CLINICAL OPERATIONS
- Collaborates with other departments at DNWest with the goal of enhancing conversion outcomes.
- Facilitates routine meetings with the Organ Ops leadership to promote a team environment.
- Approves the overall strategy to enhance and improve eye, organ, and tissue donation (E/O/T) and honor donor designation within the DNWest’s service area.
- Works with Organ Operations leadership team and Tissue Services management team in order to provide optimal service to hospital partners.
- Works with management team to attain Donor Network West strategic plan, organizational goals and metrics.
- Monitors workload of reporting teams and staff, ensures staffing and assignment coverage is adequate and effective.
- Assures staff meet compliance with established quality assurance standards as well as local, state, and federal regulations relating to organ procurement to demonstrate commitment to quality.
- Maintains, approves and submits accurate records and expenses.
- Promotes a quality plan regarding Hospital Partner Services.
- Implements needed changes and make recommendations for continual quality improvement.
- Directs reporting staff in the development and implementation of key hospital strategies tailored to the needs of each hospital and the resources of the organization.
- Leverages dashboards, scorecards, and analytics to drive decision-making.
- Monitors real-time performance and intervenes proactively to address gaps, partners with Quality and IT to ensure accurate, actionable reporting.
- Provides executive management direction and input, from a clinical operations perspective, in order to develop and implement strategies to attain DNWest goals.
- Works with leadership with the Vice President of Hospital Development and Family Services to develop and manage operating and capital budgets to ensure responsible control over and utilization of DNWest resources.
Cross-Functional Responsibilities
EXPECTED PERFORMANCE OUTCOMES
- Achieves and sustains performance targets aligned with CMS OPO Conditions of Participation, including but not limited to:
- Timely referral rate
- Conversion rate (eligible deaths to donors)
- Authorization (consent) rate
- Strengthens physician engagement to support donation best practices (brain death, DCD, referral timing).
- Drives hospital-specific performance improvement plans using data analytics and benchmarking.
- Reduces variability in hospital performance across the DSA.
- Ensures high reliability in referral identification and escalation processes.
- Partners with Clinical Operations to optimize donor management and maximize donor potential.
- Improves family authorization outcomes through collaboration with Family Services.
- Works with hospitals to provide procedures and testing to ensure case progression
STAFF MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP
- Creates and leads a high-performing team to execute data-driven, relationship-based strategies that influence clinical practice, strengthen hospital partnerships, and ensure regulatory compliance.
- Hires, orients, develops, and trains staff into high functioning teams.
- Builds and leads a high-performance team with clear expectations tied to measurable outcomes.
- Holds team members accountable for performance through structured coaching and feedback.
- Develops staff capability in data interpretation, hospital engagement, and clinical understanding.
- Creates a culture of ownership, urgency, and continuous improvement.
- Takes a leadership role in staff education and training.
- Mentors and develop staff using a supportive and collaborative approach; assigns accountabilities, sets objectives, establishes priorities; and monitors and evaluates results.
- Provides year-round ongoing real-time feedback, both positive and corrective, meets with direct reports several times a year to review individual performance, and completes all official performance reviews in a timely manner.
- Ensures all reporting managers provide their direct reports do the same.
- Participates in and evaluates the effectiveness of professional education activities related to improving and developing relationships within DSA.
- Participates in recruitment, hiring, training, supervision, counseling, evaluation, discipline, and termination, if necessary, of staff.
- Assumes responsibility for presenting in-services, debriefings and other educational formats as needed both within DNWest and to outside agencies as requested.
- Oversees requests from reporting staff to attend conferences, provides a format for sharing of information gained at conferences.
SKILLS QUALIFICATIONS
- Maintains professional competence to provide leadership and consultative services to staff and transplant centers.
- Maintains knowledge of organ and tissue donation policies and state and federal regulatory codes, including the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (UAGA) through active membership in professional associations and attendance at workshops and seminars.
- Maintains involvement in national initiatives to improve donation practices.
- Communicates and presents information effectively and concisely one on one and within a team environment.
- Performs in as a proactive team player who can multitask easily, possessing a high level of proactive personal responsibility and initiative.
- Possess strong interpersonal, priority-setting and strategic skills.
- Strong attention to detail, and strong written and verbal communication skills.
- Ability to work in a fast-paced dynamic environment and to adjust to new priorities.
DONOR NETWORK WEST MANAGEMENT EXPECTATIONS
- Builds meaning and purpose for the team by demonstrating the vision, mission, and values of DNWest.
- Achieves strategic initiatives through employees by communicating job expectations, planning, monitoring, and appraising job results. Provides accurate feedback and recognition on a timely basis.
- Foresees challenges, is proactive and uses sound judgement and best practices when solving problems and making decisions.
- Conducts work in a professional and collaborative manner and provides excellent customer service.
- Positively adapts to change, supports new initiatives, and is creative/innovative.
- Demonstrates emotional intelligence by having respectful interactions that bring about productive communication.
- Retains team members and demonstrates appreciation through customized recognition and development.
- Partners with employees to create professional and personal growth opportunities for staff.
- Ensures a safe, secure, legal, and professional work environment and administers consistent corrective measures or performance improvement plans when appropriate.
- Adheres to DNWest’s policies, code of conduct, and leads by example.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
- Preferred: Bachelor’s degree
- Preferred: Course work in behavioral sciences, social sciences or other health related fields.
- Option: Work experience may be substituted for educational requirement.
- Preferred: Masters degree.
- Required: Minimum of three to five (3 – 5) years in a health related field.
- Preferred: Management experience; relationship-building and marketing experience.
- Preferred: Previous OPO experience, and proven leadership, communication and management skills, with the ability to coach and mentor.
- Required: Must have the ability to travel within the DNWest service area by car. Must maintain a valid driver’s license in good standing and current vehicle insurance based on applicable state minimum insurance coverage standards.
Education
Work Experience
Licenses and Certifications
Skills Required
- Minimum of three to five years in a health related field
- Management experience; relationship-building and marketing experience
- Previous OPO experience, and proven leadership, communication and management skills, with the ability to coach and mentor
- Bachelor's degree preferred
- Masters degree preferred
What We Do
Donor Network West is a federally designated nonprofit, 501(c)3, organ procurement and tissue recovery organization (OPO) with headquarters in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Established in 1987, we serve more than 13 million people and connect a donor’s gift to those in need in 45 counties in Northern California and Northern Nevada. Organ, eye, and tissue donation offers the hope to heal. The generous decisions of donors and their families allow us to recover and allocate organs and tissues for transplantation and research. We are able to carry out our mission of saving and healing lives thanks to our partnership with 175 hospitals, doctors, nurses, more than 500 funeral homes and 44 coroners and medical examiners. Donor Network West is proud to be a Donate Life organization and an accredited member of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) and the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). We are additionally members of Donate Life California and Donate Life Nevada. Join our mission: https://www.donornetworkwest.org/careers/





