Executive Director of Business Optimization

At Duke Health, we're driven by a commitment to compassionate care that changes the lives of patients, their loved ones, and the greater community. No matter where your talents lie, join us and discover how we can advance health together.

 

About Duke University Hospital

 

Pursue your passion for caring with Duke University Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, which is consistently ranked among the best in the United States and is the number one hospital in North Carolina, according to U.S. News and World Report for 2023-2024. Duke University Hospital is the largest of Duke Health's three hospitals and features 1048 patient beds, 65 operating rooms, as well as comprehensive diagnostic and therapeutic facilities, including a regional emergency/trauma center, an endo-surgery center, and more.

As the Executive Director of Business Optimization, this position will play a pivotal role in reducing our non-value-added complexity, implementing standard processes, and enhancing labor and productivity management practices by leveraging advanced analytics to improve labor productivity and efficiency.

Reporting dually to the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer, this position will be responsible for driving organization-wide initiatives aimed at reducing complexity, improving margin, and enhancing productivity, utilizing data-driven insights to make informed business decisions.

 

Labor/Productivity Management:

• Methodically analyze business strategies to identify and address negative-margin and low-margin business segments and other value elements.
• Work closely with leadership to optimize volume, labor, and productivity. Continue to enhance analytical tools to build efficient labor productivity management processes and identify implementable solutions.
• Develop and execute margin improvement programs while ensuring alignment with overall business goals.
• Develop and improve analytical tools and establish a business cadence to eliminate non-value-added complexity across business units. Understand where differentiation creates value and streamline areas where it creates opportunity cost.
• Collaborate with cross-functional teams to ensure the successful execution of end-to-end complexity reduction initiatives.
• Work closely with operational leadership to clean, analyze, and leverage business master data to gain insights into labor and productivity variances and margin expansion opportunities.
• Utilize advanced analytics, AI, and machine learning techniques to support data-driven decision-making and predict trends. Develop consistent tools and approaches for data analysis, automate repeatable tasks, and drive process efficiencies. Improve documentation and processes related to our internal and external application environment.
• Provide oversight to team members for the training and development of team members.
• Guide the team on how to build and maintain dashboards to track performance.
• Establish operational objectives and work plans and delegate assignments to subordinates.
• Set direction for direct reports to ensure supported business units are receiving the customer service and innovative technology solutions required
• Work with each direct report to establish goals and objectives for each year and monitor and advise on progress to enhance team members' professional development.
• Perform other related duties incidental to the work described herein.

 

Education and Experience:
•    Bachelor’s degree in business, Finance, Engineering, or a related field; MBA preferred.
•    Minimum of ten years of experience in a complex business environment.
•    Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to turn data into actionable insights.
•    Solid understanding of business and operational finance, P&L, and margin management.
•    Proven track record of successfully leading transformation and change management initiatives.
•    Excellent communication and presentation skills, with the ability to convey complex information to diverse audiences.
•    Strong business acumen and the ability to align strategy with business goals.
•    Ability to foster strong relationships and influence within a matrixed organization to achieve business objectives.
•    Knowledgeable in agile tactics and methodology
•    Strong