Rural Health Assistant Director in Jersey City, New Jersey at Liberty Science Center

The Role
The Rural Health Assistant Director will provide day-to-day management for SciTech Scity’s Rural Health Transformation initiative, serving as a key partner to the Senior Director in advancing program strategy, priorities, and execution. The Assistant Director will have significant responsibility for independently driving program objectives forward, making day-to-day operational decisions, and ensuring coordinated execution across a complex portfolio of rural health projects throughout New Jersey. Working closely with health systems, community organizations, technology companies, government agencies, and clinical partners, this role will oversee implementation activities from priority identification through deployment, evaluation, and scale.

This position will serve as a senior operational leader for the program, translating broader strategy into clear priorities, driving coordinated execution across internal and external teams, and independently identifying and resolving issues that could affect program timelines, partnerships, or outcomes. The Assistant Director will exercise judgment in determining when issues can be resolved independently and when escalation or strategic input from the Senior Director is needed. The role will also supervise two Rural Health Program Managers and one Senior Coordinator, providing clear priorities, coaching, coordination, and support to ensure effective execution across the portfolio.

The Assistant Director will report to the Senior Director of the SciTech Scity Innovation Hub and will work closely with the Senior Director on program strategy, external partnerships, and key stakeholder relationships, while taking primary responsibility for the day-to-day management and execution of the initiative. This position requires travel throughout the State of New Jersey, with a significant portion of travel taking place in South Jersey.

*This is a grant-funded position with current funding secured for a four-year period. Continued employment is contingent upon the ongoing availability of grant funds.

What You’ll Bring
You are an experienced healthcare or public-sector program leader who can move comfortably between people management, planning and execution. You know how to set priorities, hold teams accountable, anticipate challenges, and keep complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives moving forward. You are a thoughtful manager who develops staff, creates clarity, and knows when to step in to remove barriers or elevate decisions. You communicate effectively with executives, government partners, clinicians, health system leaders, technology companies, and community organizations, and can translate complex program activity into concise, decision-ready communications. You thrive in a fast-paced environment, bring sound judgment to ambiguous situations, and are motivated by the opportunity to build durable partnerships that improve healthcare access and outcomes in rural communities.

What You’ll Do
The Rural Health Assistant Director’s responsibilities will vary depending on the needs of the business but will focus on some combination of the following essential functions.

Program Leadership, Team Management & Execution (30%)

• Provide day-to-day leadership for the Rural Health Transformation portfolio, translating priorities into clear workplans, milestones, ownership, and measurable outcomes.

• Own the integrated execution of the RHT portfolio, ensuring individual projects move from provider discovery and solution selection through implementation, measurement, and replication.

• Supervise 2 Rural Health Program Managers and 1Senior Coordinator, including goal setting, workload management, coaching, performance feedback, professional development, and accountability for deliverables.

• Drive program objectives forward across multiple concurrent workstreams, proactively identifying barriers, resolving operational issues, and escalating decisions when needed.

• Maintain a portfolio-level view across projects, identifying common barriers, opportunities for shared infrastructure, replication potential, and where program resources should be concentrated for greatest impact.

• Ensure consistency and quality across project plans, timelines, budgets, risk mitigation strategies, documentation, dashboards, and reporting.

• Support the Senior Director in program planning, resource allocation, team development, and continuous improvement of the Rural Health Transformation operating model.

NJ DHS Coordination & Executive Communications (20%)

• Maintain clear communication and alignment with NJ DHS on program activities, timelines, grant requirements, risks, and decisions requiring state input.

• Prepare executive briefings, reports, presentations, talking points, decision memos, and other communications for SciTech Scity leadership, NJ DHS, health system executives, and other senior stakeholders.

• Translate complex implementation activity into concise, actionable updates that clearly identify progress, risks, decisions, and next steps.

• Coordinate and prepare leadership meetings, working sessions, and discussions, ensuring decisions and action items are documented and advanced.

Rural Health Project & Implementation Oversight (20%)

• Guide provider discovery, workflow assessments, implementation planning, training, onboarding, and change management activities led by the program team.

• Coordinate across health systems, community providers, technology vendors, implementation partners, and state stakeholders to address dependencies and keep projects on track.

• Oversee vendor and delivery-partner management, including SOW development, procurement coordination, contract implementation, and performance tracking.

• Support implementation in resource-constrained environments through proactive problem-solving and thoughtful adaptation to local operational needs.

Health System Engagement & Partnership Development (15%)

• Build and maintain trusted relationships with rural health systems, hospitals, provider organizations, community partners, and healthcare leaders across New Jersey.

