Position Location:

Hospital for Special Care

Scheduled Weekly Hours:

40

Work Shift:

First Shift

Department:

Patient Care Services

We are dedicated to creating an environment of care and engagement that makes us one of the most desirable places to work, providing exceptional care to each patient each and every day!

DIRECTOR OF NURSING OPERATIONS (6093)

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of Nursing Operations is a senior nursing leader accountable for the safe, effective, efficient, and equitable delivery of nursing operations across the organization. Reporting to the Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), the Director serves as a key liaison among the CNO, Clinical Managers, off-shift nursing leadership, and the Staffing Office. The Director provides visible leadership across shifts; optimizes staffing, scheduling, workforce deployment, and operational resources; advances quality, safety, regulatory readiness, and performance improvement; and develops nurse leaders to achieve organizational and nursing strategic priorities.

QUALIFICATIONS

• Required: Current, unrestricted licensure as a Registered Nurse in the State of Connecticut.

• Required: Master’s degree in Nursing; or BSN with a master’s degree in management, organizational development, healthcare administration, or a related field.

• Required: Minimum of five years of progressive nursing leadership/management experience.

• Strongly preferred: Previous nursing leadership experience at the Director level or comparable scope of accountability.

• Required: Demonstrated leadership, interpersonal, conflict-management, and relationship-building skills.

• Required: Excellent written, verbal, presentation, and executive communication skills.

• Required: Demonstrated knowledge of nursing operations, staffing and scheduling, workforce management, quality and patient safety, regulatory requirements, performance improvement, and fiscal stewardship.

• Required: Ability to interpret and use workforce, quality, operational, and financial data to guide decisions and improve outcomes.

• Preferred: Proficiency with workforce-management, scheduling, productivity, and other complex healthcare information systems.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS & ACCOUNTABILITIES

Leadership, Strategy & Change

• Translates the nursing and organizational strategic plan into operational priorities, measurable goals, and sustained results.

• Provides visible, accessible leadership across shifts and locations, including regular engagement with off-shift nursing personnel and the HfSC Satellite.

• Leads complex operational change using systems thinking, sound judgment, evidence, and structured change-management principles.

• Serves as a professional resource, coach, and escalation point for Clinical Managers and other nursing leaders.

• Represents the CNO and nursing leadership, as delegated, to support continuity of leadership and successful patient care operations.

• Leads or supports crisis response, operational contingency planning, and organizational resilience activities.

Workforce Leadership & Optimization

• Directly manages designated nursing operational leaders, including off-shift managers and the Staffing Office Manager, and establishes clear expectations, accountability, and development plans.

• Directly manages Care Coordination, Case Management and Social Work departments.

• Ensures equitable, transparent, and efficient house-wide staffing and scheduling practices consistent with patient needs, staff competencies, budget parameters, policies, and regulatory requirements.

• Forecasts short- and long-range staffing needs and develops mitigation plans for vacancies, leaves, orientation needs, census changes, and other workforce demands.

• Manages and optimizes nursing staffing resources, including licensed nurses, CNAs, PSAs, and other assigned resources.

• Audits scheduling and timekeeping practices, including coding, PTO, staffing requirements, and accuracy of staffing-needs data; addresses trends and variances.                                                                                                 

• Ensures effective use and continuous optimization of workforce scheduling systems, including ShiftWizard or successor platforms.

• Partners with Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, nursing leaders, and education partners on recruitment, onboarding, engagement, retention, succession planning, and workforce stabilization strategies.

• Develops pipelines and relationships that support recruitment of student nurses and other priority talent.

Quality, Safety, Practice & Regulatory Leadership

• Partners with the CNO, Quality, Clinical Managers, and interdisciplinary leaders to advance nursing-sensitive quality, patient safety, and experience outcomes.

• Promotes a just culture, psychological safety, high reliability, and continuous learning; ensures timely escalation and follow-through on identified risks or operational deficiencies.

• Uses performance-improvement and improvement-science methods to identify gaps, implement interventions, evaluate outcomes, and sustain gains.

• Supports compliance with applicable federal and state regulations, accreditation standards, organizational policies, and professional nursing standards.

• Maintains operational oversight of assigned clinical support systems, including telemonitoring resources and system functionality, and escalates technology or workflow risks appropriately.

• Promotes evidence-based practice and standardization of care delivery in partnership with clinical and professional development leaders.

Financial & Business Stewardship

• Monitors nursing staffing metrics, FTE utilization, productivity, overtime, premium labor, and budget performance; identifies trends and implements corrective action when indicated.

• Provides managers and the CNO with clear, actionable analysis of workforce, operational, quality, and financial performance.

• Balances patient care requirements, workforce well-being, quality outcomes, and fiscal responsibility when allocating resources.

