Director of Health Services - RN or Nurse Practitioner

Job Description

Job Description

Director of Health Services - RN or Nurse Practitioner

Location: Santa Cruz, California

Job Type: Full-Time, W-2

Work Setting: Community-based behavioral health, residential, outpatient, and integrated health services

Schedule: Monday through Friday; hybrid eligible for candidates in the local Santa Cruz area

Pay: $130,000-$150,000 annually for Registered Nurse candidates or $180,000-$200,000 annually for Nurse Practitioner candidates, plus an additional medical on-call stipend

Position Overview

A community-based nonprofit health and human services organization is seeking a Director of Health Services to lead medical operations across residential, outpatient, behavioral-health, and integrated-care programs in Santa Cruz.

This is a non-patient-facing, department-level healthcare leadership position. The Director will not carry a routine patient caseload, provide scheduled direct care, or cover bedside or clinical shifts. Clinical involvement is focused on consultation, escalation support, risk guidance, on-call leadership, and oversight of medical services.

The Director will oversee medical operations, lead a multidisciplinary clinical team, establish consistent standards, strengthen systems across programs, and collaborate with senior leadership on quality, compliance, staffing, service development, and organizational growth.

Responsibilities

• Lead medical services across community-based residential, outpatient, behavioral-health, and integrated-care programs.
• Hold operational responsibility for the medical department and provide clear clinical and administrative leadership.
• Supervise, coach, onboard, evaluate, and hold nursing and medical staff accountable for clinical, operational, and performance expectations.
• Oversee staffing, schedules, daily operations, training, competency validation, and performance management.
• Develop, implement, interpret, and improve medical policies, standards of care, procedures, and clinical workflows.
• Strengthen systems for medical intake, triage, medication management, documentation, emergency response, care coordination, and transitions to higher levels of care.
• Monitor clinical documentation, regulatory compliance, treatment records, billing standards, performance measures, and medical-service outcomes.
• Lead quality-improvement initiatives, audits, regulatory preparation, corrective-action plans, staff education, and follow-up monitoring.
• Review audit findings, identify root causes, develop practical corrective responses, and ensure sustainable improvement.
• Provide consultative guidance regarding intake concerns, clinical emergencies, medication issues, case-management needs, and higher-level-of-care decisions.
• Collaborate with medical, operational, behavioral-health, program, and executive leaders.
• Communicate clinical risks, operational needs, system priorities, and recommendations clearly to senior leadership.
• Address clinical disagreements, performance concerns, and operational barriers confidently and collaboratively.
• Support staffing models, budgets, contracts, billing compliance, service development, and sustainability planning.
• Help design, standardize, and expand medical services across programs.
• Participate in a consultative medical on-call rotation, including after-hours, weekend, and holiday availability as assigned.

Non-Patient-Facing Leadership Scope

This position does not include a routine patient caseload, bedside assignments, scheduled clinical visits, or shift-based direct care. The Director’s clinical role is focused on department oversight, staff consultation, clinical escalation, risk assessment, systems development, quality, compliance, and on-call leadership guidance.

Required Qualifications

• Graduate of an accredited Registered Nursing or Nurse Practitioner program.
• Active, unrestricted California RN license or California Nurse Practitioner license as an FNP or PMHNP.
• Current BLS certification for healthcare providers.
• At least three years of direct clinical staff-supervision experience.
• Demonstrated responsibility for training, performance management, accountability, scheduling, and daily operations.
• Significant healthcare leadership experience beyond the individual shift or unit level.
• Experience developing, implementing, or substantially improving clinical policies, workflows, quality systems, or medical-service operations.
• Strong experience with clinical operations, documentation, regulatory compliance, triage, quality improvement, and staff leadership.
• Demonstrated ability to respond to audit findings, implement corrective actions, and monitor sustained compliance.
• Strong executive-level written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to present recommendations, explain clinical risks, influence decisions, and collaborate with senior leaders.
• Confident, decisive, and collaborative leadership style.
• Proficiency with Microsoft Outlook, Excel, Teams, electronic health records, and similar platforms.
• Valid driver’s license and vehicle insurance.
• Ability to travel locally between programs and maintain an in-person presence as operationally necessary.
• Ability to pass required criminal-record clearance and health screening.

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree or higher.
• Public Health Nursing certification.
• Bilingual Spanish skills.
• Experience serving vulnerable populations or individuals with complex medical, behavioral-health, housing, or social-service needs.
• Experience in addiction treatment, community behavioral health, residential services, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, public health, or integrated care.
• Knowledge of withdrawal management or Medication for Addiction Treatment.
• Experience overseeing medical services across multiple programs, locations, or levels of care.
• Experience supervising NPs, PAs, RNs, LVNs, medical assistants, or multidisciplinary medical teams.
• Experience building a clinical service, expanding a department, or leading medical operations through organizational growth.
• Experience with budgets, contracts, billing compliance, staffing models, or service-line sustainability.

Skills

• Department-level clinical and operational leadership
• Staff supervision, coaching, and accountability
• Clinical policy and workflow development
• Audit response and corrective-action planning
• Regulatory compliance and documentation oversight
• Quality improvement and performance monitoring
• Clinical triage, risk assessment, and escalation support
• Executive communication and cross-functional collaboration
• Systems implementation and change management

Schedule and Work Environment

This is a full-time, Monday-through-Friday leadership position. The role is hybrid eligible for candidates who live within the local Santa Cruz area. Regular in-person presence is required to support staff, clinical operations, leadership meetings, and service delivery.

Local travel between programs is required. Participation in the medical on-call rotation is also required. On-call responsibilities are consultative and leadership-focused rather than shift-based patient care and may include after-hours, weekend, and holiday availability as assigned.

Benefits

• Medical and dental coverage
• Acupuncture and chiropractic coverage
• 403(b) retirement plan
• 11 vacation days
• 15 paid holidays
• 12 sick days
• Additional medical on-call stipend
• Hybrid-eligible Monday-through-Friday schedule



Why This Opportunity Stands Out

This is a high-impact opportunity for an established healthcare leader who wants to shape medical-service delivery across a mission-driven organization. The Director will have the opportunity to strengthen an existing medical department, standardize systems across programs, develop staff, improve audit response and regulatory compliance, and support continued organizational growth.

Candidates with strong department-level healthcare leadership may be considered without direct addiction-treatment experience. Experience in behavioral health, addiction services, harm reduction, trauma-informed care, or integrated care is valuable but is not an automatic screening requirement.

Equal Employment Opportunity

Avento Health is an equal-opportunity recruiter. We are committed to presenting qualified candidates for consideration without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other protected status.

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