Assistant Director of Sterile Processing and Clinical Support Operations - School of Dental Medicine

Tufts University•Boston, MA

38d

About The Position

Tufts University School of Dental Medicine (TUSDM) offers one of the most forward-looking educational environments in dental medicine in the country. Since its founding in 1868, TUSDM has been committed to leadership in education, patient care, research, and community service. Students obtain an interdisciplinary education, integrated with medicine, with access to training in dental specialties. Clinics managed at TUSDM provide quality comprehensive care to more than 20,000 individuals annually. Nationally and internationally, the School promotes health and educational programs and researches new procedures, materials, and technologies to improve oral health. Clinical Administration supports the clinical and educational efforts within the pre-doctoral and postgraduate clinic operations. The Clinical Administration staff provides courteous, professional, and effective support services and is committed to providing patients, students, and faculty with information, guidance, and quality service to contribute to a successful dental clinic experience. This includes maintaining a safe environment, assuring that patients’ dental needs are addressed in a caring, confidential, timely, and thorough manner, and ensuring that patients are informed about their treatment and clinic procedures and that patients’ finances are handled accurately and efficiently. The Assistant Director of Sterile Processing and Clinical Support Operations provides strategic and operational leadership for the Central Sterilization Facility and related clinical support workflows within Tufts University School of Dental Medicine. This role is responsible for ensuring the safe, compliant, efficient, and service-oriented delivery of sterile processing operations that support patient care, clinical education, and special programs across the School. The Assistant Director leads through supervisors and frontline staff to ensure that instrumentation, handpieces, burs, files, and related clinical support assets are properly decontaminated, inspected, assembled, packaged, sterilized, stored, distributed, tracked, and maintained in accordance with institutional expectations and all applicable regulatory and professional standards. The role is also responsible for strengthening operational discipline, workflow reliability, documentation standards, staff development, quality assurance, readiness planning, and cross-functional communication across the sterile processing environment. This individual will serve as the senior operational leader for sterile processing and associated clinical support operations, with emphasis on governance, standardization, accountability, customer service, continuous improvement, and risk reduction. The Assistant Director will partner closely with clinical leadership, Materials Management, Infection Control, Quality and Safety, Facilities, vendors, and other internal stakeholders to ensure that sterile processing operations remain aligned with the needs of the clinics, the educational mission of the school, and all relevant standards and requirements. The Assistant Director must be comfortable operating in a complex, fast-paced, highly regulated environment and must be able to translate strategic priorities into sustainable operational processes. This role is expected to build strong teams, develop leaders, strengthen systems, and identify opportunities to improve service, reduce operational risk, and support future growth in scope and integration.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in healthcare administration, public health, business, science, or a related field required.
Minimum of 5 to 7 years of progressively responsible experience in healthcare operations, clinical support services, sterile processing, infection prevention, quality, safety, regulatory readiness, or a related operational environment.
Minimum of 3 years of supervisory or management experience, including responsibility for staff oversight, performance management, and operational accountability.
Demonstrated success leading teams in a complex, fast-paced, service-driven, and highly regulated environment.
Demonstrated ability to oversee operational workflows, documentation practices, quality assurance processes, and service delivery standards across a clinical or healthcare support setting.
Strong knowledge of healthcare operations, clinical support functions, workflow management, and cross-functional coordination.
Experience with compliance-critical functions, including familiarity with OSHA, CDC, DPH, AAMI, OSAP, or other applicable regulatory and professional standards.
Excellent skills in organizational planning, workforce management, problem-solving, and cross-departmental coordination.
Strong communication and leadership skills with the ability to influence, collaborate with, and build trust among faculty, staff, students, and operational partners.
Proficiency in Microsoft Office and the ability to learn institution-specific systems, documentation tools, inventory platforms, and operational trackers.
Ability to complete all required background checks at the time of hire, promotion, or transfer.