• Participates in annual operating and workforce planning and supports business cases, resource allocation, and growth initiatives as directed by the CNO.

Communication, Collaboration & Healthy Work Environment

• Builds trusting, collaborative relationships across nursing, medical staff, ancillary departments, Human Resources, Finance, Quality, and other organizational partners.

• Communicates decisions, expectations, and operational priorities clearly and transparently and adapts communication to diverse audiences.

• Facilitates constructive conflict resolution, consensus building, and interdisciplinary problem solving.

• Promotes psychological safety, staff engagement, professional accountability, inclusion, recognition, and a healthy work environment.

• Rounds with leaders and staff to identify barriers, reinforce priorities, recognize contributions, and ensure timely follow-up.

Leader Development & Professional Accountability

• Develops Clinical Managers and other nursing leaders through coaching, mentoring, feedback, performance management, and succession planning.

• Models ethical leadership, integrity, accountability, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, and commitment to the organization’s mission, vision, and values.

• Maintains professional competence and pursues ongoing leadership development relevant to nursing operations and executive practice.

• Supports leader well-being and sustainable leadership practices while maintaining accountability for operational outcomes.

KEY PERFORMANCE ACCOUNTABILITIES

• Nursing vacancy, turnover, retention, time-to-fill, and workforce pipeline performance.

• Staffing effectiveness, FTE utilization, productivity, overtime/premium labor, and scheduling performance.

• Leader and staff engagement, healthy work environment indicators, and leadership development/succession progress.

• Nursing-sensitive quality, patient safety, patient experience, and regulatory readiness outcomes.

• Timely completion and sustainment of assigned strategic, operational, and performance-improvement initiatives.

AONL NURSE LEADER CORE COMPETENCY ALIGNMENT

The role is designed to demonstrate competency across the current AONL Nurse Leader Core Competency domains. Role expectations should be incorporated into performance evaluation, leadership development, and succession planning.

AONL Domain: Application to Director of Nursing Operations

Leader Within: Self-awareness, emotional intelligence, reflective practice, professional identity, career development, and leader well-being.

Leadership: Systems thinking, change management, courageous decision-making, transformation, crisis leadership, and organizational resilience.

Professionalism: Ethical and organizational accountability, advocacy, governance, and equitable care and workforce practices.

Communication and Relational Leadership: Clear communication, influence, relationship management, psychological safety, and interprofessional collaboration.

Knowledge of the Health Care Environment: Practice oversight, evidence-based practice, quality and safety, regulatory leadership, organizational sustainability, and digital/informatics leadership.

Business Skills and Principles: Financial management, strategic management, and workforce leadership and optimization.

PHYSICAL DEMANDS

The position requires frequent walking, standing, and sitting; carrying documents and work materials; reaching and bending to access work areas; and manual dexterity to use computers and other technology. The role may occasionally require assistance with patient transport or participation in emergency patient-care activities, consistent with organizational policy and role competency.

COGNITIVE DEMANDS

Requires independent problem identification and resolution, systems thinking, rapid prioritization, adaptability, and sound decision-making in complex and changing environments. The position requires the ability to analyze and synthesize clinical, workforce, operational, quality, and financial information; communicate complex concepts; negotiate and resolve conflict; maintain attention in environments with competing demands; and use quantitative information to support operational and financial decisions.

WORK DEMANDS

Work is performed primarily indoors in a healthcare environment and requires frequent interaction with staff, leaders, patients, families, and interdisciplinary partners. The position includes on-call responsibilities and emergency response as assigned.  Role also requires frequent interaction with staff on all shifts including staff meetings.  Occupational exposure may include bloodborne or airborne pathogens, body fluids, infectious diseases, latex, antineoplastic agents, and other hazardous medications or materials.

ROLE REVIEW NOTE

This revision preserves the operational intent of the existing Director of Nursing Operations role while expanding accountability for strategy, workforce optimization, leader development, quality and safety, regulatory leadership, financial stewardship, communication, and healthy work environment expectations consistent with contemporary nurse-leader practice.

Compensation and Benefits

At Hospital for Special Care, we are committed to supporting the health, financial well-being, and professional growth of our team members. The wage range for this position is $ 60.27 to $ 93.41.  Eligible employees may participate in a comprehensive benefits package that includes employer-subsidized medical and dental, vision insurance; a 403(b) retirement savings plan with an employer match of up to 6%; paid time off; employer-paid life insurance; short-term and long-term disability insurance; a Health Savings Account (HSA) with employer contributions; Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA); an Employee Assistance Program (EAP); tuition reimbursement and professional development opportunities; voluntary benefits, including pet insurance; employee wellness programs with access to our onsite fitness and aquatics center; an employee referral bonus program; and meaningful employee recognition and appreciation initiatives. Eligibility for certain benefits is based on scheduled hours worked.