Director, Nursing

About the Role

The Director, Nursing provides strategic leadership and oversight of nursing services across Central Health's specialty care settings. This role is responsible for professional nursing practice, clinical quality, patient safety, regulatory compliance, workforce planning and development, and advancing equitable, patient‑centered care. The Director collaborates with operational leaders, providers, and interdisciplinary teams to drive standardized practice, operational excellence, and continuous improvement while ensuring nursing resources, clinical outcomes, and care delivery models support organizational goals. Oversight includes all non‑physician medical staff such as medical assistants and nurses, as well as the creation and maintenance of evidence‑based policies and processes aligned with Joint Commission and other industry standards. Direct patient care may be provided as needed.

Essential Functions

• Provides strategic leadership for nursing practice across specialty care settings, ensuring safe, effective, evidence‑based, patient‑centered care consistent with organizational goals and professional standards.
• Partners with operational leaders to optimize staffing models, patient access, clinical workflows, resource deployment, and team‑based care delivery while maintaining quality, safety, and operational efficiency.
• Provides direct supervision to assigned nursing leaders.
• Leads the development, coaching, performance management, and succession planning of Nurse Managers, Assistant Nurse Managers, and other nursing leaders to strengthen leadership capability and organizational effectiveness.
• Provides nursing leadership and subject‑matter expertise for clinic expansions, new service lines, care model redesign, and change management efforts.
• Assists with the development and implementation of workforce strategies to support recruitment, retention, succession planning, employee engagement, workforce well‑being, and professional development of nursing and clinical support staff.
• Carries out leadership responsibilities in accordance with organizational policies and applicable law, including workforce planning, hiring, onboarding, goal setting, coaching, performance evaluation, development, recognition, corrective action, and succession planning.
• Establishes, implements, and evaluates nursing standards, clinical protocols, policies, procedures, and care delivery models to ensure regulatory compliance, clinical excellence, and standardized practice across all sites.
• Leads nursing quality, patient safety, infection prevention, risk management, and patient experience initiatives.
• Utilizes clinical, workforce, financial, and operational data to establish performance metrics, monitor outcomes, and drive accountability and continuous improvement across ambulatory services.
• Partners with clinical informatics, information technology, and operational leaders to optimize electronic health record workflows, clinical documentation standards, digital tools, virtual care, and technology‑enabled care delivery.
• Advances health equity by integrating culturally responsive care, social drivers of health strategies, and data‑informed approaches that improve outcomes for diverse and underserved populations.
• Ensures compliance with applicable federal, state, regulatory, accreditation, and professional practice requirements, including survey readiness, audits, nursing peer review, and corrective action planning.
• Directs teams that oversee and interface with the patient, family, and primary care provider to ensure the patient complies with the provider’s treatment plan.
• Anticipates potential problem situations and intervenes to offset any adverse impact.
• May support nursing peer review process on an ad‑hoc basis.
• Works in clinical settings providing direct patient care as needed and appropriate.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Knowledge of professional nursing practice, ambulatory care delivery, clinical quality, patient safety, regulatory compliance, and evidence‑based practice.
• Strategic thinking with the ability to translate organizational goals into measurable nursing plans, standards, and outcomes.
• Collaborative leadership and the ability to succeed within clinical‑operational partnership and matrixed accountability structures.
• Advanced communication, facilitation, conflict resolution, coaching, and executive presentation skills.
• Ability to lead change, build psychological safety, engage diverse stakeholders, and sustain standard work across varied clinical environments.
• Proficiency with electronic health records, Microsoft 365 applications, dashboards, and clinical or workforce analytics tools.
• Knowledge of Joint Commission processes and requirements, as well as other local, state, and federal regulations and standards.

Qualifications

• Education
  • Bachelor’s degree in Nursing (BSN) – Required.
  • Master’s degree in Nursing, Health Care Administration, or Business Administration – Preferred.
• Experience
  • 7 years progressive nursing leadership experience – Required.
  • 5 years leadership experience in ambulatory, outpatient, community health, primary care, specialty practice, or a comparable multi‑site clinical environment – Required.
  • 5 years demonstrated experience leading quality improvement, workforce development, regulatory compliance, and clinical operations initiatives – Preferred.
  • 5 years experience establishing or maintaining Joint Commission standards – Preferred.
• Licenses and Certifications
  • Active and unrestricted State of Texas Registered Nurse (RN) license – Required upon hire.
  • Basic Life Support (BLS) for Health Care Providers (American Heart Association) – Required upon hire.
  • National certification in ambulatory care nursing (AMBBC) – Required within 2 years of hire.