventions in partnership with physician leaders.

• Integrates service line strategy and execution to improve safety, quality, experience, access, and cost while achieving targets aligned to the OHSU priorities.

• Oversee budget performance (capital and operating), forecasting, and resource allocation in collaboration with Strategy/Finance partners. Clinical Quality, Safety & Professional Practice

• Ensure a safe, high-quality care environment that supports patient/family centered care, reliability, and evidence-based practice across the continuum.

• Uphold and operationalize the Professional Practice Model, shared decision-making, accountability, autonomy, and engagement.

• Lead patient/family advocacy and promote patient-centered decisions and outcomes.

• Apply systems thinking to align processes, technology, and teams across inpatient and ambulatory care settings.

People Leadership & Culture

• Recruit, onboard, and develop leaders and staff; establish clear performance expectations and conduct routine 1:1s, monthly management meetings, and annual reviews.

• Coach, recognize, and hold accountable—provide timely feedback, corrective action, and celebrate team achievements. • Maintain high visibility and open communication with frontline teams and leadership; communicate plans, priorities, and decisions clearly and consistently

Workforce Planning & Operations Readiness

• Optimize staffing models, mitigate OHA penalties and integrate plans with nurse directors and leaders to ensure adequate skill mix and staffing to-workload ratios.

• Standardize operations to support access, throughput, and reliable care delivery across sites. Education, Research & Professional Development

• Assess and address ongoing educational needs of leaders and staff; deploy training that elevates performance, professionalism, and engagement.

• Support clinical research and innovation within care areas, fetal in partnership with physician and academic leaders.

• Mentor leaders in critical thinking and decision-making; reflect on personal leadership practice to continually advance performance.

Labor Relations, Compliance & Risk

• Operate in alignment with labor agreements (e.g., ONA, APU, AFSCME) in partnership with HR and Labor Relations.

• Ensure regulatory readiness and compliance with applicable standards and policies; proactively mitigate risk.

Performance Improvement

• Develops the service line quality plan in collaboration with Quality Management department and organizational leaders

• Oversees all regulatory activity associated with Hospital accreditation and program certifications

• Drives clinical performance initiatives. Review, monitor, and analyze monthly and quarterly reports to recognize trends, evaluate status, and in concert with physician co-leaders, makes decisions and organize interventions

• Evaluates the practice environment and designs and implements quality improvement strategies to ensure nursing sensitive outcomes meets or exceeds established goals

• Evaluates the impact/benefits of system, organizational, nursing, and department initiatives

• Supports workflow processes that builds a culture of safety

• Uses current research findings and other evidence to expand clinical knowledge, enhance role performance, and increase knowledge of professional issues

System-Level Service Line Direction & Strategic Planning

• Develops and executes multi-year strategic plans for services (growth, access, experience, quality, equity, and cost), integrating market intelligence and competitive analyses. Achieves performance objectives and influences decision making and action through matrix relationships.

• Partner with OHSU Health executive sponsors, and in collaboration with the Strategy department, Medical and Surgical Directors, to define strategic business focus, i.e. growth, maintenance or curtailment of activities as appropriate, using integrated information about customer(s), market(s) and competitors to recognize and recommend initiatives that align with OHSU Strategic Plan

• Work with Strategy department and OHSU Health System Partners on strategic vision and operational planning in relationship to peds and women’s across the health system

• Collaborates with other OHSU affiliates and health systems on an as-needed basis to grow and support peds and women’s services within the state and regionally

• Partners on the development of tactics to achieve goals and strategies. Direct the execution of tactics to meet or exceed performance objectives

• Recognizes linkages to institutional initiatives and incorporate those implications when solving problems and making decisions

• Actively support physician recruitment and retention strategies Identify capital funding required to support strategic initiatives and work with peers to prioritize and approve submissions

• Collaborate with outside partners as business and clinical opportunities may arise

Financial Management

• Evaluates service line leaders’ achievement toward financial performance targets

• Develops innovative solutions and applies strategies to obtain appropriate resources for nursing initiatives.

• Promotes activities that inform others about cost, risks, and benefits or care, or of the plan and solution. 15% Y Professionalism

• Promotes translation of theory, scope & standards into practice to exercise autonomy and decision-making authority at the leadership level

• Advances practice excellence by communicating a clear and consistent message about the ownership of role and standards -based professional practice

• Mentors and supports others to access resources for their professional development

• Engages in informal and formal processes of giving and seeking feedback regarding role performance from individuals, professional colleagues, representatives, administrators, and others

Required Qualifications

• Master’s degree in nursing or related field
• Minimum 10 years’ experience in nursing leadership, including directly supervising nurses.
• Current unencumbered Oregon RN license Professional certification in nursing leadership (e.g. Nurse Executive/Administrator) within two years of hire
• Demonstrated ability to elicit high levels of performance from employees at all levels in the organization and stakeholders from a variety of external sources.
• Demonstrated ability to plan, organize and execute moderately complex business plans.
• Demonstrated financial analysis and fiscal management skills. • Effective communication, and the ability to successfully manage interpersonal relationships in high stress, fast paced environment.
• Experience that demonstrates the ability to successfully work in partnership with physicians.
• Experience that demonstrates the ability to meet stringent deadlines in a dynamic environment.
• Must have proven skills in project management and matrix management. • Demonstrates skill in problem solving. Exceptional interpersonal communication skills, both written and oral. • Able to build consensus; demonstrates collaborative management style.
• Mastery of software programs including Word and Excel

Preferred Qualifications

• Doctorate degree in nursing leadership
• 5 years of management experience in the related clinical area of practice
• Executive/Administrator Professional certification in nursing leadership e.g Nurse Executive/Administrator