Senior Director of Nursing, Oncology

#141268 Senior Director of Nursing, OncologyUC San Diego Health has been at the forefront of oncology research and cancer care innovation since 1978. Following the opening of its flagship standalone facility, Moores Cancer Center, on the UC San Diego Health La Jolla campus in 2005, UC San Diego Health has expanded its oncology services to five comprehensive outpatient locations across the region.Moores Cancer Center is a National Cancer Institute (NCI)-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, a distinction awarded to cancer centers that demonstrate exceptional achievement in cancer research, clinical care, education, and community impact. Committed to advancing groundbreaking research and delivering exceptional patient-centered care, Moores Cancer Center remains a national leader in oncology innovation. UC San Diego Health and its cancer programs are consistently recognized among the nation's leading health care and oncology organizations, earning accolades from U.S. News & World Report, Vizient, and other respected institutions.UC San Diego Health is also a Magnet-recognized health system, reflecting its commitment to nursing excellence, professional nursing practice, quality outcomes, innovation, and a culture that supports and empowers the nursing workforce. The Senior Director of Nursing, Oncology plays a critical leadership role in advancing these standards of excellence across oncology services.The Senior Director of Nursing, Oncology oversees all nursing operations within UC San Diego Health's outpatient oncology services, including oncology clinics, infusion services, and radiation oncology. This highly visible leadership role serves as a key member of the Oncology Services and Moores Cancer Center leadership team, providing strategic and operational oversight in support of exceptional patient care, nursing excellence, and organizational goals.Reporting directly to the Chief Administrative Officer of Oncology and Radiation Therapy Services, the Senior Director of Nursing, Oncology is a highly experienced executive nursing leader providing responsible for the strategic, clinical, administrative, and operational leadership of nursing services across UC San Diego Health's comprehensive oncology enterprise.The Senior Director provides executive oversight for nursing practice and operations across oncology ambulatory clinics, infusion services, and radiation medicine. The position leads through subordinate directors, managers, and other nursing leaders and is accountable for ensuring consistent standards of clinical excellence, patient safety, operational performance, workforce effectiveness, financial stewardship, regulatory compliance, and professional nursing practice across a large, complex, and geographically distributed oncology network.The Senior Director maintains a matrixed reporting relationship to the Chief Clinical Officer/Chief Nursing Officer for UC San Diego Health and serves as an active member of the Nursing Executive Committee, representing Oncology in enterprise-wide nursing strategy, policy, quality, and professional practice initiatives.This position requires an accomplished, collaborative, and highly visible executive nursing leader who can successfully navigate a complex academic health system, lead through organizational complexity, and cultivate trusted partnerships across clinical, operational, administrative, and academic constituencies. The successful candidate will demonstrate a strong understanding of oncology care delivery, nursing and clinical operations, physician and interdisciplinary partnerships, organizational culture, workforce strategy, and human resources and labor relations, including effective partnership within a unionized environment. The role also requires an appreciation for the unique clinical, operational, academic, and regulatory complexities of a Comprehensive Cancer Center.Candidates with demonstrated leadership experience within UC San Diego Health, UC San Diego Oncology, or a similarly complex academic health systems are strongly preferred. Internal candidates who bring established institutional knowledge, demonstrated organizational effectiveness, strong cross-functional relationships, and a proven record of successful leadership within UC San Diego Health are particularly encouraged to apply. Experience navigating UC San Diego Health's organizational structure, culture, policies, labor environment, and shared governance model will be highly valued.Highly qualified external candidates are also welcomed and encouraged to apply, particularly those who bring comparable senior or executive nursing leadership experience within complex academic health systems, NCI-designated Comprehensive Cancer Centers, or other nationally recognized oncology programs. External candidates should demonstrate a record of successfully leading large, complex clinical operations; building effective physician, nursing, and administrative partnerships; advancing workforce and organizational priorities; and achieving measurable improvements in quality, safety, patient experience, operational performance, and employee engagement.The Senior Director is accountable for advancing exceptional patient outcomes and ensuring the consistent delivery of safe, high-quality, evidence-based, and patient-centered nursing care throughout Oncology. The incumbent establishes and sustains high standards of nursing practice and ensures that clinical care, nursing competencies, staffing models, and operational practices support the needs of complex oncology patient populations. The Senior Director promotes an environment in which nurses and interdisciplinary team members have