Director of Operations

Overview

Smile America Partners is a national leader in school-based preventive dental care, partnering with school districts across 20+ states to deliver high-quality dental services directly on school campuses. Our programs eliminate barriers to care by bringing dentistry to students where they already are.


Director of Operations - Regional Operations

Position Summary

The Director of Operations is responsible for overseeing operational performance across an assigned region consisting of multiple states and field teams. This role is accountable for driving visit growth, operational efficiency, scheduling optimization, participation performance, logistics coordination, and overall state-level financial and operational outcomes.

The Director of Operations partners closely with Clinical, Outreach, Scheduling, Compliance, Recruiting, and Executive Leadership to ensure each market is operating efficiently while delivering a high-quality experience aligned with organizational standards and culture.

Team Leadership

Cultivates a collaborative, results-driven team environment that empowers staff to identify challenges, develop solutions and take ownership of performance outcomes across the region's school-based dental practices.

Accountability

Establishes clear expectations, accountability measures, and operational standards while coaching teams toward continuous improvement and sustainable outcomes-results.

Regional Strategy

Autonomy to drive operational and clinical excellence through strategic leadership, performance management, and coordinated problem-solving to achieve overall program growth.

Key Responsibilities

Operational Leadership

• Lead operational performance across assigned states within the region.
• Drive accountability for overall state performance including visit growth, participation, operational efficiency, and margin improvement.
• Monitor and evaluate regional KPIs and develop action plans to address underperforming markets.
• Ensure alignment between operational goals, staffing capacity, and scheduling execution.

Scheduling & Logistics

• Oversee scheduling strategy and execution across assigned states.
• Monitor provider utilization, team capacity, and daily productivity to maximize visit opportunities.
• Collaborate with Scheduling and Outreach teams to minimize scheduling gaps.
• Analyze reschedules, revisit opportunities, and route optimization to improve overall production.
• Monitor staffing Models and scheduling costs by evaluating scope of practice regulations within each state and aligning team composition
• Proactively identify and address overstaffing and understaffing situations to improve visit margins and operational efficiency.
• Ensure teams are properly staffed, equipped, and positioned to support operational demand.
• Identify opportunities to improve operational efficiencies and reduce unnecessary costs.
• Support contingency planning related to staffing shortages, weather disruptions, and operational challenges.
• Monitor participation trends and school-level performance across the region.
• Partner with Outreach teams to support participation growth strategies.
• Analyze school retention, visit performance, and enrollment trends.
• Develop action plans for underperforming schools, districts, or markets.
• Support relationship management efforts with key district and school partners as needed.

Financial & Margin Performance

• Own operational contribution margin performance within assigned states.
• Monitor visit margins, staffing costs, and productivity metrics.
• Identify operational opportunities to improve profitability while maintaining quality and service standards.
• Collaborate with Finance and Executive Leadership on forecasting, budgeting, and operational planning.
• Assist with rollout and operational execution of strategic initiatives across the region.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)

• Visit and patient growth vs. budget
• Participation percentages
• Contribution margin performance
• Revenue per visit
• Patients per visit
• Provider utilization/productivity
• Rescheduling trends
• School retention and growth
• Operational efficiency metrics
• Staffing and capacity alignment
• State-level operational performance

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree preferred; equivalent operational leadership experience considered.
• 5+ years of multi-site operational leadership experience.
• Experience managing large geographic regions and cross-functional teams.
• Strong analytical, organizational, and problem-solving skills.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment.
• Strong communication and leadership skills.
• Experience with healthcare, mobile operations, school-based programs, or multi-state operations preferred.

Who We Are

Smile America Partners is the nation's leading in-school dental program founded almost two decades ago by two moms, who happen to also be dentists. The founders saw a tremendous need among underserved school aged children who did not have easy access to dental care and who often suffered from poor oral hygiene, tooth decay, pain and associated medical problems. Knowing that many parents could not take their children to the dentist due to issues including time off from work and transportation challenges, they sought to bring the care to the need. Today, through its dental partners, Smile America Partners provides preventive and restorative care to approximately 500,000 children per year.

Tooth decay is the most common, and preventable disease among children, more common than asthma. In fact, each year, over 51 million school hours are lost due to oral health related issues.

Smile America Partners affiliates with state licensed dentists, hygienists and assistants who use state-of-the-art portable equipment to provide all services onsite, directly in the school or in a self-contained mobile dental facility on site at the school. If portable equipment is used, classrooms, auditoriums or other school venues are literally transformed into fully functional dental offices for the day. Our expertise, obtained through years of experience bringing mobile dental care to schools, as well as through our highly qualified staff, enables us to bring exceptional care with minimal disruption to the normal school routine.

Smile America Partners is currently active in 20 states and has ongoing strategic partnerships with over 8,000 school districts, including 21 of the 25 largest school districts in the country.

Given the ongoing lack of access for many underserved children across the country, our services are in great demand and we are always looking for caring, compassionate professionals to join our team and play their part in making a difference in the lives of today's underserved children.

Rewarding Work. Competitive Compensation. Smile America Partners.

Smile America Partners is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability, gender identity, sexual orientation or protected veteran status.