Chief Nursing Officer (CNO), Skilled Nursing

Elderwood • Buffalo, NY

1d • $190,000 - $240,000 • Hybrid

About The Position

Elderwood is seeking a Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) who understands what it takes to deliver consistent, high-quality care across multiple skilled nursing communities. This is a visible, field-connected executive role requiring regular travel throughout the organization, which has communities concentrated throughout Western New York, extending across Central New York and the Southern Tier, into the Adirondacks and North Country, and to the Burlington, Vermont region. Reporting to the CEO and serving as a member of the senior leadership team, the CNO will establish clear clinical standards, strengthen nursing governance, develop nursing leaders, and ensure that quality, staffing, regulatory performance, and financial stewardship move forward together. The ideal candidate will have operational credibility in post-acute care or long-term care, understand CMS survey expectations, and be able to evaluate clinical systems beyond surface-level metrics while bringing accountability without losing the trust of the people doing the work. This CNO role is for a long-term care operator who will work closely with the CEO, Chief Operating Officer, Regional Directors of Operations, and other executive leaders to ensure nursing strategy translates into reliable facility-level practice. Regular travel to Elderwood communities is an essential part of the role, potentially including overnight stays. The successful CNO will create the structure, expectations, and leadership capacity required for Elderwood communities to deliver dependable, resident-centered care, influencing nursing practice across the entire organization and building clinical systems capable of sustaining quality.

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