What are the responsibilities and job description for the Associate Director, Clinical Performance Management position at Jobs@UIOWA?
Reporting to the Administrative Chief of Staff, the Associate Director, Clinical Performance Management provides leadership for an enterprise portfolio of clinical performance. The role converts executive direction into coordinated work plans, establishes accountability, and ensures that complex initiatives advance across clinical and administrative areas.
The Associate Director serves as an executive advisor and portfolio leader, with responsibility for setting approach, recommending priorities, resolving cross-functional barriers, and escalating decisions. The position leads assigned staff and creates the operating structure, performance measures, and governance discipline required to deliver sustained organizational results.
This role is distinguished by enterprise accountability, supervisory obligations, decision support to senior executives, and responsibility for implementation outcomes. It operates with significant independence and authority in a highly matrixed academic health care environment.
Key Responsibilities:
Own and lead the enterprise clinical performance and strategic execution portfolio assigned by the Administrative Chief of Staff and senior leadership.
Translate executive priorities into annual operational and strategic roadmaps, work plans, accountable owners, milestones, performance measures, and escalation paths.
Advise executive leaders on portfolio priorities, sequencing, resource tradeoffs, organizational risk, and readiness for implementation.
Direct high-visibility, cross-functional initiatives from executive authorization through implementation, stabilization, and outcome evaluation.
Establish and lead governance structures for assigned priorities, including charters, decision rights, executive reporting, issue escalation, and accountability routines.
Chair or provide senior administrative leadership for enterprise initiatives, committees, and executive-sponsored advisory groups within the assigned portfolio.
Provide strategic and operational leadership for the Clinical Performance team, ensuring alignment of team priorities, resources, and work products with organizational goals and executive expectations.
Direct, supervise, mentor, and develop professional staff through coaching, performance management, career development, succession planning, and ongoing feedback.
Establish clear performance expectations and accountability standards for team members, ensuring high-quality, timely, and professional execution of assigned work.
Oversee and approve team work products, analyses, presentations, executive communications, recommendations, and deliverables to ensure accuracy, consistency, and alignment with organizational priorities.
Foster a culture of collaboration, continuous improvement, innovation, accountability, and professional growth.
Assign and prioritize team workloads, monitor capacity, and ensure resources are effectively deployed to meet organizational objectives.
Develop team capabilities in strategic planning, performance improvement, change management, project execution, data analysis, executive communication, and leadership practices.
Serve as the final accountable leader for the performance, outcomes, and deliverables produced by the Clinical Performance team.
Set expectations for executive meetings and governance materials, ensuring decisions, risks, dependencies, and recommended actions are clearly presented.
Develop and maintain an integrated view of enterprise commitments, strategic dependencies, operational capacity, and competing priorities.
Lead complex organizational assessments, benchmarking, business analyses, and performance reviews; convert findings into executive recommendations and action plans.
Partner with clinical, physician, operational, financial, and administrative leaders to resolve barriers and improve quality, safety, access, workforce, financial, and operational outcomes.
Define and monitor key performance indicators and benefit-realization measures for assigned initiatives; intervene when progress or outcomes are at risk.
Determine when initiative work is ready to transition into routine operations and confirm that ownership, resources, controls, and monitoring are in place.
- Represent the Administrative Chief of Staff or assigned executive sponsors on enterprise initiatives and governance forums, as delegated.
Required Qualifications
Master’s degree in health care administration, business administration, finance or accounting or an equivalent combination of education and experience is required.
Seven years of progressively responsible leadership experience in health care administration, operations, strategy, performance improvement, business management, or a related field.
Demonstrated success leading complex, cross-functional initiatives and driving organizational performance through accountability, governance, and effective execution.
Experience advising senior leaders and executives, including synthesizing complex information, evaluating strategic options, and recommending courses of action.
Demonstrated experience supervising, coaching, and developing professional staff and fostering high-performing teams.
Proven ability to develop and implement performance measures, operational plans, executive reporting, and continuous improvement strategies.
Advanced analytical skills with the ability to interpret and translate clinical, operational, financial, workforce, and quality data into actionable recommendations.
Demonstrated ability to manage organizational, financial, and human resources while effectively navigating a complex, matrixed environment.
Excellent written, verbal, facilitation, negotiation, and executive presentation skills.
Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications and other business, reporting, and project management tools.
Demonstrated commitment to fostering a welcoming, respectful, and collaborative work environment..
Desired:
Senior leadership or management experience within an academic health system, academic medical center, or integrated health care organization.
Experience leading clinical performance, quality improvement, operational excellence, enterprise strategy implementation, or organizational transformation initiatives.
Experience interpreting and utilizing clinical quality, patient safety, access, workforce, financial, and operational performance metrics.
Experience with Epic, enterprise reporting tools, and data visualization platforms.
Knowledge of University and UI Health Care policies, governance structures, and regulatory requirements.
Experience working with Graduate Medical Education (GME), clinical departments, grants administration, external benchmarking, accreditation, or recognition programs.
Three (3) to five (5) years of experience managing, coordinating, or leading significant programs, projects, or operational initiatives.
Application Process: To be considered, applicants must upload a cover letter and resume (under the submission of relevant materials) that clearly address how they meet the listed required and desired qualifications of this position. Job openings are posted for a minimum of 7 calendar days. Successful candidates will be required to self-disclose any conviction history and will be subject to a criminal background check and credential/education verification.
Up to 5 professional references will be requested at a later step in the recruitment process. For questions, contact Sharon Walther at sharon-walther@uiowa.edu.
This position is not eligible for University sponsorship for employment authorization now or in the future.