Senior Operating Officer

The University of Alberta Hospital (UAH) Medical Campus is one of Canada’s leading academic health sciences centers, known for excellence in research, innovation, education, and patient-centered care. As a major referral center for western and northern Canada, teams at the UAH, Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute, and Kaye Edmonton Clinic deliver expert care to the community and some of the most complex, critically ill patients in Canada. We are seeking a strategic and influential leader to serve as Senior Operating Officer (SOO) and guide the Campus into a new era of healthcare. The SOO supports accessible, safe, high-quality, patient- and family-centered care. This role provides operational and strategic leadership for Site, Zone, and Provincial programs including Alberta Kidney Care North, Give Life Alberta, and Transplant Services. In the Edmonton Zone, the SOO-together with the Associate Zone Medical Director-is accountable for Virtual Home Hospital, Critical Care, Medicine, Cardiac Sciences, Neurosciences, Respiratory Therapy, Trauma (co-lead), and Ambulatory Care. The SOO leads change across local, zone, and provincial levels, supports strategic organizational initiatives, and contributes to achieving zone goals. The SOO fosters a respectful, culturally and psychologically safe environment for all patients, families, staff, physicians, volunteers, and visitors. Located in Edmonton, the UAH Campus spans four sites with 700+ beds and many specialty services. Edmonton, Alberta’s capital and “Festival City,” is home to 1.5 million residents, offering vibrant culture, urban amenities, and the largest urban parkland in North America.

The Senior Operating Officer (SOO), University of Alberta Hospital, Mazankowski, and Kaye Edmonton Clinic, is a key leadership role in the Edmonton Zone. Reporting to the Chief Zone Officer, the SOO functions in dyad partnerships with the Facility Medical Director (FMD) and with the Associate Zone Medical Director and is accountable for the planning, delivery, and evaluation of a diverse portfolio of programs and services provided at the UAH Medical Campus and other site-based, Zone-wide programming. Working as administrative co-leads, the SOO and dyad partners will develop, implement, and evaluate strategic and operational plans, policies, budgets, and forecasts, making sound business cases for investment and funding decisions as required. You will manage financial, human, and capital resources, with a budget of over $678M and over 6,800 employees. You will make confident decisions and recommendations regarding those allocations in a complex environment with competing priorities. As the SOO, you will contribute to strategies and operational plans at the site, program and zone level, showing awareness of external factors and trends, anticipating challenges. You will put systems in place to determine risk tolerance, proactively monitor risks, and develop contingency plans to address them. With excellent communication and interpersonal skills, you will establish and maintain positive working relationships with site administrative and physician leaders, patients and families, Foundation, the University of Alberta, community partners and stakeholders, zone and provincial colleagues. You will influence the direction of service delivery and foster a culture of innovation and continuous improvement supporting safe, high-quality care, innovation, and research and ensure effective engagement of staff, physicians, volunteers, external partners, and the community.

The successful candidate will possess a minimum of a graduate degree in health care management, business administration, or a related health care field. Progressive senior leadership experience in a healthcare environment, including a minimum of five (5) years experience in a senior management (Executive Director level and above) role in clinical operations or healthcare operations. You bring leadership experience within a tertiary hospital and major academic medical centre, complemented by a strong track record of collaboration with academic partners. Your role has extended beyond institutional boundaries, demonstrating leadership and active engagement at the provincial level and across jurisdictions to drive system-wide impact. Equivalencies of education and experience will be considered.

The successful candidate for this position will have demonstrated leadership skills, including the ability and comfort with decision-making responsibilities, the capacity to rapidly process and comprehend large amounts of detailed information, consider implications and consequences of new facts, and make decisions. This person will have demonstrated strategic, critical thinking, change management, and planning competencies. You can successfully undertake management responsibility for large-scale initiatives, including capital development involving significant dollar amounts and implications, and have effectively managed diverse human, financial, and physical resources within a complex environment. You have a proven track record of developing teams and managing change while creating innovative solutions for complex and diverse issues. Strong project management skills are essential, along with the ability to balance competing priorities, complex situations, and tight deadlines. You are experienced in fostering a collaborative, integrated, inclusive environment and excel at cultivating strong relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, including peers, public agencies, government, boards (including Foundation Boards), committees, and other partners. This requires excellent written, verbal, and interpersonal skills, as well as expert political acumen and the ability to be articulate, concise, compelling, and diplomatic. Proven negotiation, and mediation skills are essential.

Canadian Health Leader certification considered an asset.