Clinical Applications Director, Oncology, Transplant & Therapeutic Services

Stanford Health Care•Palo Alto, CA

57d•$94 - $125•Hybrid

About The Position

The Clinical Applications Director for Oncology, Transplant and Therapeutic Services will lead technology strategy and modernization for Oncology, Transplant, Pharmacy, and Specialty Diagnostics. This includes applications such as Epic Beacon, Phoenix, BMT, Epic Willow, and specialty diagnostic applications across various departments. The role involves navigating a complex vendor landscape, including AI-enabled tools, and owning vendor strategy, contract strategy, and total cost of ownership decisions. The Director is accountable for the strategic direction, modernization, and full lifecycle management of technologies within their assigned application domain, translating enterprise technology strategy into domain-level execution. A key focus is modernizing the technology stack, reducing technical debt, and building long-range roadmaps. The position also champions responsible adoption of AI, aligning with enterprise standards and governance models. This role reports to an Executive Director or Vice President and serves as a key advisor to IT and operational leaders.

Requirements

Bachelor's Degree in an applicable field required.
Ten (10) years of progressively responsible and directly related work experience required, including prior leadership of Managers and/or Senior Managers.
Experience in a health care provider setting is strongly preferred. Health care-adjacent or life sciences experience may be considered.
Understanding of the assigned application domain and how it maps to clinical/business workflows and adjacent technical platforms.
Frameworks for evaluating and prioritizing technical debt and modernization investment against operational risk and cost.
AI tooling landscape relevant to the domain, and general principles of responsible AI use in a clinical setting.
Information technology disciplines, e.g. network operations, databases, software applications and interfaces, production operations, quality assurance, and systems management.
Principles and practices of organizational, fiscal, and personnel management.
Project management processes and systems.
Health care provider operations, and current issues and trends in health care technology.
Local, state, and federal regulatory requirements related to the assigned domain.
Principles and practices of workforce planning and capacity/demand management.
Building a long-range roadmap based on application level roadmaps and translating it into sequenced, fundable initiatives.
Building a business case for technical debt reduction or platform modernization in terms executives and clinical leaders will act on.
Evaluating and negotiating vendor contracts and managing vendor service agreements.
Coaching and developing Managers and Senior Managers.
Effective written, verbal, instructional, and presentation communication with executives, physicians, and cross-functional teams.
Managing complex projects and resources (people, cost, and time) across multiple sub-teams.
Operating effectively under organizational ambiguity, including evolving governance structures, without losing forward momentum.
Balancing investment in modernization against the need for day-to-day operational stability.
Exercising sound judgment on AI adoption risk in the absence of fully mature enterprise governance.
Fostering effective working relationships and building consensus across departments and external vendors.
Succeeding in demanding situations by balancing technical and business interests, remaining focused on objectives, and thriving under pressure.
Handling confrontation and resolving disputes with professionalism and firmness.

Nice To Haves

Master’s Degree preferred.
Familiarity with emerging enterprise AI governance models in health care and how domain-level practice will likely need to adapt as they mature.
Translating enterprise strategy into a domain-level, multi-quarter modernization plan.
Leading a domain through a major modernization or legacy-replacement initiative from business case through delivery.

Responsibilities

Lead technology strategy and modernization for Oncology, Transplant, Pharmacy, and Specialty Diagnostics, spanning Epic Beacon, Phoenix, BMT, Epic Willow, and specialty diagnostic applications across ENT, Ortho, Neuro, Behavioral Health, GI, Sleep Lab, Pulmonology, Allergy, and Nutrition.
Navigate a dense, fragmented specialty vendor landscape (CancerLinQ, Omnicell, First Data Bank, InsightRx, and others) spanning clinical, pharmacy and regulatory needs, with growing reliance on AI-enabled tools for cancer care, medication safety and specialty applications.
Own vendor strategy for a wide bench of specialty and pharmacy vendors, including contract strategy and total cost of ownership decisions shaped by the clinical, pharmaceutical and regulatory complexity unique to this domain.
Develop and maintain a long-range roadmap for the assigned domain, balancing near-term delivery against technical debt reduction and platform modernization.
Identify legacy systems, integrations, and processes carrying disproportionate risk, cost, or maintenance burden, and build the business case for remediation, consolidation, or replacement.
Maintain direct knowledge of current and emerging capabilities of core platforms and adjacent point solutions relevant to the domain.
Advise IT and Operations leaders on system status, roadmap tradeoffs, and modernization priorities.
Identify and evaluate opportunities to apply AI within the domain, partnering with enterprise governance functions as they continue to mature.
Ensure AI-enabled workflows within the domain are implemented responsibly, with appropriate human oversight, clinical validation, and risk review.
Stay current on the AI tooling landscape relevant to the domain and bring forward recommendations for pilots, adoption, or retirement of existing tools.
Lead, coach, and develop Managers and/or Senior Managers; set and measure performance objectives and provide regular one-on-one feedback.
Hire, evaluate the performance of, and implement corrective action — up to and including termination — for assigned leaders.
Build succession depth within the domain, developing Managers toward Senior Manager readiness and identifying future Director-level talent.
Own the budget for the assigned domain, including the investment case for modernization and technical debt reduction; participate in enterprise portfolio budgeting.
Forecast technology and staffing needs against the long-range roadmap.
Evaluate and negotiate vendor contracts and manage vendor service agreements within the domain.
Leveraging through Digital Success Partners and Platform Experts, guide requirements-gathering and solution-design activities, including workflow design, for the domain.
Assist team to negotiate resolution of conflicting requirements across departments and IT portfolios.
Participate in enterprise governance forums as they are established, representing the domain's needs, constraints, and modernization priorities.
Define and implement procedures consistent with hospital and departmental policy. Monitor adherence.
Own delivery and SLA outcomes for the domain's application suite; guide incident, problem, maintenance, and enhancement processes.
Develop and publish domain-level metrics; drive continuous improvement, including measurable reduction of technical debt over time.
Serve as incident commander for significant service disruptions within the domain.
Ensure a high level of customer satisfaction among supported clinicians and staff.