Executive Director, Nursing Professional Practice

Job Posting Title:

Executive Director, Nursing Professional Practice

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Hiring Department:

Dell Medical School

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Position Open To:

All Applicants

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Weekly Scheduled Hours:

40

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FLSA Status:

Exempt

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Earliest Start Date:

Immediately

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Position Duration:

Expected to Continue

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Location:

AUSTIN, TX

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Job Details:

PURPOSE

The Executive Director of Nursing Professional Practice provides strategic leadership for the advancement of nursing professional practice, leadership development, and regulatory compliance across the organization. In collaboration with the Chief Nurse Executive and nursing leadership, this role drives the integration of evidence-based practice, innovative care models, and adherence to the Texas Nursing Practice Act to support high-quality patient care.

The Executive Director leads the development and standardization of professional practice models, shared governance structures, and clinical role clarity while supporting organizational readiness for nursing excellence recognition programs such as Magnet. This role also oversees nursing peer review processes and ensures compliance with professional and regulatory standards.

Through collaboration, data-driven improvement, and strategic governance, the Executive Director fosters a culture of nursing excellence, professional growth, innovation, and clinician well-being across the health system.

RESPONSIBILITIES

Nursing Practice Leadership

• Serves as the subject matter expert for nursing practice standards, compliance, and policy.
• Provides strategic leadership in advancing artificial intelligence (AI) and innovative nursing practice.
• Collaborates with clinical, IT, quality, and compliance to evaluate AI use in clinical decisions support, documentation and workflows, patient education and engagement, and staffing and workforce analytics.
• Integrates evidence-based best practices, and develops policies, procedures, and protocols.
• Embeds leadership development, professional practice models and shared governance principles into operations.
• Aligns nursing policies and procedures with evidence-based standards and organizational goals.
• Partners with nursing leadership to promote ethical and accountable practice.
• Collaborates to develop and implement data-driven professional fulfillment and well-being initiatives addressing unique needs of nurses.
• Partners with nursing and practice leadership to implement standard nursing models and operations.

Peer Review Oversight

• Leads and facilitates nursing peer review committees and processes for all nurses (ambulatory, hospital, and School of Nursing).
• Ensures timely, accurate, and compliant reviews of practice concerns.
• Maintains secure documentation and confidentiality of peer review materials.
• Provides guidance and training for committee members and nursing staff.
• Communicates appropriate resources for support to those involved in peer review process (i.e. EAP, etc.)

Compliance and Risk Management

• Monitors adherence to nursing regulations, standards, and Texas Board of Nursing practice requirements.
• Identifies and mitigates compliance risks through proactive measures.
• Develops policies, procedures, and protocols to support current regulations and best practices.
• Coordinates responses to practice inquiries and audits.

Education and Training Development

• Designs and delivers training on peer review, professional accountability, and compliance.
• Promotes continuous learning and ethical practice across nursing teams.
• Develops educational resources to support governance and excellence initiatives.

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Collects, analyzes, and reports nursing practice and peer review data.
• Uses data to identify trends and drive quality improvement initiatives.
• Prepares reports for leadership and regulatory bodies to demonstrate compliance and outcomes.

Budget and Resource Administration

• Develops and manages departmental budgets, including forecasting and variance analysis.
• Ensures cost-effective delivery of programs and initiatives.
• Allocates resources to support governance, education, and excellence readiness.

Excellence Program Readiness

• Guides organizational readiness for nursing excellence programs such as Magnet.
• Integrates program components into nursing operations and governance structures.
• Coaches leaders and councils to demonstrate sustained outcomes and best practices.
• Supports evidence collection and reporting for designation or redesignation.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master of Science of Nursing (MSN) degree.
• Active Registered Nurse (RN) license from the Texas State Board of Nursing.
• 8+ years of professional nursing experience, including leadership in practice standards or quality improvement.
• Previous Nursing Leadership experience.
• Previous Texas Nursing Peer Review experience is required.

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• 10 or more years of progressive nursing experience, including leadership of organization-wide practice initiatives.
• Certification in Nursing Professional Development (NPD-BC), Nurse Executive, or Quality/Safety (e.g., CPHQ).
• Leadership or project management certification (e.g., PMP) may be considered advantageous but not required.

SALARY RANGE

$200,572 + depending on qualifications

REQUIRED MATERIALS

• Resume/CV

• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest

Important for applicants who are NOT current university employees or contingent workers: You will be prompted to submit your resume the first time you apply, then you will be provided an option to upload a new Resume for subsequent applications. Any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) will be uploaded in the Application Questions section; you will be able to multi-select additional files. Before submitting your online job application, ensure thatALLRequired Materials have been uploaded. Once your job application has been submitted, you cannot make changes.

Important for Current university employees and contingent workers: As a current university employee or contingent worker, you MUST apply within Workday by searching for Find UT Jobs. If you are a current University employee, log-in to Workday, navigate to your Worker Profile, click the Career link in the left hand navigation menu and then update the sections in your Professional Profile before you apply. This information will be pulled in to your application. The application is one page and you will be prompted to upload your resume. In addition, you must respond to the application questionspresented to upload any additional Required Materials (letter of interest, references, etc.) that were noted above.

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Employment Eligibility:

Regular staff who have been employed in their current position for the last six continuous months are eligible for openings being recruited for through University-Wide or Open Recruiting, to include both promotional opportunities and lateral transfers. Staff who are promotion/transfer eligible may apply for positions without supervisor approval.

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Retirement Plan Eligibility:

The retirement plan for this position is Teacher Retirement System of Texas (TRS), subject to the position being at least 20 hours per week and at least 135 days in length. This position has the option to elect the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) instead of TRS, subject to the position being 40 hours per week and at least 135 days in length.

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Background Checks:

A criminal history background check will be required for finalist(s) under consideration for this position.

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Equal Opportunity Employer:

The University of Texas at Austin, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer,complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action. The University is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions.

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Pay Transparency:

The University of Texas at Austin will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor's legal duty to furnish information.

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Employment Eligibility Verification:

If hired, you will be required to complete the federal Employment Eligibility Verification I-9 form. You will be required to present acceptable and original documents to prove your identity and authorization to work in the United States. Documents need to be presented no later than the third day of employment. Failure to do so will result in loss of employment at the university.

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E-Verify:

The University of Texas at Austin use E-Verify to check the work authorization of all new hires effective May 2015. The university's company ID number for purposes of E-Verify is 854197. For more information about E-Verify, please see the following:

• E-Verify Poster (English and Spanish) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (English) [PDF]
• Right to Work Poster (Spanish) [PDF]

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Compliance:

Employees may be required to report violations of law under Title IX and the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Crime Statistics Act (Clery Act). If this position is identified a Campus Security Authority (Clery Act), you will be notified and provided resources for reporting. Responsible employees under Title IX are defined and outlined in HOP-3031.

The Clery Act requires all prospective employees be notified of the availability of the Annual Security and Fire Safety report. You may access the most recent report here or obtain a copy at University Compliance Services, 1616 Guadalupe Street, UTA 2.206, Austin, Texas 78701.

Required

Preferred

Job Industries

• Other