Vice President Of Nursing Operations

Vice President of Nursing Operations

Location: Arizona

Schedule: Full-Time On-Site with Travel

Position Type: Executive Leadership

Are you an experienced nursing executive passionate about improving care for individuals experiencing behavioral health challenges?

We’re seeking a Vice President of Nursing Operations to lead nursing services across a growing, multi-site behavioral health organization. This executive will oversee nursing operations supporting crisis, inpatient, residential, outpatient, child and adolescent, integrated care, and telehealth programs throughout Arizona.

The Opportunity

Reporting to the Chief Nursing Officer, the Vice President of Nursing Operations will turn nursing strategy into consistent, measurable results across programs and locations.

This leader will strengthen staffing stability, clinical quality, regulatory readiness, leadership accountability, and operational performance while ensuring nursing services remain compassionate, responsive, and prepared for continued growth.

What You’ll Do


- Provide enterprise leadership for nursing services across multiple behavioral health programs, facilities, and patient populations.
- Translate organizational strategy into operational plans, scorecards, standardized workflows, and measurable goals.
- Lead nursing workforce strategy focused on retention, vacancy reduction, staffing stability, engagement, and leadership visibility.
- Oversee overtime, agency utilization, staffing grids, scheduling reliability, attendance trends, productivity, and budget alignment.
- Partner with Operations, Human Resources, Recruiting, Scheduling, Finance, Quality, Compliance, Pharmacy, Medical Leadership, and Education.
- Promote safe, compassionate, trauma-informed nursing care for individuals experiencing behavioral health and substance-use challenges.
- Strengthen performance related to patient safety, medication management, documentation, de-escalation practices, and the appropriate use of restraints, seclusion, and special monitoring.
- Maintain continuous survey readiness and ensure corrective actions, audits, and performance-improvement plans are completed and sustained.
- Coach and develop senior nursing leaders while creating clear expectations, succession plans, and accountability throughout the organization.
- Support new programs, service-line expansion, staffing models, training plans, and other enterprise initiatives.
- Use workforce, quality, census, acuity, financial, and operational data to identify risks and drive sustainable improvement.
- Serve as a trusted operational partner to the Chief Nursing Officer and executive leadership team.


What We’re Looking For


- Bachelor’s degree in Nursing required.
- Active RN license in good standing.
- Minimum of 10 years of nursing experience.
- At least seven years of progressive nursing leadership experience.
- Experience leading complex nursing operations across multiple programs, service lines, facilities, or markets.
- Strong background in workforce strategy, labor management, clinical operations, leadership development, quality improvement, and regulatory readiness.
- Proven ability to lead senior leaders, interpret operational and financial data, manage performance scorecards, and deliver measurable results.
- Ability to travel throughout Arizona and provide leadership support outside traditional business hours when needed.
- Valid driver’s license with an acceptable motor vehicle record.
- Current Arizona Level 1 Fingerprint Clearance Card or ability to obtain one.


Preferred Qualifications


- Master’s degree in Nursing, Healthcare Administration, Public Health, Business, or a related field.
- Leadership experience in behavioral health, crisis stabilization, inpatient, residential, outpatient, integrated care, child and adolescent services, or telehealth.
- Experience leading nursing operations across multiple locations or geographic markets.
- Knowledge of behavioral health regulations, accreditation requirements, regulatory surveys, incident review, and corrective-action processes.
- Experience with staffing grids, labor productivity, succession planning, workforce development, and executive reporting.
- Experience with electronic health records, learning-management platforms, scheduling systems, incident-reporting systems, and compliance-tracking tools.


Working Expectations

This is an on-site executive leadership role requiring regular presence and travel across programs and facilities throughout Arizona. Evening, overnight, weekend, or holiday availability may occasionally be necessary to support urgent operational needs, regulatory surveys, critical escalations, and leadership visibility.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

This is an opportunity to shape nursing operations across a comprehensive behavioral health continuum while making a direct impact on vulnerable individuals and the communities they call home.

You’ll have the opportunity to strengthen clinical teams, develop nursing leaders, improve workforce stability, and build scalable systems that support high-quality behavioral healthcare throughout Arizona.