Director, Clinical Placement Operations

University of Illinois Chicago•Chicago, IL

17d•Onsite

About The Position

The Director, Clinical Placement Operations provides strategic leadership and operational oversight for clinical placement and onboarding processes across all College of Nursing programs. This role ensures efficient, compliant, and high-quality clinical experiences through effective supervision of staff, management of systems and partnerships, and continuous process improvement.

Requirements

Master’s degree in nursing, health administration, business administration, higher education, or a related field.
Demonstrated experience working within a college of nursing or academic health sciences setting.
Demonstrated experience overseeing compliance programs related to clinical education (e.g., student health requirements, onboarding, affiliation agreements).
Demonstrated experience implementing or managing clinical placement and compliance software platforms (e.g., MCE, Exxat, CastleBranch, or similar systems).
Demonstrated experience leading cross-functional initiatives involving faculty, staff, IT, and external partners.

Nice To Haves

Familiarity with accreditation standards (e.g., CCNE) and regulatory requirements impacting clinical education.

Responsibilities

Lead clinical placement, onboarding, and compliance operations across all College of Nursing programs (e.g., Pre-licensure, BSN, MSN, DNP), ensuring alignment with College and University policies, affiliate conditions, regulatory standards, and programmatic requirements.
Directly supervise staff, including hiring, onboarding, and ongoing performance management.
Manage the coordination, tracking, and logistics of student clinical onboarding to ensure timely and compliant placement experiences.
Resolve escalated student and faculty issues related to clinical placement and onboarding.
Lead program-specific onboarding meetings to support students’ successful transition into clinical settings.
Supervise compliance processes and staff to ensure timely completion and verification of student clinical requirements (e.g., immunizations, background checks, certifications).
Develop and maintain standardized workflows, communication strategies, and audit practices to improve efficiency, ensure readiness for placement, and reduce compliance risks.
Serve as liaison to the University Contracts Office to execute and maintain Clinical Affiliation Agreements.
Conduct site visits across clinical partner locations to maintain relationships and assess placement quality.
Lead implementation, administration, and optimization of clinical placement systems, ensuring consistent structure, workflow efficiency, and effective utilization across programs.
Collaborate with IT, vendors, and stakeholders to design, enhance, and maintain system functionality, reporting, and placement configurations.
Develop and deliver training, documentation, and user support to drive system adoption and effective use among students, faculty, and staff.
Monitor system performance and user feedback to lead continuous improvement and manage change initiatives for new processes and system enhancements.
Lead strategic initiatives to evaluate and improve clinical placement operations, identifying efficiencies and scalable solutions.
Conduct needs assessments and data analysis to inform decision-making and enhance onboarding processes.
Ensure processes support accreditation, reporting, and compliance requirements.
Develop and manage communications related to clinical onboarding, ensuring clarity and consistency across stakeholders.
Communicate updates on clinical affiliate onboarding requirements to program directors and faculty.
Partner with program directors, faculty, and administrative leaders to align clinical placement operations with academic needs.
Perform other related duties and participate in special projects as assigned.