Clinical Safety Director – Cigna Healthcare – Hybrid

The job profile for this position is Clinical Program Principal, which is a Band 5 Senior Contributor Career Track Role.

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The Clinical Safety Director is responsible for advancing patient safety initiatives across all care and health services delivery environments. Reporting to the Chief Clinical Quality and Safety Officer, this role focuses on translating enterprise clinical safety strategy into effective programs, practices, and measurable outcomes.

The Director is accountable for designing, implementing, and continuously strengthening a comprehensive clinical safety framework that proactively identifies risk, mitigates harm, and supports safe, reliable care. This role requires deep clinical safety expertise to lead complex initiatives, guide decision-making, and influence safety performance across all the care ecosystem.

Working in close partnership with clinical, operational, legal, compliance, pharmacy, technology, and fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) partners, the Clinical Safety Director supports systems that reduce risk, promote transparency, and reinforce a culture of learning and high reliability.

Key Responsibilities

• Clinical Safety Program Execution

  • Lead the implementation and advancement of enterprise clinical safety priorities across all care and health services delivery settings.

  • Translate clinical safety strategy into actionable frameworks, programs, and operating practices that can be consistently applied across the organization.

  • Serve as a subject matter expert in clinical safety, providing guidance on complex safety issues, emerging risks, and high-impact improvement opportunities.

  • Partner with clinical and operational leaders to integrate safety expectations into care models, workflows, and patient-facing processes.

• Safety Governance and Risk Management

  • Oversee clinical event reporting, investigation, and follow-up processes to ensure timely identification, escalation, and management of safety risks.

  • Lead or provide expert oversight for root cause analyses, failure mode and effects analyses, and other structured reviews to identify system vulnerabilities and prevent recurrence.

  • Ensure corrective and preventive actions are clearly defined, implemented, and monitored for effectiveness.

  • Collaborate closely with legal, compliance, and fraud, waste, and abuse (FWA) teams to support appropriate documentation, internal review, and external reporting of safety-related events.

• Measurement, Monitoring, and Reporting

  • Define and manage clinical safety performance indicators, including adverse events, serious safety events, and near-miss trends.

  • Leverage analytical tools to provide clear, actionable insights for executive leadership and clinical stakeholders.

  • Analyze safety data to identify patterns, emerging risks, and opportunities for system-level improvement.

  • Prepare and deliver clinical safety updates, analyses, and recommendations to leadership and governance forums, as appropriate.

• Clinical Safety Initiatives and Harm Reduction

  • Lead the execution of organization-wide initiatives focused on reducing preventable patient harm, including medication safety, infection prevention and control, and diagnostic or care transition safety.

  • Support the adoption of evidence-informed safety practices and standardized approaches across clinical programs and markets.

  • Partner with clinical informatics and technology teams to ensure systems effectively support safety reporting, monitoring, and improvement.

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of safety interventions and refine approaches based on outcomes, data, and operational feedback.

• Culture, Education, and Engagement

  • Support the advancement of high-reliability practices by reinforcing principles of safety science, human factors, and systems-based thinking.

  • Contribute to education and engagement efforts that equip clinicians and care teams with practical safety tools and knowledge.

  • Encourage multidisciplinary collaboration, open communication, and shared accountability for safety outcomes.

  • Act as a trusted advisor on clinical safety topics across the organization.

Qualifications:

• Clinical safety background with 5 years of relevant experience.

• Clinical background (e.g., RN, PharmD) and patient safety certification (e.g., CPPS, CPHQ) preferred.

• Demonstrated experience in patient safety, quality, or clinical risk management, including responsibility for leading programs or initiatives at scale.

• Experience designing, implementing, or transforming a clinical or patient safety program, or overseeing an established program, to manage the full lifecycle of safety events (e.g., event reporting, triage, investigation, prioritization, mitigation, and tracking).

• Direct experience leading structured safety investigations (e.g., Root Cause Analysis, Common Cause Analysis, Apparent Cause Analysis) and proactive risk assessments (e.g., FMEA).

• Deep expertise in performance improvement methodologies and systems-based approaches to care delivery.

• Demonstrated ability to operate autonomously within a defined strategic framework, exercising sound clinical judgment and the ability to lead through influence in a matrixed environment, coaching and partnering with leaders outside of direct reporting relationships.

• Experience managing and developing safety, quality, or clinical risk management professionals (e.g., safety specialists, analysts).

• Strong analytical skills with experience using safety data to identify trends, prioritize risk, and drive system-level improvements.

• Strong communication, collaboration, and change management skills.

If you will be working at home occasionally or permanently, the internet connection must be obtained through a cable broadband or fiber optic internet service provider with speeds of at least 10Mbps download/5Mbps upload.

Qualified applicants will be considered without regard to race, color, age, disability, sex, childbirth (including pregnancy) or related medical conditions including but not limited to lactation, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, veteran or military status, religion, national origin, ancestry, marital or familial status, genetic information, status with regard to public assistance, citizenship status or any other characteristic protected by applicable equal employment opportunity laws.

Please note that you must meet our posting guidelines to be eligible for consideration.  Policy can be reviewed at this link.

Qualified applicants with criminal histories will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with all federal, state and local ordinances.