Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Skilled Nursing & Long-Term Care

Elderwood • Buffalo, NY

9h • Hybrid

About The Position

Elderwood is seeking a Chief Nursing Officer who understands what it takes to deliver consistent, high-quality care across multiple skilled nursing communities and who is prepared to remain connected to the leaders, teams and residents behind the outcomes. This is a visible, field-connected executive role requiring regular travel throughout the organization. Reporting jointly to the CEO and Chief Medical Officer and serving as a member of the senior leadership team, the CNO will set the strategic direction for nursing across the organization. This executive will establish consistent clinical standards, strengthen nursing governance, develop nursing leaders, and align quality, workforce, regulatory, operational, and financial priorities. The CNO will work closely with the CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Regional Directors of Operations and other executive leaders to ensure nursing strategy translate into reliable facility-level practice. This is a system-wide leadership position supporting Elderwood skilled nursing communities across a broad geographic footprint. The largest concentration of communities is located throughout Western New York. The CNO will also support nursing operations across Central New York and the Southern Tier, the Adirondacks and North Country, and the Burlington, Vermont region. Regular travel to Elderwood communities is an essential part of the role. Travel may include overnight stays based on facility needs, regulatory activity, leadership priorities and organizational initiatives. The CNO must be willing to maintain a meaningful presence within the communities and remain connected to regional and facility nursing leaders. The successful CNO will do more than oversee nursing operations. This leader will create the structure, expectations and leadership capacity required for Elderwood communities to deliver dependable, resident-centered care. You will have the opportunity to influence nursing practice across an entire organization, strengthen the leaders responsible for care delivery and build clinical systems capable of sustaining quality - even when conditions are complex.

Requirements

• Current NYS Registered Nurse license and registration
• Bachelor’s degree in nursing or higher from an accredited institution.
• At least five years of professional nursing experience.
• At least five years of progressive executive leadership experience with responsibility for healthcare operations.
• Current knowledge of state and federal healthcare regulations and clinical standards.
• Working knowledge of CMS requirements and survey processes affecting long-term care facilities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead through complex clinical and operational challenges while maintaining clear, credible communication.
• Ability to travel to Elderwood communities, conferences and meetings, including overnight stays.
• Availability to respond to organizational needs, including on-call situations and clinical emergencies.
• Executive or regional nursing leadership experience within a multi-facility skilled nursing, post-acute care or long-term care organization.
• Experience developing Directors of Nursing and other senior clinical leaders.
• Experience guiding multiple facilities through surveys, plans of correction, clinical stabilization or sustained performance improvement.

Responsibilities

• Set annual nursing priorities and ensure that policies, practices and clinical expectations are applied consistently throughout the system.
• Evaluate resident-care delivery systems and identify opportunities to improve safety, quality, productivity and operational reliability.
• Strengthen professional nursing practice through structured leadership forums, education and shared problem-solving.
• Ensure nursing remains prepared to meet the needs of an increasingly complex long-term care population.
• Maintain system-wide compliance with professional standards, company policies and applicable state and federal requirements.
• Provide executive nursing leadership during Department of Health and CMS surveys, investigations and other regulatory inquiries.
• Review plans of correction, provide clinical and operational guidance and support informal dispute-resolution activity in partnership with quality leadership.
• Help facility and regional leaders move beyond short-term correction toward sustainable clinical systems.
• Establish clear expectations for nursing leaders and provide the coaching, guidance and accountability required to achieve them.
• Develop structured communication processes that allow clinical concerns, operational risks and best practices to move effectively throughout the organization.
• Partner with learning and quality leaders to strengthen education, professional development and patient-safety programming.
• Promote a nursing environment built on trust, teamwork, relationship management and leadership development.
• Collaborate with the Chief Quality and Patient Safety Officer to evaluate clinical outcomes and implement meaningful process improvements.
• Use trended clinical, workforce and operational data to inform staffing plans and resource decisions.
• Provide financial oversight during budget development and help nursing leaders balance quality, workforce needs and cost responsibility.
• Partner with informatics leadership on electronic health record design and management to reduce risk and improve safety.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive