Director, Business Continuity - Emergency Operations - Onsite Nashville, TN

Vanderbilt University Medical Center•Nashville, TN

1d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Business Continuity will serve as the foundational leader responsible for building, implementing, and maturing the Business Continuity Program. This individual will develop the groundwork for a dedicated Business Continuity department, including establishing governance frameworks, formalizing Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans, integrating with IT Disaster Recovery teams, and leading extended IT downtime preparedness efforts across the health system. The Director, Business Continuity will play a central role in business relationship management and business impact analysis, partnering closely with stakeholders to assess operational dependencies, evaluate application-level risks, and determine organizational readiness for potential disruptions. This is a high-impact opportunity for someone who excels at program building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic execution in a dynamic, evolving environment.

Requirements

Business continuity experience, preferably within a healthcare environment, including planning, program development, and operational readiness
Registered Nurse with critical care experience strongly preferred
Demonstrated clinical leadership experience, ideally across multiple units or service lines
Background in clinical informatics or healthcare IT
Comfortable navigating and translating technical / IT terminology and system dependencies into business impacts
Strong ability to engage stakeholders and communicate effectively across the organization
Experience partnering with both clinical and operational leaders
Relevant Work Experience
5 years
Bachelor's (Required)

Nice To Haves

Experience working on a healthcare business continuity or emergency preparedness team
Proven ability to build or mature continuity programs and frameworks
Background in developing emergency or operational response plans, within healthcare or comparable complex environments

Responsibilities

Build and maintain VH's enterprise-wide Business Continuity Management System (BCMS), establishing foundational policies, standards, and governance structures.
Develop a multi-year maturation roadmap aligned with ISO 22301 principles and VH's strategic priorities.
Establish reporting cadences, executive dashboards, and metrics to communicate program maturity and readiness posture to senior leadership.
Serve as the business leader and gatekeeper for all regulatory continuity plans, ensuring alignment with the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and enterprise risk management.
Define and standardize BC methodologies, including Business Impact Analysis (BIA), dependency mapping, and recovery strategy development.
Oversee the development, maintenance, and annual review cycle of Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs) across all divisions and service lines.
Manage Departmental Sub-Plans and unit-level extended IT downtime guidance to ensure frontline staff have actionable contingency workflows.
Maintain the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), Emergency Management Plans, and related regulatory documentation across the health system.
Ensure all continuity plans meet Joint Commission (EM.13.01.01, EM.14.01.01), CMS Conditions of Participation, and other applicable regulatory and accreditation standards.
Lead operational business continuity planning and coordination for extended IT downtime scenarios, including cyber events.
Partner with IT Disaster Recovery (VEC Business Resilience Services) to align Business Impact Assessments (BIAs) with IT systems recovery priorities and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).
Integrate BIA findings with current IT DR workstreams to ensure congruence between operational continuity needs and technical recovery sequencing.
Coordinate the development of phased extended-downtime playbooks: 72-hour, 7-day, and 30-day horizons for highest-impact clinical and business processes.
Serve as the operational BC liaison to the IT-DR/EM-BCP joint governance structure.
Design and facilitate division-level and enterprise-wide tabletop exercises (TTX) to validate COOP assumptions and operational workflows.
Lead after-action reviews (AARs), corrective action plan development, and gap register maintenance following exercises and real-world events.
Develop and oversee a training curriculum for BC plan activation, staff readiness, and leadership awareness across clinical and administrative audiences.
Track and report exercise findings, completion rates, and improvement trends to the Enterprise Resiliency Program and executive steering committees.