Overview

The Senior Director, CIO Strategic Operations, serves under the Chief Innovation Officer as a strategic, operational, and organizational force-multiplier for one of the nation’s most ambitious academic healthcare innovation programs.

Operating within the University of Utah Health Chief Innovation Office (CIO), the Sr. Director, CIO Strategic Operations drives alignment, execution, and communication across a complex $5B health system—including hospitals, clinics, research institutes, academic departments, biobanking infrastructure, and commercialization pathways.

Qualified candidates must have:

• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalency.
• Five years' top tier strategy consulting experience.
• Experience leading complex initiatives in a healthcare or life science environment.

Preferred qualifications:

• Experience in an academic medical center.
• Familiarity with digital health, AI/ML., translational research, or commercialization.

Corporate Overview: University of Utah Health is an integrated academic healthcare system with five hospitals including a level 1 trauma center, eleven community health centers, over 1,600 providers, and a health plan serving over 200,000 members.

University of Utah Health is nationally ranked and recognized for our academic research, quality standards and overall patient experience.

In addition to our clinical delivery system, we have a School of Medicine, School of Dentistry, College of Nursing, College of Pharmacy, and College of Health providing education and training for over 1,250 providers annually. We have over 2 million patient visits annually and research grants exceeding $350 million. University of Utah Hospitals and Clinics represents our clinical operations for the larger health system.

As a patient-focused organization, University of Utah Health exists to enhance the health and well-being of people through patient care, research and education. Success in this mission requires a culture of collaboration, excellence, leadership, and respect. University of Utah Health seeks staff that are committed to the values of compassion, collaboration, innovation, responsibility, integrity, quality and trust that are integral to our mission. EO/AA

Responsibilities

Strategic Leadership & Innovation Governance

• Serves as the Chief Innovation Officer’s senior advisor, thought partner, and proxy in meetings.
• Leads operationalization of the innovation strategy.
• Manages the Chief Innovation Office planning cycles.
• Drives decisions for Innovation Strategy Group (ISG).

Program & Portfolio Execution

• Oversees the innovation portfolio of the Chief Innovation Office.
• Manages cross-functional teams.
• Tracks KPIs, ROI milestones, and resource allocation.

Executive Communication & Stakeholder Management

• Crafts executive briefs and board materials.
• Serves as primary interface with senior leadership.
• Supports external partnership development.

Operational Excellence & Organizational Infrastructure

• Builds and refines scalable innovation processes.
• Leads special high-priority projects.
• Oversees budget tracking and performance reporting.

Team Leadership & Talent Development

• Mentors analysts and innovation staff.
• Supports recruitment and onboarding.
• Promotes a culture of creativity and rigor.

Knowledge / Skills / Abilities

• Ability to exercise sound judgment and communicate with confidence, inspiring trust and credibility at the executive level.

• Demonstrated structured thinking ability, breaking down complex problems into clear, logical steps for effective solutions.

• Demonstrated ability to be strategic in communications conveying key messages clearly to achieve alignment and organizational goals.

• Demonstrated systems thinking to organize and improve processes, enabling efficient integrated, and collaborative innovation.

• Demonstrated ability to adapt quickly to changing priorities and remain effective in uncertain or ambiguous situations.

• Demonstrated strong problem-solving and analytical skills.

• Ability to work with senior executives and cross-functional teams.

Qualifications

Qualifications

Required

• Bachelor's degree in a related field or equivalency.
• Five years' top tier strategy consulting experience.
• Experience leading complex initiatives in a healthcare or life science environment.

Qualifications (Preferred)

Preferred

• Experience in an academic medical center.
• Familiarity with digital health, AI/ML., translational research, or commercialization.

Working Conditions and Physical Demands

Employee must be able to meet the following requirements with or without an accommodation.

• This is a sedentary position in an office setting that may exert up to 10 pounds and may lift, carry, push, pull, or otherwise move objects. This position involves sitting most of the time and is not exposed to adverse environmental conditions.

Physical Requirements