Director - Operations & Project Management Office

Company Description
At Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford, we know world‑renowned care begins with world‑class caring. That’s why we combine advanced technologies and breakthrough discoveries with family‑centered care, and why we provide our caregivers with continuing education and state‑of‑the‑art facilities, like the newly remodeled Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital Stanford. We need caring, committed people on our team – like you – to help us heal humanity, one child and family at a time.

Job Summary
The Director reports to the SVP of Operations and serves as the primary executive partner to operational and clinical leadership on all operational initiatives. The role translates business strategies and initiatives into operational plans; prioritizes strategic plans and capital projects; creates plans for implementation; develops complex forecasting models, budgets, resource allocation plans, and oversees labor cost strategy in support of these initiatives. The Director provides overall leadership for the Project Management Office (PMO) that supports hospital operations transformation within the Pediatric Healthcare Enterprise, managing a portfolio of transformation programs across clinical workforce redesign, care pathway standardization, and patient capacity and throughput improvement.

Essential Functions
The essential functions listed are typical examples of work performed by positions in this job classification. Employees may also perform other duties as assigned. All duties must comply with Joint Commission Requirements and the hospital’s policies, including sensitivity to cultural diversity, patient care, safety, and quality programs.

Design, establish, and manage the PMO governance framework, project intake and prioritization process, methodology, templates, and tooling to support enterprise operations.

Own the operations project portfolio end‑to‑end: intake, prioritization, active monitoring, portfolio‑level risk management, and resource allocation across the PMO team.

Facilitate the Transformation Steering Committee monthly, preparing materials, driving the agenda, and ensuring decisions are documented and acted upon; present portfolio performance updates to senior management.

Serve as the primary relationship owner for senior management, department leaders, and frontline nursing and clinical staff, building and maintaining trust across all levels.

Lead workforce and staffing transformation programs, partnering with HR and Nursing leadership on nursing model redesign, staffing structure optimization, and clinical role and team design initiatives.

Lead care pathway standardization programs in partnership with physician and nursing leaders, overseeing development, piloting, and scaling of evidence‑based protocols and care models.

Oversee patient capacity and throughput improvement programs, including inpatient flow, emergency department access optimization, operating room capacity, discharge planning, and bed management initiatives.

Manage the PMO team to assure quality services and promote positive employee relations; recruit, onboard, develop, and evaluate all PMO team members.

Establish and enforce project governance standards across the clinical enterprise, including charter approval, stakeholder engagement, stage gates, escalation thresholds, and lessons learned practices.

Serve as the cross‑PMO coordination point with IS PMO and Facilities PMO Directors, establishing clear scope boundaries and a monthly alignment cadence to manage shared dependencies.

Deliver monthly executive portfolio dashboards and reporting to senior management.

Identify early‑win programs with high visibility and achievable timelines to build PMO credibility and organizational appetite for broader transformation.

Collaborate with dyad partners to ensure alignment on clinical operational strategic initiatives, creating program plans that support the hospital’s mission and vision across all service lines.

Resolve highly complex or unusual organizational problems using advanced analytical thought and judgment with long‑term impact on clinical operations.

Develop and maintain effective systems of information, records, and reports.

Recommend and evaluate consulting or change‑management support, identifying and developing internal resources as needed.

Qualifications
Minimum Qualifications
Any combination of education and experience that would likely provide the required knowledge, skills, and abilities is qualifying.

Education
Bachelor’s degree in Health Administration, Business, or a related field required. Master’s degree (MHA, MBA, MSN, or equivalent) strongly preferred.

Experience
Eight (8) or more years of progressively responsible and directly related project and program management experience, with at least four (4) years in a hospital or health system setting.

License/Certification
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred. Program Management Professional (PgMP) preferred. Lean or Six Sigma certification preferred.

Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities

Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, across all levels from frontline staff to C‑suite executives.

Ability to manage complex programs and portfolios, including people, costs, scope, and timelines across multiple concurrent initiatives.

Ability to mediate and resolve complex organizational problems and competing priorities with diplomacy and influence.

Demonstrated experience building or maturing a project management or operational function.

Proven track record leading complex, multi‑stakeholder operational transformation programs in a clinical environment—workforce redesign, care model change, or throughput improvement.

Ability to strategize, plan, and implement change when the PMO does not directly own the resources executing the work.

Ability to build a PMO from inception, including governance frameworks, methodology, templates, and tooling.

Knowledge of clinical operations, nursing workforce dynamics, and care delivery models in an acute care hospital setting.

Knowledge of principles and practices of organization, administration, fiscal management, and personnel management.

Knowledge of project and portfolio management methodologies, including PMI/PMBOK and Agile/hybrid approaches.

Knowledge of healthcare operational improvement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma, or equivalent process‑improvement frameworks.

Knowledge of local, state, and federal regulatory requirements related to clinical operations, to the extent needed to coordinate with clinical managers and compliance teams.

Skilled in executive‑level presentation and reporting, including producing portfolio dashboards and performance summaries for senior leadership and governance bodies.

Skilled in building and sustaining trusted relationships with clinical leaders, medical staff, and operational executives in a high‑complexity healthcare environment.

Physical Requirements
The Physical Requirements and Working Conditions in which the job is typically performed are available from the Occupational Health Department. Reasonable accommodations will be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the job.

Additional Information
Pay Range: Minimum to Midpoint Range (Hourly): $89.95 to $116.93.

Stanford Medicine Children’s Health (SMCH) strongly values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity and non‑discrimination in all of its policies and practices, including employment. SMCH does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity, religion, age, national or ethnic origin, political beliefs, marital status, medical condition, genetic information, veteran status, or disability. People of all genders, racial and ethnic groups, people with disabilities, and veterans are encouraged to apply. Qualified applicants with criminal convictions will be considered after an individualized assessment of the conviction and the job requirements, in compliance with the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance.

Benefits Eligible: Yes.

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