Senior Program Manager, Recruiting and Events - Department of Medicine

University of Washington Medical Center•Seattle, WA

8d•$70,764 - $106,140

About The Position

The Department of Medicine is hiring a Senior Program Manager, Recruiting and Events to lead senior leadership recruitment activities and department-wide event and program management. 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, support departmental goals, and maintain a consistent professional brand. The position serves as a trusted liaison and consultant, driving operational excellence and coordinating high-impact events. The role leads executive and senior faculty recruitment, including search strategy, candidate sourcing and engagement, search committee coordination, candidate logistics, recruitment metrics, offers and negotiations, and continuous improvement. It also develops a centralized event management strategy, standards, calendar, and resources, and advises department stakeholders on event planning, logistics, compliance, and branding. The position leads initiatives to improve the hiring and onboarding experience, including onboarding frameworks, orientation, workforce-readiness infrastructure, required-training tracking, satisfaction measurement, executive onboarding, and workforce trend reporting. In addition, it supports the daily operations of the Chair’s Office, manages projects and special initiatives, coordinates follow-up, and drafts and proofreads correspondence and reports. This is a regular, 100% FTE position on first shift. Work schedule flexibility may be needed for early mornings, evenings, and/or weekends, and occasional travel to other UW facilities or campuses may be required. The Department of Medicine has more than 3,900 staff, faculty, trainees, and students.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business, Communications, Organizational Development, Psychology, or a related field, or equivalent education and/or experience where substitution is permitted.
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.
Experience partnering with cross-functional stakeholders in a highly complex organizational structure.
Excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal communication skills, with 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.
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.
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 the development, implementation, governance, and continuous improvement of senior leadership recruitment in partnership with departmental AHR and HR teams.
Establish recruitment goals, key performance indicators, performance measures, and reporting frameworks.
Improve candidate experiences through process redesign, workflow optimization, and relationship-building.
Advise hiring leaders on recruitment best practices, market conditions, candidate engagement, and workforce trends.
Partner with department leadership to develop search strategies for senior faculty leadership and other critical faculty positions.
Build relationships with executive search firms, professional organizations, peer institutions, and external talent networks; develop sourcing strategies and talent pools.
Coordinate leadership search committees, including formation, meeting facilitation, candidate evaluations, and communications.
Ensure recruitment processes align with institutional values, equity goals, policies, and procedures.
Develop executive candidate engagement and hospitality strategies and serve as a primary point of contact for executive candidates.
Coordinate candidate itineraries, stakeholder meetings, presentations, site visits, and interview logistics.
Prepare interview briefings, evaluation tools, and recruitment guidance for leaders and committee members.
Monitor recruitment metrics and report on outcomes, time-to-fill, candidate experience, and hiring trends; conduct post-search assessments.
Partner with Compensation, AHR, and departmental leaders to facilitate executive offers and negotiations.
Handle confidential and sensitive recruitment activities with discretion and independent judgment.
Develop and implement a centralized department-wide event management strategy and maintain an annual events calendar.
Serve as a resource and strategic adviser for departments, divisions, administrators, and event stakeholders planning events.
Develop and improve event standards, processes, templates, toolkits, and best practices for logistics, vendors, registration, communications, budgeting, and attendee experience.
Ensure events reflect departmental branding, values, strategic priorities, and applicable departmental, university, and regulatory requirements.
Coordinate event planning across the department to promote consistency and a unified departmental presence.
Lead initiatives to improve hiring experiences 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 completion, and workforce-readiness milestones.
Measure candidate, new-hire, onboarding, orientation, and hiring-manager satisfaction and use findings to improve programs and services.
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.
Serve as the department subject matter expert on leadership hiring experience, onboarding, workforce integration, and employee transition programs.
Support daily Chair’s Office operations and contribute to initiatives and administrative operations.
Manage projects and special initiatives on behalf of the Chair and coordinate timely follow-up on inquiries, interests, and commitments.
Draft reports, letters, and memoranda; proofread outgoing correspondence; and support administrative services for department leaders.