Senior Program Manager, Recruiting and Events - Department of Medicine

University of Washington•Seattle, WA

About The Position

The Department of Medicine seeks a Senior Program Manager, Recruiting and Events to lead senior leadership recruitment, department-wide event strategy, hiring experience and onboarding initiatives, and selected executive support. Reporting to the Vice Chair for Finance & Administration, this collaborative, external-facing role partners with executive leadership, Human Resources, and School of Medicine stakeholders to improve hiring experiences, strengthen engagement, coordinate high-impact events, and maintain a consistent professional presence across the Department. The position leads leadership recruitment programs, including search strategy, candidate sourcing and engagement, search committee coordination, interview logistics, offers and negotiations, recruitment metrics, and continuous improvement. It also establishes centralized event-management standards and processes, coordinates an annual event calendar, advises stakeholders, and ensures events align with departmental branding and requirements. The role develops and oversees onboarding, orientation, workforce-readiness, and employee-experience programs, including supporting executive onboarding and assessing program outcomes. It also supports Chair’s Office operations and special initiatives. The Department of Medicine is the largest department in the School of Medicine, with more than 3,900 staff, faculty, trainees, and students and an annual budget of approximately $600 million. The department’s divisions operate across multiple Seattle-area sites. The position is regular, full-time (100% FTE), and has a first shift schedule. Work may require schedule adjustments, including early mornings, evenings, or weekends, and occasional travel to other UW facilities or campuses.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Organizational Development, Psychology, or a related field; equivalent education and/or experience may substitute where permitted.
At least three years of progressively responsible events and program management and recruiting experience, including executive-level searches in a complex, highly unionized, academic, or healthcare environment.
Ability to handle sensitive issues and maintain confidentiality.
Strong proficiency in Microsoft Office, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Teams.
Ability to manage competing priorities, navigate ambiguity, and exercise independent judgment in problem-solving and decision-making.
Demonstrated experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders in a highly complex organizational structure.
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, including the ability to influence and advise senior leaders.
Strong organizational, analytical, and project management skills.
Strong knowledge of HR principles, particularly recruitment, selection, compliance, and candidate/customer service best practices.
Demonstrated commitment to promoting a welcoming and inclusive environment.
Ability to analyze data, develop reports, and use metrics to inform decisions and program improvement.
Experience managing recruitment processes, onboarding programs, employee-experience initiatives, or organizational programs.

Nice To Haves

Three or more years of progressively responsible experience in human resources, employee experience, or program/project management with increasing scope and ownership.
Familiarity with Workday HCM or similar HRIS systems.
Experience with program implementation, analytics, reporting, process improvement, and automation.
Demonstrated commitment to inclusive practices and positive employee experience.
Strong skills with UW Academic Human Resources policies and procedures.
Experience with applicant tracking systems and HRIS platforms, including Workday or similar systems.
Knowledge of faculty appointment, promotion, onboarding, credentialing, and academic affairs processes.
Experience in a large, decentralized university or healthcare system.
Experience working with faculty leadership, division chiefs, department chairs, or executive-level stakeholders.
Knowledge of School of Medicine, healthcare, or university administrative environments.

Responsibilities

Lead development, implementation, governance, and improvement of senior leadership recruitment programs in partnership with Department of Medicine AHR and HR teams.
Establish recruitment goals, key performance indicators, measures, and reporting frameworks; monitor outcomes and use metrics to improve processes.
Advise hiring leaders on recruitment practices, market conditions, candidate engagement, and workforce trends; partner with department leaders on search strategies.
Build relationships with search firms, professional organizations, peer institutions, and talent networks; develop sourcing strategies and talent pools.
Coordinate leadership search committees, including formation, meeting facilitation, candidate evaluation, and communications.
Ensure recruitment processes align with institutional values, equity goals, policies, and procedures.
Manage executive candidate engagement, hospitality, communications, itineraries, meetings, presentations, site visits, and interview logistics.
Prepare interview briefings, evaluation tools, and recruitment guidance for leadership and search committee members.
Partner with Compensation, AHR, and departmental leaders on executive offers and negotiations; handle confidential recruitment activities.
Conduct post-search assessments and report on recruitment outcomes, time-to-fill, candidate experience, and hiring trends.
Lead a centralized Department of Medicine event-management strategy and serve as a resource for departments, divisions, and administrative units planning events.
Maintain an annual events calendar and develop event planning standards, processes, templates, and toolkits.
Establish event best practices for logistics, vendors, registration, communications, budgeting, and attendee experience.
Ensure events reflect departmental branding, values, and strategic priorities; advise stakeholders on planning, execution, and branding.
Coordinate event efforts across the department and monitor compliance with departmental, university, and regulatory requirements.
Lead initiatives to improve hiring experiences for candidates, hiring managers, and divisions from recruitment through workforce integration.
Develop and maintain onboarding frameworks, employee journey maps, orientation programs, communications, manager resources, and implementation tools.
Maintain workforce-readiness infrastructure, including onboarding pathways, required-training tracking, accountability measures, dashboards, automated workflows, and employee and manager resources.
Oversee employee integration, onboarding completion, required training, and workforce-readiness milestones.
Measure candidate, new-hire, onboarding, orientation, and hiring-manager satisfaction and use findings to improve programs and service delivery.
Coordinate executive onboarding and support leadership transitions into the Department, School of Medicine, UW Medicine, and the broader University community.
Track and report leadership workforce trends, vacancies, retention, and succession risks; advise on leadership hiring, onboarding, workforce integration, and transition programs.
Support daily Chair’s Office operations and initiatives; manage projects and special initiatives on behalf of the Chair.
Coordinate timely follow-up on inquiries, interests, and commitments; draft reports, letters, and memoranda and proofread correspondence.
Support complex administrative operations for Department leaders and provide excellent customer service.