Director of Organ Operations

Job Description

Job Description

Donor Network West’s mission is to save and heal lives through organ and tissue donation for transplantation and research.

At Donor Network West, we're looking for people who embody our core values: passion, excellence, equity and inclusion, and relationships. We welcome diverse perspectives and foster an environment of collaboration and service.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Director of Organ Operations is a senior clinical leader with primary accountability for optimizing and maximizing organ donation outcomes across the Donor Service Area (DSA). This includes participating across the organization to ensure the quantity and quality of organs donated and made available for transplantation. This role participates in strategizing and executing cross function and cross team clinical operations owning end-to-end clinical performance, including referral response, donor management, organ utilization, and transplantation outcomes, in alignment with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Organ Procurement Operations (OPO) Conditions of Participation.  Leadership includes clinical, fiscal, and people management responsibilities.  This role requires a decisive, outcomes-driven leader who can translate strategy into action, lead in high-acuity environments, and lead activities that enhance and ensure DNWest meets all mission objectives and goals.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

CLINICAL OPERATIONS

Cross-Function Responsibilities

 

• Participates in the planning, implementation, coordination, and evaluation of all aspects of donor clinical assessment, donor management, organ allocation, and organ procurement.
• Provides real-time operational oversight of active donor cases, ensuring rapid decision-making and escalation when barriers arise; supports the DNWest referral management team, Clinical Operations Manager and Administrator-on-Duty (AOD) by providing real-time consultations as needed, addressing referral management, donor evaluation, organ suitability, and donor-case management.

• Serves as the clinical escalation point for complex donor management, allocation challenges, and hospital dynamics.
• Supports escalation and engagement with physicians when donation opportunities are at risk.
• Ensures seamless coordination across referral intake, clinical teams, allocation, and transplant centers.
• Acts as a regional lead for assigned areas bringing multi-functional teams together to ensure process improvement and quality standards for all aspects of donation process.
• Supports organ activity during periods of high activity. This may include performing onsite leadership and clinical support.
• May take on-call AOD responsibilities with evening, weekend, and holiday requirements as directed. Role requires substantial on-call availability involving after-hours and weekends/holidays.
• Identifies trends, gaps, and variation across teams and regions and implements targeted interventions.
• Routinely reviews performance metrics and recommends changes in systems, policies, and procedures to maximize the performance of DNWest’s organ donation program.
• Critically examines and identifies opportunities for improvement; leads performance improvement initiatives in collaboration with other members of the DNWest’s leadership team.
• Evaluates organizational performance using Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) measures of donation rate and transplantation rate to identify improvement opportunities.
• Ensures accurate, timely data capture and reporting across all clinical activities.
• Collaborates with the Quality Systems and Information Technology teams to collect and analyze the data necessary to monitor and improve organ donation systems and processes and to enhance data systems supporting clinical operations.
• Works in concert with DNWest’s Chief Medical Officer and leadership to develop effective donor management protocols aimed at optimizing organ function and increasing organ utilization.
• Serves as a change agent for the organization by leading and/or directing process improvement initiatives aimed at increasing efficiency and effectiveness, cost containment, cost reduction, and improved outcomes.
• As appropriate, serves as DNWest representative to other agencies, consortia, and related organizations. Participates on regional and national committees.
• Participates in professional development activities to keep current with trends and practices in donation and healthcare. Maintains current knowledge of the donation and transplantation industry.
• Partners with hospital and physician stakeholders to ensure adherence to donation best practices.
• Collaborates with Hospital Development to address systemic barriers impacting referral and donor management.
• Partners with external affairs and strategic partnership team                                                                                to improve transplant center relationships to improve organ utilization.

 

Team Responsibilities

 

• Secures and leads a high-performing, multidisciplinary team.
• Ensures optimal staffing so that every donation opportunity is realized, including, but not limited to, a timely response on site, optimal hospital engagement, implementation of a collaborative donation process and optimal donor management.
• Leads a team that focuses on a data-informed, real-time operational model, ensuring clinical excellence, regulatory compliance, and continuous performance improvement.
• Participates in the development of the organization’s key performance indicators (KPI) focusing on increasing DNWest’s organ donation and transplantation rates; create supporting performance expectations for reporting team.
• Utilizes dashboards and case-level analytics to monitor performance in real time.
• Conducts routine case reviews and after-action debriefs to drive continuous improvement.
• Ensures compliance with Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, CMS, and Association of Organ Procurement Organizations standards and policies as well as all hospital, state, and federal policies for donation.
• Develops, implements, and evaluates strategic and departmental plans and training focused on optimizing organ function and increasing organ utilization in collaboration with Learning & Development.
• Participates in and provides supervision and guidance to the reporting management team regarding DNWest’s annual budget process, providing administrative and fiscal oversight of departmental budgets.
• Implements standardized dashboards and scorecards for team and organizational performance.
• Ensures implementation of standardized, evidence-based donor management protocols to optimize organ function.
• Drives consistency in donor management practices across all reporting teams and regions.

