Montana Rural Healthcare CNO Opportunities

Rural Staffing Services • Montana, MT

21h • Hybrid

About The Position

Rural Staffing Services (RSS) partners with rural hospitals, clinics, public hospital districts, regional health systems, community health centers, tribal healthcare organizations, long-term care providers, and community healthcare organizations throughout Montana to identify experienced nursing executives for Chief Nursing Officer (CNO) and senior nursing leadership opportunities. These roles are deeply connected to the people, teams, and communities served, requiring leaders who understand the responsibility and privilege of leading care in rural and frontier settings. The CNO may oversee clinical quality, patient safety, regulatory readiness, workforce development, nursing operations, infection prevention, and daily support of teams across multiple care areas. In some organizations, the CNO supports nurses and clinical teams across several facilities, reservations, or communities separated by significant distances, navigating challenges such as weather, transportation, staffing shortages, housing, supply availability, and access to specialty services. The CNO also shapes workplace culture, ensuring nurses feel heard, valued, prepared, and supported. Strong leaders in this field demonstrate flexibility, creativity, collaboration, and trust, being visible, approachable, practical, and willing to work closely with frontline employees, medical staff, executive leaders, boards, tribal partners, community organizations, emergency services, and regional healthcare systems. Effective nursing leadership preserves access to care for entire communities and regions.

Requirements

• Current Registered Nurse licensure or eligibility for Montana licensure
• Progressive nursing leadership experience
• Experience as a CNO, Vice President of Nursing, Chief Clinical Officer, Director of Nursing, or comparable senior leader
• Strong knowledge of quality, patient safety, regulatory compliance, accreditation, infection prevention, and nursing operations
• Experience leading teams through growth, transition, workforce shortages, organizational change, or operational instability
• Experience developing nursing leaders and strengthening employee engagement and retention
• The ability to lead effectively when staffing, specialty support, transportation, housing, or other resources may be limited
• Experience with rural hospitals, Critical Access Hospitals, FQHCs, public hospital districts, tribal healthcare organizations, regional systems, long-term care providers, or community healthcare organizations
• Experience supporting clinical services across multiple facilities or significant geographic distances may be valuable
• A bachelor's degree in nursing or a related field
• A collaborative, visible, transparent, practical, and relationship-focused leadership style
• The ability to relocate or travel regionally when required

Nice To Haves

• A master's degree (preferred or required for some opportunities)
• Relevant nursing leadership, quality, or healthcare executive certification may be preferred

Responsibilities

• Providing strategic and operational leadership for nursing and clinical services
• Supporting safe, high-quality, patient-centered, and community-focused care
• Strengthening nursing culture, retention, employee engagement, and professional development
• Developing, mentoring, and supporting nursing directors, managers, supervisors, and frontline teams
• Overseeing staffing, scheduling, productivity, call coverage, and nursing workforce planning
• Supporting recruitment, orientation, competency development, and succession planning
• Supporting regulatory compliance, accreditation, credentialing, and survey readiness
• Advancing quality improvement, infection prevention, and patient-safety initiatives
• Monitoring nursing-sensitive indicators, patient outcomes, staffing performance, and clinical quality
• Collaborating with executive leadership, medical staff, governing boards, tribal leadership, and regional partners
• Supporting emergency, inpatient, outpatient, long-term care, maternal health, surgical, and community-based services as applicable
• Helping maintain nursing coverage during vacancies, severe weather, transportation delays, wildfire impacts, or increased patient demand
• Supporting nurses and clinical teams working across multiple facilities, clinics, reservations, or communities
• Developing policies, procedures, workflows, standards of care, and documentation practices
• Supporting telehealth, regional consultation, and coordination between local care, tribal health programs, and regional hospitals
• Helping the organization respond to the evolving health needs of the communities and regions it serves
• Building an environment where employees feel respected, accountable, connected, and proud of the care they provide

Benefits

• Compensation will be explained before you decide whether to move forward with a specific opportunity.
• Relocation assistance will be explained before you decide whether to move forward with a specific opportunity.
• Travel requirements will be explained before you decide whether to move forward with a specific opportunity.

What This Job Offers

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