Vice President, Memory Care

JOB SUMMARY

The Vice President of Memory Care provides enterprise-wide leadership and strategic direction for Experience Senior Living’s Memory Care philosophy, programming, operational standards, and resident experience across the portfolio. This role serves as the organization’s subject-matter leader for dementia care and is responsible for establishing a consistent, evidence-informed approach that supports residents living with cognitive change while promoting dignity, independence, purpose, safety, and meaningful engagement.

The Vice President of Memory Care will develop and advance organizational Memory Care standards, leader and team member education, training programs, competency validation, quality measures and performance expectations while partnering with Operations, Health & Wellness, Resident Experience, Culinary, Sales, Human Resources, and community leadership to ensure Memory Care is integrated across the full resident and family experience.

As the organization grows, this role will provide strategic oversight for new community development, program implementation, leadership onboarding and development, community stabilization, and continuous quality improvement. Through enterprise standards, data-driven performance monitoring, leadership development, and targeted community support, the Vice President of Memory Care will strengthen consistency and accountability while advancing a differentiated Memory Care experience across Experience Senior Living.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following essential functions are fundamental job duties of the position and are to be performed with or without appropriate reasonable accommodation(s).

Memory Care Strategy and Portfolio Leadership

• Lead the development, implementation, and ongoing advancement of ESL’s enterprise-wide Memory Care strategy, philosophy, and operating model.
• Establish organizational standards that promote person-centered, evidence-informed dementia care and support resident dignity, independence, purpose, safety, meaningful engagement, and quality of life.
• Translate ESL’s Memory Care philosophy into clear operational standards, performance expectations, tools, resources, and measures of success across the portfolio.
• Ensure consistent execution of Memory Care standards while allowing appropriate flexibility to meet individual resident needs, community dynamics, and state-specific regulatory requirements.
• Evaluate portfolio performance, emerging trends, organizational needs, and opportunities and provide strategic recommendations to executive leadership.
• Establish short- and long-term priorities that support the continued evolution and differentiation of ESL’s Memory Care experience.

Quality Regulatory and Operational Oversight

• Establish and oversee Memory Care quality and performance standards encompassing resident care, engagement, safety, dining, family experience, staffing, programming, documentation, and operational practices.
• Develop a consistent framework for evaluating Memory Care performance using quality data, resident outcomes, regulatory results, operational indicators, stakeholder feedback, and direct community observations.
• Partner with Health and Wellness leadership to ensure wellness practices supporting Memory Care residents including evaluations , service plans, medication management, changes of condition, documentation, and care delivery align with  resident needs, organizational standards and regulatory requirements.
• Identify emerging risks and performance gaps and establish appropriate quality-improvement strategies, corrective actions, and leadership accountability.
• Provide strategic support for regulatory readiness, survey response, and corrective action  related to Memory Care operations.
• Monitor  regulatory updates, research  industry developments and incorporate relevant evidenced and emerging practices into ESL’s Memory Care program Model. .
• Establish reporting and performance- monitoring processes and  tools that provide  leaders with actionable information and support data informed decision making.  

Community Support and Strategic Support

• Evaluate Memory Care  performance across the portfolio and identify communities requiring focused intervention, additional resources, or performance-improvement support
• Provide strategic oversight for communities experiencing leadership vacancies, operational challenges, regulatory concerns, resident or family experience issues or other significant performance needs.
• Determine when specialized intervention  is required and strategically deploy  and  organizational  resources based on community needs and priorities.
• Partner with Operations, Health & Wellness,  Finance and community leadership to address barriers related to staffing, labor, leadership, resources, quality, and program execution.
• Establish clear objectives and measures of success for community interventions and ensure appropriate transition and sustainability plans are implemented following periods of interim support.
• Identify  successful practices and scalable solutions and promote their adoption across the portfolio to strengthen organizational performance.

Leadership Development & Organizational Capability

• Build organizational Memory Care capability by establishing leadership expectations, competencies, education, and development strategies for leaders responsible for Memory Care services.

