Director - Operations & Project Management Office

Stanford Medicine Children's Health•Palo Alto, CA

1d•$90 - $117•Onsite

About The Position

The Director reports to the SVP of Operations and serves as the primary executive partner to operational and clinical leadership on all operational initiatives. Responsible for translating business strategies and initiatives into operational plans. Prioritizes strategic plans and capital projects and creates plans for implementation. Develops complex forecasting models, budgets, resource allocation and plans for projects. Utilizes comprehensive knowledge of company's internal operations to develop forward-looking focus for business, as well as on-going oversight and governance of labor costs and strategy in support of these initiatives. The Director of PMO provides overall leadership and direction for the Project Management Office supporting hospital operations transformation within the Pediatric Healthcare Enterprise. The Director oversees a focused portfolio of operational transformation programs spanning three domains: clinical workforce and staffing model redesign, care pathway standardization, and patient capacity and throughput improvement. Day-to-day responsibilities encompass PMO leadership and team development, portfolio governance and prioritization, stakeholder relationship management with the SVP of Operations, CNO, CMO, and department leaders. The Director establishes and maintains governance standards, project intake processes, and reporting frameworks for the enterprise. This role coordinates closely with peer PMO offices in Information Systems and Facilities on shared dependencies.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Health Administration, Business, or a related field required.
Eight (8) or more years of progressively responsible and directly related project and program management experience, with at least four (4) years in a hospital or health system setting.
Ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, across the full spectrum from frontline clinical staff to C-suite executives.
Ability to manage complex programs and portfolios including people, costs, scope, and timelines across multiple concurrent initiatives.
Ability to mediate and resolve complex organizational problems and competing priorities with diplomacy and influence.
Demonstrated experience building or significantly maturing a project management or operational function.
Proven track record leading complex, multi-stakeholder operational transformation programs in a clinical environment — workforce redesign, care model change, or throughput improvement.
Ability to strategize, plan, and implement change in a clinical environment where the PMO does not directly own the resources executing the work.
Ability to build a project management function from inception, including governance frameworks, methodology, templates, and tooling.
Knowledge of clinical operations, nursing workforce dynamics, and care delivery models in an acute care hospital setting.
Knowledge of principles and practices of organization, administration, fiscal management, and personnel management.
Knowledge of project and portfolio management methodologies including PMI/PMBOK and Agile/hybrid approaches.
Knowledge of healthcare operational improvement methodologies such as Lean and Six Sigma, or equivalent process improvement frameworks.
Knowledge of local, state, and federal regulatory requirements related to clinical operations, to the extent needed to coordinate with clinical managers and compliance teams.
Skilled in executive-level presentation and reporting, including producing portfolio dashboards and performance summaries for senior leadership and governance bodies.
Skilled in building and sustaining trusted relationships with clinical leaders, medical staff, and operational executives in a high-complexity healthcare environment.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree (MHA, MBA, MSN, or equivalent) strongly preferred.
Project Management Professional (PMP) certification preferred.
Program Management Professional (PgMP) preferred.
Lean or Six Sigma certification preferred.

Responsibilities

Designs, establishes, and manages the PMO governance framework, project intake and prioritization process, methodology, templates, and tooling to support enterprise operations.
Owns the operations project portfolio end-to-end: intake, prioritization, active monitoring, portfolio-level risk management, and resource allocation across the PMO team.
Facilitates the Transformation Steering Committee monthly, preparing materials, driving the agenda, and ensuring decisions are documented and acted upon; presents portfolio performance updates to the SVP of Operations, CNO, and CMO.
Serves as the primary relationship owner for the SVP of Operations, CNO, CMO, department leaders, and frontline nursing and clinical staff; builds and maintains trust across the full spectrum from clinical staff to senior executives.
Leads all workforce and staffing transformation programs within the PMO portfolio, partnering with HR and Nursing leadership on nursing model redesign, staffing structure optimization, and clinical role and team design initiatives.
Leads workforce and staffing transformation programs within the PMO portfolio, partnering with HR and Nursing leadership on nursing model redesign, staffing structure optimization, and clinical role and team design initiatives; provides ongoing oversight to ensure successful implementation and sustainability.
Leads care pathway standardization programs in partnership with physician and nursing leaders, overseeing the development, piloting, and scaling of evidence-based clinical protocols and care models.
Oversees patient capacity and throughput improvement programs, including inpatient flow, emergency department and access optimization, operating room and procedural capacity, discharge planning, and bed management initiatives; works collaboratively with Patient Access, Quality, and Process Improvement leadership to avoid duplication and ensure alignment on scope.
Manages the PMO team to assure quality services and promote positive employee relations; recruits, onboards, develops, and evaluates all PMO team members.
Establishes and enforces project governance standards across the clinical enterprise including charter approval, validating appropriate stakeholders and gaining their engagement, stage gates, escalation thresholds, and lessons learned practices.
Serves as the cross-PMO coordination point with the IS PMO and Facilities PMO Directors; establishes and maintains clear scope boundaries and a monthly alignment cadence to manage shared project dependencies.
Delivers monthly executive portfolio dashboards and reporting to the SVP of Operations, CNO, and CMO.
Identifies early-win programs with high visibility and achievable timelines to establish PMO credibility and build organizational appetite for the broader transformation agenda.
Collaborates with dyad partners to ensure alignment on clinical operational strategic initiatives; creates program plans that support the hospital's mission and vision across all service lines.
Resolves highly complex or unusual organizational problems applying advanced analytical thought and judgment that may have long-term impact on clinical operations.
Develops and maintains effective systems of information, records, and reports.
Recommends and participates in evaluating sources for consulting, interim project management, or change management support; may identify and develop internal resources to fill these needs.