Nice To Haves

Master’s degree preferred.
Master's Degree in healthcare administration, public health, business, operations, quality, safety, or a related discipline.
Experience in an academic dental, academic medical, hospital, or other complex healthcare setting, with understanding of the intersection of operations, compliance, education, and patient care.
Prior experience in sterile processing, perioperative support, clinical support operations, infection prevention, or another regulated healthcare operations setting.
Experience overseeing supervisors, developing staff, and managing cross-functional workflow in complex organizations.
Demonstrated success in process improvement, operational standardization, quality assurance, readiness planning, and service optimization.
Experience developing SOPs, training materials, orientation tools, audit processes, dashboards, and operational documentation.
Willingness and ability to develop working knowledge of sterile processing standards and operations within the first year in role strongly preferred.
Proven ability to represent operations in institutional committees, governance bodies, or interdisciplinary working groups.
Strong analytical, organizational, and change management skills, with the ability to manage multiple priorities and drive execution with sound judgment.
CRCST, CHL, CIC, CSP, Lean Six Sigma, or other related certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Oversees the daily operations of the Central Sterilization Facility and provides senior operational leadership for sterile processing functions and associated clinical support workflows across the dental school.
Ensures that instruments, handpieces, burs, endo files, and related clinical assets are appropriately inventoried, decontaminated, inspected, assembled, packaged, sterilized, stored, distributed, and tracked in a quality and timely manner.
Ensures that reprocessing workflows are designed and maintained in accordance with manufacturers’ instructions for use, regulatory requirements, institutional policy, and professional standards.
Establishes, maintains, and enforces operating procedures, service expectations, workflow standards, and escalation protocols to support reliable day-to-day operations.
Partners with dispensaries, clinic leadership, and other operational stakeholders to ensure that instrumentation and sterile processing support remain aligned with undergraduate and postgraduate clinic needs.
Coordinates vendor relationships, service support, repair and sharpening programs, and preventive maintenance planning related to sterile processing equipment and clinical instrumentation.
Ensures that departmental work areas, equipment, and processing environments are maintained in a clean, safe, organized, and functional state.
Supports sterile processing and instrumentation needs for screenings, workshops, simulation, clinical programs, and other special events as assigned.
Helps lead continuity planning for staffing, workflow disruptions, equipment downtime, and other operational risks affecting sterile processing services.
Provides day-to-day leadership through the supervisory structure for sterile processing staff and related support personnel.
Responsible for hiring, onboarding, training, coaching, evaluating, and managing performance in accordance with Tufts Human Resources policies and institutional expectations.
Builds a culture of accountability, professionalism, collaboration, and service excellence within the department.
Ensures staff are well trained, appropriately assigned, and operating in accordance with defined standards and schedules.
Conducts regular trainings, competency reviews, and developmental conversations to improve staff capability and readiness.
Develops growth opportunities for staff and supports professional development, including certification pathways where appropriate.
Addresses performance concerns, attendance issues, and conduct matters in a timely, consistent, and professional manner.
Strengthens the supervisor layer and ensures that frontline leadership is effectively managing workflow, communication, and employee accountability.
Partners with peer leaders to support cross-functional problem-solving and overall departmental effectiveness.
Ensures that appropriate quality assurance and control measures are in place to evaluate the effectiveness of cleaning, disinfection, packaging, sterilization, storage, and distribution practices.
Reviews, verifies, and monitors sterilization documentation, biological testing, load records, and related operational documentation to ensure accuracy and completeness.
Maintains and continuously improves departmental SOPs, manuals, workflows, audit tools, orientation materials, and related documents.
Conducts and supports regular operational, cleanliness, and compliance audits.
Ensures readiness for inspections, surveys, and reviews related to sterile processing operations and associated support functions.
Partners with Infection Control and other institutional stakeholders to support adherence to OSHA, CDC, DPH, AAMI, OSAP, and other applicable standards and guidelines.
Identifies trends, risks, and recurring issues and implements corrective actions and sustainable process improvements.
Serves as a key operational liaison across clinics, dispensaries, Infection Control, Materials Management, Facilities, Quality and Safety, and other departments as needed.
Supports communication, planning, and coordination for clinical support activities that intersect with sterile processing operations.
Helps standardize operational handoffs, communication processes, and service expectations across internal partners.
Participates in projects and operational initiatives that strengthen clinical readiness, support the educational mission, and improve the consistency of support services.
Contributes to broader discussions regarding workflow integration, service optimization, and operational governance.
Oversees the stewardship of instruments, related supplies, and selected equipment necessary to support sterile processing and clinic operations.
Partners with Finance and Materials Management as needed to support budget planning, equipment replacement discussions, inventory optimization, and cost stewardship.
Evaluates products, services, and vendors for quality, value, operational impact, and alignment with departmental needs.
Practices principles of effective resource management, including cost control, waste reduction, time management, and appropriate inventory oversight.
Supports loss prevention efforts involving instrumentation and related equipment.
Attends meetings and participates on committees as requested.
Prepares reports, summaries, audits, presentations, and other materials related to departmental performance and operational needs.
Performs additional duties as assigned to support the success of the Clinical Affairs Department and the School.