Assistant Manager, Clinical Nutrition–Cancer Service Line

UChicago Medicine•Chicago, IL

5d•$97,000 - $113,200

About The Position

The Assistant Manager, Clinical Nutrition – Cancer Service Line provides frontline leadership and day-to-day operational management for nutrition services across the cancer care continuum. The position oversees assigned inpatient oncology units and ambulatory oncology programs, including staff performance, clinical and operational workflows, patient access, and coordination across surgical oncology and holistic/supportive oncology nutrition services. The role also provides operational leadership for the Teaching Kitchen and associated culinary nutrition, community outreach, and Food Is Medicine programming. It serves as the primary day-to-day leadership connection between Clinical Nutrition and the Cancer Service Line, escalating trends, risks, and strategic opportunities to the Clinical Nutrition Manager. The Assistant Manager supports compliance, continuous improvement, staff development, partnership-building, and implementation of departmental and Cancer Service Line priorities.

Requirements

Master’s degree in nutrition, Dietetics, or a related field for individuals eligible to sit for the RD/RDN exam on or after January 1, 2024; RDNs credentialed before January 1, 2024, with a bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, Dietetics, or a related field meet the educational requirement.
Active Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) credential and licensure.
Minimum of 5 years of clinical nutrition experience.
Experience in complex inpatient and/or ambulatory healthcare settings.
Experience working with community partners and in community outreach, including Community Health Assessments and Community Health Improvement Plans.
Active Illinois State Licensed Dietitian licensure through IDFPR.
Chicago Department of Public Health Food Service Sanitation Certificate if serving TCS foods.
Certified Food Protection Manager (CFPM) certification, or ability to obtain it within 1 month of hire.

Nice To Haves

Prior leadership or supervisory experience.
Experience working in decentralized or multi-site healthcare environments.
Prior experience in oncology nutrition.
Certified Specialist in Oncology Nutrition (CSO) certification.

Responsibilities

Directly supervise assigned Registered Dietitians supporting inpatient oncology units, ambulatory oncology services, surgical oncology, and holistic/supportive oncology nutrition programs.
Lead daily readiness huddles and routine staff rounding to review staffing, patient volumes, safety concerns, access barriers, workflow issues, and operational priorities.
Provide coaching, competency development, performance feedback, and accountability through observation, chart review, and routine one-on-one check-ins.
Support recruitment, onboarding, retention, professional development, and succession planning for assigned staff.
Address performance concerns through clear expectations, documentation, and corrective action in collaboration with the Clinical Nutrition Manager.
Execute and monitor daily nutrition operations across inpatient oncology units and ambulatory oncology programs.
Coordinate staffing, schedules, workload distribution, coverage, and continuity of nutrition care across oncology settings.
Partner with Cancer Service Line leaders and interdisciplinary teams to integrate nutrition into oncology care pathways and multidisciplinary clinics.
Develop and standardize referral, triage, scheduling, documentation, follow-up, and transition workflows for oncology nutrition services.
Identify operational barriers and implement improvements to increase timely access to oncology nutrition care.
Provide operational leadership for the Teaching Kitchen and culinary nutrition programming, including scheduling, space utilization, supplies, inventory, equipment coordination, food safety, sanitation, and workflow.
Ensure Illinois-compliant food-handler training for employees who regularly prepare food or work with food-contact equipment or surfaces.
Coordinate evidence-based culinary nutrition programs with Registered Dietitians and interdisciplinary experts, emphasizing cancer treatment, symptom management, survivorship, and other identified patient needs.
Develop and coordinate community education, outreach, Food Is Medicine initiatives, grocery store tours, garden or farmers market programming, and other experiential nutrition activities as appropriate.
Establish processes for program registration, participant communication, attendance tracking, evaluation, and follow-up.
Build internal and community partnerships that expand access to practical, culturally responsive nutrition education.
Monitor oncology nutrition referrals, work queues, wait times, referral conversion, appointment utilization, visit volumes, productivity, and unmet demand.
Monitor documentation quality, clinical practice standards, billing workflows, and regulatory requirements through structured reviews and chart audits.
Develop dashboards and reports to identify access gaps, performance trends, program outcomes, and improvement opportunities.
Implement corrective actions and education following audit or performance findings, and monitor for sustained improvement.
Support regulatory survey readiness and continuous compliance across assigned services.
Serve as a leadership liaison among Clinical Nutrition, Cancer Service Line leadership, providers, nursing, ambulatory operations, scheduling and access teams, supportive services, and community partners.
Communicate operational expectations, workflow changes, program updates, and performance priorities clearly and consistently.
Promote continuity of nutrition care between inpatient and ambulatory oncology settings.
Represent Clinical Nutrition on appropriate oncology, Teaching Kitchen, patient education, community outreach, and operational committees.
Translate departmental and Cancer Service Line priorities into daily execution as an operational extension of the Clinical Nutrition Manager.
Provide input on staffing needs, program growth, resource allocation, access barriers, and performance trends.
Support development and implementation of departmental goals, policies, clinical pathways, and long-term strategies.
Identify opportunities to expand oncology nutrition, Teaching Kitchen, community, and Food Is Medicine programming based on patient need and organizational priorities.
Provide operational coverage and decision-making support in the absence of the Clinical Nutrition Manager.