Chief Operating Officer

IWS is seeking an experienced and mission-driven Chief Operating Officer to join our senior leadership team.

Reporting to and partnering closely with the Chief Executive Officer, the COO will lead day-to-day operations across clinical, administrative, and support functions. This leader will help IWS move successfully through a significant period of growth, including the continued development of our multi-site operating model and the planned opening of two additional facilities by April 2027.

This is an opportunity for a skilled healthcare operator who can bring structure to complexity, strengthen cross-functional coordination and accountability, and build scalable systems without losing sight of IWS’s mission, values, and commitment to compassionate, whole-person care.

• Build a consistent multi-site operating model. Standardize essential workflows, staffing approaches, communication practices, and performance expectations while responding appropriately to the needs of individual sites and communities.

• Improve patient access and service delivery. Strengthen scheduling, intake, referrals, follow-up, appointment management, call center, and front-desk operations to reduce barriers to care and create a more consistent patient experience.

• Lead operational readiness for growth. Guide the operational planning required to open and scale new sites and services, including workflows, staffing, facilities, technology, vendor relationships, compliance, and patient access.

• Strengthen execution and accountability. Establish clear ownership, decision-making practices, and performance expectations across clinical, administrative, and support functions so that priorities move from planning to implementation.

• Translate regulatory requirements into daily practice. Partner with compliance, clinical, and administrative leaders to ensure that HRSA Health Center Program, HIPAA, PCMH, payer, and other requirements are reflected in effective policies, procedures, training, internal controls, monitoring, and corrective action.

• Use data to drive improvement. Establish and monitor meaningful operational indicators related to access, productivity, patient experience, quality, staffing efficiency, revenue cycle performance, and service delivery. Use those results to identify problems, guide corrective action, and communicate performance to teams, senior leadership, and the Board.

• Support financial sustainability. Improve operational workflows that affect productivity, staffing efficiency, cost management, reimbursement, and the revenue cycle while protecting quality and access.

• Develop leaders and strengthen organizational culture. Build trusting relationships, coach and hold leaders accountable, and cultivate a culture rooted in kindness, excellence, teamwork, balance, empathy, and continuous improvement. 

What You Will Bring

Required qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, public health, business administration, nursing, nonprofit administration, or a related field.
• Significant progressive leadership experience in healthcare operations at the director level or above.
• Demonstrated experience leading complex operations across multiple functions, sites, service lines, or locations.
• Substantial knowledge of patient access, workflow improvement, staffing models, technology-enabled operations, performance improvement, and revenue cycle-related processes.
• Experience opening, scaling, or standardizing healthcare sites, services, or programs.
• A record of using data to improve operational performance and achieve measurable results.
• The ability to build trust, clarify accountability, navigate change, and lead effectively across professional and departmental boundaries.

Strongly preferred qualifications

• Master’s degree in a relevant field.
• Leadership experience in a Federally Qualified Health Center, community health center, safety-net provider, nonprofit healthcare organization, or other mission-driven healthcare environment.
• Working knowledge of the HRSA Health Center Program Compliance Manual, site visit expectations, approved scope-of-project requirements, and the operational controls used to demonstrate compliance.

What Will Make You Successful at IWS

The successful candidate will be both strategic and highly operational. You will know when to step back and design a better system and when to engage directly to remove an immediate barrier.

You will communicate clearly, build trusting relationships, and bring people together around shared expectations. You will lead with kindness while addressing difficult issues directly and holding yourself and others accountable for results. You will be comfortable operating in a growing organization where some systems are well established and others must be strengthened, standardized, or built.

Most importantly, you will understand that operational excellence is not an end in itself. It is how IWS makes high-quality, coordinated healthcare more accessible and dependable for the children, adults, and families we serve.

Organizational Overview

At IWS Family Health, we help children and families grow healthy, strong, and confident by providing trusted, high-quality, coordinated healthcare.

For more than 100 years, IWS has served children and families in Chicago. Today, we are a growing, multi-site Federally Qualified Health Center providing integrated healthcare services, education, and support. As we expand our reach, we are strengthening the systems, structures, and operating practices needed to deliver a consistent, high-quality experience for patients and staff across every IWS location.

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to any protected characteristic under applicable law. We provide reasonable accommodations for qualified individuals with disabilities and for religious practices and beliefs.