• Provide leadership, direction, and development to  assigned resources. . Build organizational Memory Care capability by establishing leadership expectations, competencies, education, and development strategies for leaders responsible for Memory Care services.
• Partner with Operations and Human Resources to strengthen  recruitment, selection, onboarding, development, performance management, and retention of Memory Care leadership.
• Establish  and oversee dementia-specific education and competency expectations for leaders and team members, including communication, engagement, behavioral support, resident dignity, family partnership, and person- centered care.  
• Ensure education extends beyond training completion through appropriate competency validation, observation, coaching, reinforcement, and accountability for application in practice.
• Coach and advise Executive Directors, Directors of Memory Care, Health and Wellness leaders, and other community leaders regarding Memory Care leadership,  program execution and operational needs..
• Develop internal talent and succession strategies that create a sustainable pipeline of qualified  Memory Care leaders as the organization grows. .
• Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and shared accountability for the Memory Care outcomes across community and organizational leadership. .

Resident, Family and Memory Care  Experience

• Establish organizational expectations for differentiated Memory Care  experience centered on knowing and supporting the whole person, including   each resident’s abilities, interests, routines, preferences, relationships, history and life story.
• Ensure meaningful engagement and purpose are integrated  throughout the daily life rather than  limited to scheduled programming.
• Partner with Resident Experience leadership to develop purposeful and continuously improve purposeful, adaptable and individualized Memory Care engagement strategies, resources and programming.
• Establish standards for family orientation, communication, education, engagement , and ongoing   partnership throughout the resident journey.
• Use  resident and family feedback to identify trends and guide sustainable improvements to programs, practices, and the overall Memory Care experience.
•  Partner with Culinary, Operations, Resident Experience, Health & Wellness, and other functional leaders to advance dining, environmental, hospitality, wellness and care practices that promote  comfort, choice, independence,  connection, and belonging.
• Serve as an executive-level resource for complex resident or family situations requiring  additional Memory Care expertise or organizational support. .

Program Development, Innovation & Continuous Improvement

• Lead the continued development and refinement of  ESL’s Memory Care model based on resident outcomes, family feedback, team experience, regulatory developments, research and evolving dementia-care practices.
• Develop and maintain scalable Memory Care standards , operating tools, educational  resources, competency frameworks, communication materials, and quality-review processes.
• Evaluate emerging  technologies, products, services, partnerships, and practices  that may improve resident quality of life, family experience, team effectiveness, or operational performance.
• Lead  pilots and strategic initiatives, establish measurable outcomes, evaluate effectiveness , and make recommendations regarding implementation, refinement, expansion, or discontinuation
• Provide Memory Care operational and resident-experience expertise during new community planning and design to ensure neighborhoods support resident safety, independence, dignity, meaningful engagement, appropriate staffing, and efficient operations.
• Establish and oversee Memory Care readiness for new community openings, including leadership recruitment and onboarding, team training and competency validation operating systems and standards, resident assessment process, family communication, programming and implementation of ESL’s Memory Care model.
• Provide strategic oversight through pre-opening, opening, and post-opening stabilization to support consistent execution of Memory Care standards and a successful transition to ongoing community operations.
• Partner with  Sales and Marketing to ensure  ESL’s Memory Care philosophy, services, resident experience and value proposition are communicated accurately and consistently.
• Maintain relationships with professional organizations, dementia-care experts, educational institutions, and other external resources.

Cross Functional and Executive leadership

• Serves as ESL’s enterprise Memory Care subject-matter leader and strategic partner to executive and functional leadership.
• Provides clear recommendations regarding portfolio performance, emerging risks, resource needs, industry developments, and opportunities while promoting shared accountability across Operations, Health & Wellness, Resident Experience, Culinary, Sales, Human Resources, Finance, and Risk Management.
• Develop relationships with professional organizations, dementia-care experts, educational institutions, vendors, and other external partners to strengthen organizational knowledge and resources.

Travel and Schedule Expectations

• Maintains a visible presence throughout the ESL portfolio through regular community visits and direct engagement with leaders and teams.

• Responds to significant operational, regulatory, resident, family, and leadership needs and provides executive-level support when escalation or specialized Memory Care expertise is required.