Director of Surgical Services

NMC is currently recruiting a full-time, Director of Surgical Services. Northwestern Medical Center's mission is to provide exceptional health care to our community. Join our high reliability team! With "people" as one of our core values, valuing our employees is a top priority for Northwestern. We care about our employees, their families, and their overall health & well-being. We are proud to offer a generous benefits package, with recognized national carriers, designed to help our people stay healthy, balance work & life responsibilities, protect your assets & plan for a secure financial future.


Salary Range: $130,000 USD to $160,000 USD

Director of Surgical Services

Reporting to the Executive Medical Director of Acute Care and Surgical Services, the Director of Surgical Services provides leadership for Surgical Services in a community hospital setting, including the operating rooms, outpatient department, ambulatory surgery/PACU, infusion services, and central sterile/sterile processing. This role is responsible for safe and efficient surgical services operations, leader and staff development, surgeon and anesthesia collaboration, regulatory readiness, patient experience, surgical access and throughput, resource stewardship, budget performance, strategic planning, service-line growth, and continuous improvement in quality, access, productivity, and cost performance.

Key performance expectations include reliable daily and long-range operations, safe patient flow, effective leader and staff deployment, regulatory compliance, timely communication, physician and staff engagement, budget accountability, strategic planning, and data-driven improvement in access, quality, utilization, productivity, patient experience, and financial stewardship.

The Director is accountable for overall Surgical Services performance, strategic alignment, leader development, budget stewardship, regulatory readiness, physician partnership, and service-line growth. The Operating Room Nurse Manager is accountable for day-to-day OR execution, direct staff support, room-level workflow, scheduling readiness, and real-time problem-solving within the operating suite.

PRE-REQUISITES:

Education and Licensure: Bachelor's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or related field required. Current RN licensure in the State of Vermont is required for candidates whose qualifying degree is in nursing. Master's degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, or related field preferred.

Preferred Certifications: CNOR, CSSM, NE-BC, NEA-BC, CPPS, or other relevant perioperative, nursing leadership, quality, or healthcare leadership certification preferred.

Experience: Minimum of five (5) years of progressive surgical services, perioperative, or related clinical operations leadership experience required. Minimum of three (3) years of management experience required; five (5) years of director-level or multi-department leadership experience preferred. Community hospital surgical services experience and demonstrated experience with budget management, regulatory readiness, physician collaboration, and process improvement preferred.

Special Skills: Strong perioperative clinical operations, communication, collaboration, conflict-resolution, change-management, financial management, leadership, and interpersonal skills. Demonstrated ability to manage competing priorities, support surgeon and anesthesia relationships, lead through managers and multidisciplinary teams, use data to improve performance, and apply Lean or other continuous-improvement methods in a regulatory-ready Surgical Services environment.

RELATIONSHIPS:

Reports To: Executive Medical Director of Acute Care and Surgical Services

Supervises: Operating Room Nurse Manager, perioperative nursing leaders, ambulatory surgery/PACU leaders, infusion services leaders, sterile processing/central sterile leaders, and other assigned surgical services staff or leaders.

Other Contacts: Medical staff, surgeons, anesthesia providers, advanced practice providers, perioperative team members, sterile processing, pre-op and PACU staff, infusion services staff, inpatient units, emergency department, quality and infection prevention teams, materials management, finance, human resources, biomedical engineering, facilities, vendors, patients, families, visitors, and other hospital employees.

SCOPE:

Machinery or Equipment Used: Computer, telephone, copier, fax, surgical scheduling and electronic health record systems, OR communication tools, patient monitors, surgical and perioperative equipment, emergency equipment, central sterile/sterile processing equipment, infusion-related equipment as applicable, and other clinical or administrative equipment used in Surgical Services operations.

Physical Demands: Prolonged standing and walking. Lifts, positions, pushes, and transfers patients with assistance as appropriate. Lifts and moves supplies and equipment. Requires reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, crouching, sustained attention during clinical or operational activities, and the ability to respond to time-sensitive patient-care or operational issues.

Working Conditions: May be exposed to bloodborne pathogens, infectious diseases, chemicals, surgical smoke, radiation when applicable, flammable gases, electro-mechanical hazards, and unpredictable patient-care situations. Handles emergency or crisis situations, frequent interruptions, staffing changes, physician and patient concerns, and time-sensitive operational decisions. May be subject to irregular hours, call coverage needs, and occasional travel.

Required Protective Equipment: Eye protection, face protection, mask, gown, lab coat, non-sterile medical gloves, sterile medical gloves, utility gloves, lead aprons, and lead vests.

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS:

1. Provides leadership for safe, efficient Surgical Services operations and patient-centered surgical flow.

• Directs daily and long-range operations across Surgical Services, including operating rooms, outpatient department, ambulatory surgery/PACU, infusion services, and central sterile/sterile processing.

