Professional Development Specialist, Acute Care & ICU - Full time

Valley Health System•Winchester, VA

About The Position

The Professional Development Specialist is an advanced Nurse Professional Development practitioner accountable for designing, standardizing, and evaluating system-wide educational strategies, programs, and competency frameworks. The role leads education governance to support consistency, quality, regulatory compliance, and efficient use of resources across the health system. In partnership with leaders, subject matter experts, frontline educators, and other stakeholders, the Specialist translates organizational priorities into scalable learning and workforce development solutions intended to improve clinical quality, patient safety, workforce readiness, and staff retention while reducing variation, duplication, and costs associated with onboarding inefficiencies, turnover, and regulatory risk. Operating at a systems level, the Specialist leads innovation and large-scale workforce and practice initiatives, including standardized onboarding, competency validation, and professional development. The role uses data to evaluate educational initiatives and their effects on clinical, organizational, and workforce outcomes, including time-to-productivity, competency compliance, and retention, and leads continuous improvement efforts supporting high-reliability care and operational efficiency.

Requirements

Master’s degree in nursing or a related field.
At least 5 years of recent clinical, educational, or nursing leadership experience.
Nursing Professional Development Board Certification (NPD-BC) required within 18 months of hire.
Basic Life Support (BLS) certification.
Must be licensed or eligible to practice pending licensure as a Registered Nurse in Virginia with a Multi-state license, or in West Virginia with a multi-state license, according to the applicable Board of Nursing regulations.

Nice To Haves

At least 3 years of NPD or nursing education experience.
Nursing Professional Development Board Certification (NPD-BC) preferred at the time of hire.

Responsibilities

Lead development and sustainment of system-wide education strategy, frameworks, and governance structures.
Define and maintain standardized educational models, curricula, and competency frameworks.
Establish standards for instructional design, delivery, and evaluation to reduce redundancy and promote consistent learning experiences.
Partner with executive and clinical leadership to identify enterprise learning needs and develop strategic education plans aligned with workforce and financial objectives.
Collaborate with educators, leaders, and frontline staff to develop education content and programs that meet organizational standards and the needs of varied settings, disciplines, and patient populations.
Facilitate effective and efficient education and development delivery across the health system.
Design, implement, and continuously improve system-level programs, including onboarding, transition to practice, competency validation, leadership development, and specialty pathways.
Develop and maintain standardized educational content, tools, and resources to optimize resource use and reduce duplication.
Ensure educational programming aligns with regulatory, accreditation, and professional standards.
Provide system-level oversight of competency programs and align them with clinical practice standards, organizational priorities, and regulatory requirements.
Standardize initial and ongoing competency validation, assessment, and documentation processes.
Integrate clinical judgment, critical thinking, and evidence-based practice into competency frameworks.
Establish and monitor performance indicators and dashboards to assess effectiveness, identify gaps, and support data-informed decisions.
Apply quality improvement and change management methodologies to reduce variation, improve efficiency, and sustain practice change.
Evaluate education initiatives using metrics related to clinical quality and patient safety, time-to-productivity and onboarding efficiency, staff retention and workforce stability, competency compliance, and regulatory readiness.
Serve in advanced NPD roles, including leader, change agent, consultant, and educator, at a systems level.
Lead or contribute to system-wide committees, councils, and governance structures advancing education, quality, and professional practice.
Maintain knowledge of trends, emerging evidence, and best practices in nursing professional development and healthcare education.
Contribute to the profession through program innovation, scholarship, presentations, or dissemination of best practices.