Senior Director, Operations & Strategy Full-time

Senior Director, Operations & Strategy

The University of Texas at Austin is undertaking a once-in-a-generation transformation to build the nation's first AI-native academic health system. Anchored by UT Dell Medicine and the rapidly expanding UT Medicine clinical enterprise, this bold initiative is redefining how academic medicine delivers care, accelerates discovery, and prepares the next generation of healthcare leaders. As UT Medicine advances plans for a future state-of-the-art specialty hospital, expands its research enterprise, and invests in artificial intelligence, digital health, and precision medicine, the organization is creating one of the country's most innovative integrated academic health systems.

At UT Dell Medicine, you won't simply lead departmental operations—you will help build one of the nation's premier academic departments focused on artificial intelligence, biomedical informatics, systems health sciences, and computational medicine. Reporting directly to internationally recognized AI leader Hongfang Liu, Ph.D., inaugural Chair of the Department of Quantitative & Systems Health Sciences and Chief Translational AI & Informatics Officer, this role offers the rare opportunity to help establish the operational foundation for a department that will influence the future of medicine through data science, artificial intelligence, translational research, and digital innovation.

As Senior Director, Operations & Strategy, you will have the opportunity to:

• Build the administrative infrastructure for one of the newest academic departments in the country.
• Partner directly with executive leadership to shape long-term departmental strategy.
• Develop scalable operational models supporting research, education, faculty affairs, and innovation.
• Build financial and organizational infrastructure supporting rapid institutional growth.
• Lead enterprise initiatives spanning artificial intelligence, digital health, biomedical informatics, and translational science.
• Create data-driven operational dashboards, governance structures, and performance metrics.
• Recruit, develop, and mentor high-performing administrative teams.
• Help shape the future operational model supporting the nation's first AI-native academic health system.

What you'll do:

• Serve as the chief administrative and strategic advisor to the Department Chair across all operational functions.
• Develop and execute departmental strategic plans aligned with Dell Medical School and UT Medicine priorities.
• Lead financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, resource allocation, and long-range operational planning.
• Oversee research administration, sponsored programs, faculty affairs, academic operations, human resources, communications, and administrative services.
• Build scalable governance structures, operating models, and organizational processes supporting continued departmental growth.
• Develop executive dashboards, key performance indicators, and operational analytics to support informed decision making.
• Partner across Dell Medical School, UT Medicine, UT Austin, UT System, and external collaborators to advance enterprise initiatives.
• Coordinate complex interdisciplinary programs spanning research, education, AI, digital health, computational science, and clinical innovation.
• Recruit, mentor, and develop high-performing administrative leaders while fostering a culture of collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with university, sponsor, state, and federal regulations governing academic, research, and operational activities.
• Support organizational readiness for continued growth, new research initiatives, faculty recruitment, and enterprise expansion.

Who you are:

The ideal candidate is an accomplished academic healthcare administrator and strategic operator who thrives in complex, rapidly evolving organizations. You possess exceptional operational and financial leadership skills while serving as a trusted advisor to executive leadership. You understand how to transform ambitious strategic vision into sustainable operational execution and enjoy building organizations from the ground up.

You are equally comfortable discussing long-term organizational strategy with executive leadership as you are solving operational challenges alongside faculty and administrative teams. You build trust through collaboration, transparency, and thoughtful leadership while using data to drive decision making and continuous improvement.

You bring experience leading complex academic, healthcare, research, or scientific organizations and understand the unique balance among education, research, clinical operations, and innovation. Most importantly, you are energized by building something transformational and helping create an organization positioned for national leadership.

Required qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Public Administration, Science Administration, Engineering Management, or related field.
• Advanced degree combined with a technical or scientific undergraduate degree is also highly desirable.
• Minimum of 10 years of progressive executive leadership experience in academic medicine, healthcare administration, research administration, scientific operations, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success leading large, complex administrative organizations.
• Strong financial management, strategic planning, and organizational leadership experience.
• Exceptional executive communication and stakeholder engagement skills.

Preferred qualifications:

• Master's degree (MBA, MHA, MPH, MPA, MS, or related discipline).
• Fifteen or more years of progressively responsible leadership experience.
• Experience supporting AI, biomedical informatics, computational science, engineering, or research-intensive academic departments.
• Experience managing significant federally funded research portfolios.
• Experience leading organizations through periods of rapid growth or transformation.
• Professional certifications such as FACHE, PMP, CRA, or equivalent.

Salary: $191,868+ depending on qualifications

Working environment:

• Standard office equipment
• Repetitive use of a keyboard

Required materials:

• Resume/CV
• 3 work references with their contact information; at least one reference should be from a supervisor
• Letter of interest