• Reviews surgical schedules, room utilization, staffing plans, case needs, add-on activity, and anticipated barriers at the service-line level to support access, on-time starts, efficient turnover, and safe patient flow. Ensures managers and charge staff address daily schedule execution and real-time barriers.

• Coordinates with managers, charge staff, sterile processing, anesthesia, surgeons, pre-op, PACU, infusion services, supply chain, inpatient units, emergency department, and ancillary departments to remove recurring barriers, align resources, and escalate issues that affect access, safety, patient flow, or service-line performance.

• Promotes compliance with organizational policies, infection prevention practices, sterile technique, documentation standards, universal protocol, time-out expectations, AORN standards, CMS Conditions of Participation, The Joint Commission requirements, OSHA standards, and applicable state and federal regulations.

2. Manages staffing operations, leader development, and workforce planning to support safe, efficient Surgical Services performance.

• Oversees recruitment, onboarding, retention, coaching, corrective action, call coverage, timekeeping compliance, payroll-related follow-up, succession planning, and leader development for Surgical Services leaders and staff, while ensuring managers maintain reliable daily assignments and direct staff follow-up.

• Aligns staffing and labor management with case volume, acuity, specialty mix, staff competencies, orientation needs, productivity expectations, budget targets, and safe patient care requirements.

• Supports performance feedback, competency completion, education planning, professional growth, and reliable communication through huddles, staff updates, leadership rounding, and departmental meetings.

• Supports a culture of accountability, engagement, service excellence, teamwork, and continuous improvement across Surgical Services.

3. Leads leader and staff development, competency, and professional growth.

• Role models perioperative best practices and maintains the clinical and operational knowledge needed to support safe Surgical Services operations, leader coaching, staff development, and regulatory-ready care.

• Assesses leader and staff learning needs, orientation progress, competency completion, certification readiness, in-service needs, and opportunities for cross-training or specialty skill development, while ensuring managers and clinical leaders maintain reliable follow-up on individual staff readiness.

• Develops and supports individualized leader and staff development plans that include performance feedback, professional goals, succession planning, leadership growth, and career advancement when appropriate.

• Partners with educators, managers, charge nurses, clinical leaders, and organizational leadership to coordinate education, competency validation, mock drills, new equipment training, and practice updates.

4. Oversees equipment, supplies, facilities, capital planning, and resource stewardship.

• Ensures facilities, equipment, instruments, supplies, implants, medications as applicable, and materials are available and maintained to support efficient, safe, and regulatory-ready surgical care.

• Partners with sterile processing, materials management, vendors, biomedical engineering, facilities, finance, and perioperative leaders to address recurring repair, replacement, preference-card, inventory, supply standardization, and operational barriers that affect readiness, cost, quality, or service-line performance.

• Assesses supply and equipment trends, service contracts, purchasing considerations, supply standardization, inventory issues, capital needs, and cost-saving opportunities while maintaining readiness for scheduled, urgent, and specialty procedures.

• Leads capital equipment planning and justification processes in collaboration with Surgical Services leadership, finance, materials management, executive leadership, medical staff, and clinical stakeholders.

5. Leads communication, change management, physician partnership, and team engagement.

• Communicates proactively during change by reaffirming goals, addressing concerns, reducing rumors, and maintaining an open, visible, and responsive leadership presence.

• Identifies and resolves workflow, team, physician, or individual barriers that affect engagement, collaboration, reliability, or adoption of new practices.

• Builds effective relationships with surgeons, anesthesia providers, nursing leaders, staff, and internal partners to support shared accountability for access, quality, safety, patient experience, and operational performance.

• Recognizes team successes and supports consistent communication through rounding, leadership meetings, staff updates, education, and timely follow-up on safety, service, or workflow concerns, while ensuring managers maintain reliable daily huddles and frontline communication.

6. Uses data and recurring operational review to improve quality, safety, access, growth, and performance.

• Reviews upcoming surgical schedules, block time, anticipated volumes, specialty service needs, staffing plans, call coverage, scheduling constraints, and access opportunities with perioperative and scheduling partners to identify trends, remove barriers, and support service-line planning.

• Monitors key indicators, including first-case on-time starts, turnover times, cancellations, delays, case volume, room utilization, block utilization, productivity, quality metrics, safety trends, patient experience, labor productivity, overtime utilization, supply cost per case, revenue opportunities, and budget performance.

• Develops and manages the Surgical Services budget, monitors expenses, analyzes staffing patterns and resource utilization, supports labor cost control, and identifies opportunities for operational efficiency, growth, and cost reduction.

• Follows up on incident reports, patient safety events, near misses, infection prevention concerns, documentation issues, regulatory findings, and corrective action plans in collaboration with clinical, quality, infection prevention, and executive leaders.

• Participates in or leads quality improvement, regulatory readiness, perioperative operations, strategic planning, service-line growth, and interdisciplinary workflow improvement efforts based on department priorities and organizational needs.

• Prepares or presents leadership updates regarding operational performance, staffing, quality, safety, budget, regulatory readiness, physician engagement, patient experience, and departmental priorities.

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