EXPECTED PEFORMANCE OUTCOMES

• Achieves CMS-defined performance thresholds, including:
• Donation Rate (eligible deaths → donors)
• Transplantation Rate (organs transplanted per donor)
• Maximizes organ yield per donor (OTPD/O:E)
• Improves donor conversion rates across all pathways (BD and DCD)
• Ensures timely referral response and clinical evaluation
• Reduces donor loss due to process variation or delays
• Optimizes organ utilization and placement outcomes
• Leads performance improvement initiatives based on real-time and retrospective data

 

STAFF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

• Hires, orients, develops, and trains staff into highly functioning teams.
• Ensures focus is on reporting staff management to include scheduling, time off management, leave of absence and accommodation management, accurate time and expense reimbursement management, and individual performance and career development.
• Coaches staff to improve clinical decision-making, urgency, and donor optimization practices by building a high-performance clinical team with clear accountability to measurable outcomes.
• Mentors and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach; assigns accountabilities, sets objectives, establishes priorities; and monitors and evaluates results.
• Provides year-round ongoing real-time feedback, both positive and corrective, meets with direct reports several times a year to review individual performance, and completes all official performance reviews in a timely manner.
• Ensures all reporting managers provide their direct reports clarity of performance expectations, meet with their staff frequently, provide timely feedback, and complete all performance reviews as required.
• Develops leadership bench strength across clinical roles.
• Works to create a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.

SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS

• Ability to communicate and present information effectively and concisely one on one and within a team environment.
• Proactive team player who can multitask easily, possessing a high level of proactive personal responsibility and initiative.
• Possess strong interpersonal, priority-setting and strategic skills.
• Strong attention to detail, and strong written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to work in a fast-paced dynamic environment and to adjust to new priorities.
• Requires substantial on-call availability involving after-hours and weekends/holidays.

DONOR NETWORK WEST MANAGEMENT EXPECTATIONS

• Builds meaning and purpose for the team by demonstrating the vision, mission, and values of DNWest.
• Achieves strategic initiatives through employees by communicating job expectations, planning, monitoring, and appraising job results. Provides accurate feedback and recognition in a timely manner.
• Foresees challenges, is proactive, and uses sound judgement and best practices when solving problems and making decisions.
• Conducts work professionally and collaboratively and provides excellent customer service.
• Positively adapts to change, supports new initiatives, and is creative/innovative.
• Demonstrates emotional intelligence by having respectful interactions that bring about productive communication.
• Retains team members and demonstrates appreciation through customized recognition and development.
• Partners with employees to create professional and personal growth opportunities for staff.
• Ensures a safe, secure, legal, and professional work environment and administers consistent corrective measures or performance improvement plans when appropriate.
• Adheres to DNWest’s policies, code of conduct, and leads by example.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE

Education

 

• Highly Preferred: Bachelor’s degree, with a preference for the degree to be in biologic sciences.
• A minimum of ten (10) years’ experience in an organ procurement organization or clinical healthcare setting along with an applicable certification in an allied health field/function may be considered equal to BA/BS preference.
• Additional preference given to candidates with a Master’s degree in Life Science or similar field.

 

Work Experience

 

• Required: At least seven (7) years’ experience in an organ procurement organization or clinical healthcare setting.
• Required: Progressive teamwork delegation or employment supervisory experience and proven ability to demonstrate a high level of effectiveness in achieving important goals through skillful staff management.

 

Licenses and Certifications

 

• Required: Certified Procurement Transplant Coordinator. Certification may be completed in the first 12 months of placement in this role.
• Required: Must have the ability to travel within the DNWest service area by car. Must maintain a valid driver’s license in good standing and current vehicle insurance based on applicable state minimum insurance coverage standards.
• Highly Preferred: Registered Nurse, Physician’s Assistant, or other relevant health care practitioner certification or designation.

Donor Network West takes a market-based approach to pay. All candidates' starting pay will be determined based on job-related skills, experience, qualifications and interview performance.

Our job listings’ compensation ranges include location-based differentials but may not be reflective of a candidate’s final base salary. Location differentials are determined by an employee’s home address, associated market data provided by government reporting and processed by Payroll.

If selected, Donor Network West’s Recruiting & Compensation Team will provide further detail!

Salary data provided by third party sites do not accurately reflect our pay structure.