Sr Director, Psychiatry

Lurie Children's Hospital • Chicago, IL

6d • $141,440 - $233,376 • Onsite

About The Position

The Senior Director, Inpatient Psychiatry will advise and contribute to setting strategic priorities to align departmental operations and support achievement of nursing department and medical center goals, partner in development and implementation of policies and protocols focused on evidence-based practice and research that drives nursing forward. Leads and inspires teams to contribute to achievement of strategic, operational, and financial goals.

Requirements

• Minimum of a master’s degree, with a concentration in Nursing, Business, or Health Care Administration.
• A minimum of five years progressive leadership experience in an academic medical center or complex teaching hospital.
• Demonstrated ability to ensure the provision of quality patient care in a dynamic and fiscally challenging environment.
• Experience in strategic thinking, program development, decision making, and outcome evaluation.
• Strong facilitation skills, including meeting management, large group facilitation, group process, negotiation, and conflict resolution.
• Strong interpersonal communication skills including both written and oral communication.
• Demonstrated ability to provide leadership to others in a collaborative and facilitative style within a matrix reporting structure as well as a complex organizational setting.
• Comfortable working with faculty, directors, and other senior leadership.

Responsibilities

• Establishes and integrates the strategic direction of the psychiatry department with the overall mission and strategic direction of the organization.
• Leads execution of strategic and operational plans; facilitates annual update, monitors & tracks progress on initiatives including development of goals and metrics for areas of responsibility.
• Forecasts changes, obstacles, and external forces.
• Has a clear vision for the department and concisely articulates it.
• Provides strategic, operational, and financial leadership for all inpatient psychiatry services, including a 16-bed unit and the specialized 4-bed autism program, ensuring alignment with the organization’s mission, vision, and long-term behavioral health strategy.
• Directs and advances behavioral health operations in the Emergency Department, ensuring rapid access to services, clinical excellence, and operational efficiency.
• Partners with senior organizational leadership to develop and execute behavioral health strategies for patients on medical floors, including integrated treatment planning, resource optimization, and coordinated discharge processes.
• Drives system-wide initiatives to optimize patient flow and continuum of care, strengthening internal pathways and enhancing overall access to psychiatric services.
• Provides leadership for the Behavioral Response Team (BRT), leveraging data analytics, performance metrics, and quality outcomes to inform future strategy, structure, and resource allocation.
• Leads operational integration of Hospital-Based Psychiatry and Consult Psychiatry Services, ensuring streamlined service delivery, improved throughput, and effective post-discharge coordination.
• Partners with organizational executives to advance a centralized and cohesive approach to behavioral health care delivery, including enterprise-level de-escalation training and systemwide safety initiatives.
• Collaborates with outpatient psychiatry services (PHP/IOP/OPS) to build and sustain a seamless continuum of care, driving patient retention, optimizing transitions, and enhancing the overall patient experience.
• Champions enterprise-wide quality initiatives for intensive services within the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry.
• Designs and implements systemic improvements to drive organizational performance and clinical outcomes.
• Initiates and sustains practice transformation based on rigorous quality monitoring and performance analytics.
• Serves as Administrator-on-Call, providing senior operational oversight and executive decision-making to maintain organizational performance and patient safety.
• Develops, manages, and monitors operating and capital budgets to ensure fiscal responsibility and alignment with organizational priorities.
• Analyzes and communicates quality and financial performance data to guide decision-making.
• Negotiates contracts as appropriate.
• Leads the planning and implementation of innovative staffing models and grids to align with evolving operational needs.
• Drives length-of-stay initiatives to achieve established targets and collaborates with revenue cycle teams to optimize reimbursement strategies, including chargemaster updates.
• Champions and sustains a culture of continuous improvement in quality and service.
• Identifies opportunities to reduce process and clinical variation, applying lean principles to drive operational efficiency.
• Implements system changes that measurably enhance organizational performance.
• Utilizes expert knowledge of child and adolescent behavioral health to support ongoing process improvement and elevate clinical outcomes.
• Ensures compliance with all regulatory, accreditation, and reporting requirements for the department.
• Supports and leverages external benchmarking activities to drive performance and quality improvement.
• Leads and supports complex, multidisciplinary projects that integrate clinical, operational, and academic initiatives, including planned program growth.
• Serves as a key leader and collaborator on institutional initiatives, advancing strategic goals and strengthening organizational impact.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision insurance
• Employer paid group term life and disability
• Employer contribution toward Health Savings Account
• Flexible Spending Accounts
• Paid Time Off (PTO), Paid Holidays and Paid Parental Leave
• 403(b) with a 5% employer match
• Various voluntary benefits: Supplemental Life, AD&D and Disability
• Critical Illness, Accident and Hospital Indemnity coverage
• Tuition assistance
• Student loan servicing and support
• Adoption benefits
• Backup Childcare and Eldercare
• Employee Assistance Program, and other specialized behavioral health services and resources for employees and family members
• Discount on services at Lurie Children’s facilities
• Discount purchasing program

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director