a meaningful voice in clinical practice, shared governance, quality improvement, and innovation.The Senior Director is expected to be a strategic, data-driven executive; accomplished program developer; experienced operator; and effective change leader. The leader translates organizational strategy into measurable operational priorities and leads complex initiatives across multiple clinical environments and organizational structures.Exceptional interpersonal effectiveness and a high degree of emotional intelligence are essential to success in this role. Organizational culture is central to the success of UC San Diego Oncology, and the Senior Director must be an accessible, credible, and collaborative leader capable of building trust across diverse constituencies.The Senior Director serves as a principal representative and advocate for Oncology Nursing throughout UC San Diego Health.The Senior Director oversees, through subordinate leaders and managers, large and complex clinical departments and programs encompassing multiple functional disciplines and professional classifications. The position has significant organizational impact and responsibility for developing and administering policies, programs, systems, and strategic initiatives.Key Responsibilities:Provides executive leadership, oversight, and accountability for the quality, safety, effectiveness, and consistency of nursing practice and patient care across UC San Diego Oncology.Represents UC San Diego clinical oncology at internal and external events as a senior executive.Establishes and advances a comprehensive nursing strategy aligned with the strategic priorities of Oncology, UC San Diego Health, and the broader academic health system.Provides strategic and operational leadership for workforce, staffing, fiscal capital, and material resources. Develops, implements and monitors short- and long-range financial and operational plans and collaborates with executive leadership on fiscal planning, resource allocation, and investment priorities.Forecasts workforce planning and talent-development strategies based on organizational growth, patient acuity and complexity, clinical demand, workforce benchmarks, productivity, staffing data, and evolving models of oncology care.Develops, mentors, and holds accountable subordinate nursing leaders, creating a strong leadership pipeline and succession strategy across oncology.Establishes a psychologically safe and highly collaborative environment that advances shared governance, professional nursing practice, staff engagement, interdisciplinary teamwork, innovation, and continuous improvementPartners closely with physicians, APPs, administrative executives, and operational leaders through established dyad and triad leadership models to advance clinical quality, access, patient experience, operational performance, and strategic growth.Provides executive guidance regarding nursing workforce and labor relations matters, including bargaining-unit considerations, contract implementation, workforce changes, and consistent application of organizational practices.Ensures compliance with applicable requirements and standards established by The Joint Commission (TJC), California Department of Public Health (CDPH), Magnet Recognition Program, and other regulatory, accreditation, licensing, quality, and professional organizations.Represents Oncology Nursing on system-wide committees and participates in strategic planning with senior leadership across inpatient, ambulatory, pediatric, cancer center, and other clinical environments to advance coordination and integration of care.Ensures nursing leaders have access to meaningful mentorship, executive development, professional development, and succession-planning opportunities and establishes strategies to develop and retain a strong pipeline of future nursing leaders.Leads the development, implementation, assessment, and continuous improvement of oncology nursing competencies, professional practice standards, education programs, and performance expectations in partnership with clinical educators and nursing leadership.Uses data, benchmarking, quality metrics, workforce analytics, financial information, and patient outcomes to identify opportunities, establish priorities, measure organizational performance, and guide executive decision-making.Supports strategic growth and expansion of oncology services by developing scalable nursing models, workforce plans, leadership structures, and operational standards that maintain consistent quality across existing and emerging sites of care.Participates in appropriate professional associations, community organizations, and advocacy initiatives to advance oncology nursing, address the evolving health care needs of patients and families, and contribute to discussions involving workforce development, health care access, patient education, affordability, and cancer care delivery.Minimum QualificationsBachelor's Degree in Nursing (BSN) and eight or more years of relevant professional nursing experience, including progressively responsible leadership experience.Current and active Registered Nurse (RN) in the State of California, or ability to obtain California licensure in accordance with organizational requirements prior to appointment.Significant leadership experience within a large, complex ambulatory, oncology, academic health system, or comparable multidisciplinary clinical environment, ideally within a NCI-Designated Comprehensive Cancer Center.Demonstrated experience leading through subordinate directors, managers, supervisors, or other nursing leaders within a complex organizational structure.Experience leading within a represented labor environment.Demonstrated