• Support the Senior Director and Executive Director with broader partnership development with rural health systems, identifying opportunities for new initiatives, deeper collaboration, and expansion of the Rural Health Transformation program.

• Engage clinical and operational leaders to understand organizational priorities and identify areas where innovative care models can address meaningful needs.

• Represent SciTech Scity in partner meetings, working groups, site visits, and external discussions as appropriate.

Solution Evaluation, Strategy & Scale (10%)

• Provide oversight for implementation readiness assessments and due diligence for potential digital health and service solutions.

• Monitor portfolio progress using healthcare outcomes and leading indicators such as provider trust, workflow fit, adoption, and patient engagement.

• Ensure lessons learned across projects are translated into best practices, implementation frameworks, replication playbooks, and operational guidance.

• Identify emerging rural healthcare priorities and opportunities to leverage existing partnerships or build new collaborations.

Program Operations & Grant Management (5%)

• Oversee tracking of program milestones, deliverables, budgets, reporting requirements, and grant commitments.

• Support grant reporting, funding opportunities, program communications, and other cross-functional needs.

• Establish effective internal processes that improve coordination, visibility, and accountability across the rural health team.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree required; advanced degree in healthcare administration, public health, business, public policy, or a related field preferred.

• 8+ years of professional experience in healthcare, program management, consulting, public health, nonprofit management, government, health system operations, or a related field.

• Strong understanding of healthcare innovation and implementation, including digital health solutions, health system/provider operations, and the health technology ecosystem.

• Demonstrated experience leading complex, multi-stakeholder programs from strategy through execution.

• Prior experience directly supervising staff and managing team performance is required.

Desired Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities (KSAs)

• Strong working knowledge of the U.S. healthcare landscape, including health system operations, innovation trends, regulatory frameworks, and payment models.

• Demonstrated leadership and people-management skills, including the ability to set expectations, delegate effectively, coach staff, manage performance, and build a collaborative team environment.

• Exceptional executive communication skills, with the ability to synthesize complex information and tailor written and verbal messaging for senior leaders.

• Strong judgment and problem-solving skills, with the ability to independently resolve day-to-day issues while recognizing when escalation or executive input is needed.

• Ability to manage multiple priorities, drive accountability across teams, and maintain momentum in a fast-paced, evolving environment.

• Strong relationship-building and stakeholder-management skills, particularly with health systems, government partners, and community-based organizations.

Physical & Environmental Considerations

• Must be able to remain in a stationary position for prolonged periods of the work day while working at a desk and on a laptop.

• Must be comfortable working in an open office environment in close proximity to others and that has a moderate noise level.

• A valid driver's license and the ability to travel throughout New Jersey are required. Candidates must have reliable access to a vehicle to support regular travel to partner sites.

SciTech Scity may make reasonable accommodations to enable qualified individuals with a disability to perform the essential functions of the job to the extent that SciTech Scity may do so without undue hardship.

About SciTech Scity
Liberty Science Center is developing a “Science City of Tomorrow” in Jersey City—a 30-acre innovation campus called SciTech Scity devoted to using science and technology to address humanity’s greatest challenges, from inadequate healthcare to climate change, and create a better future for all of us. The new campus, including the existing Liberty Science Center, home of the largest planetarium in the Western Hemisphere, will be officially named the Frank J. Guarini Innovation Campus and is scheduled to open in 2027.

Classification, Location, & Schedule
This is a full-time, exempt position under the FLSA overtime provisions. The role follows a hybrid schedule, with a minimum of two days per week on-site in Jersey City and additional on-site days as needed based on business requirements.

This position requires travel to partner sites throughout New Jersey. Early mornings, evenings, and weekends may be required depending on project needs.

Compensation & Benefits
The base compensation for this role is $90,000-$100,000. The final salary offer will be commensurate with abilities, education, certifications, and experience. In addition to compensation for salary, you will receive compensation in the form of generous benefits, including, but not limited to:

• Medical, dental, life, vision, and pet insurance

• 403(b) defined contribution retirement plan with an outstanding employer match

• Considerable paid time off, including annual leave, sick leave, and federal holidays

• Long-term disability coverage

• Flexible spending accounts (pre-tax income for eligible health and/or dependent care expenses)

• Commuter benefits (pre-tax income for parking or mass transit expenses)

• Free parking

• On-site store discount

• On-site cafeteria discount

• A Liberty Science Center membership

Travel
This position requires travel throughout New Jersey. Candidates located within a reasonable commuting distance of Atlantic and Cumberland counties are preferred but not required.