JobsAdvocate Health

Director Clinic Operations - Heart & Vascular Service Line, Southeast Wisconsin

Advocate Health · Milwaukee, WI

Posted Sep 9, 2026 · We last checked this listing on Sep 20, 2026

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Likely interview questions for this role

Written from this job description, not a generic list. Each one notes what the interviewer is really checking.

Behavioral

Walk me through a time you managed clinic operations across multiple sites in a service line. What was the structure and what made it hard to keep consistent?

whether the candidate has real multi-site operational scope and can describe the mechanics, not just outcomes

Tell me about a time you had to hold a frontline manager accountable for performance that wasn't improving. What did you do and how did it end?

whether they can actually manage through managers rather than stepping in and doing the work themselves

Describe a time you partnered with clinician leadership where you didn't have direct authority over the clinicians but needed their buy-in to change a workflow. What worked?

understanding of the dual-authority structure common in service lines, where ops leads execution but clinical leadership owns practice standards

Tell me about the toughest operating or capital budget call you've made. What was the number, what did you cut or protect, and why?

real experience owning budget decisions with tradeoffs, not just monitoring spend

Tell me about a time a teammate concern escalated to you because a frontline leader couldn't resolve it. How did you handle it and what did you coach the leader to do differently next time?

whether they build leader capability instead of always solving problems themselves

Technical

How do you build a management routine that keeps throughput, quality, experience, and financial metrics all visible without turning into a reporting exercise nobody uses?

practical fluency with operating cadences and dashboards versus buzzword familiarity

What's your process for a root cause analysis when a clinic starts missing a quality or safety metric, and what do you do differently if the same issue keeps recurring across sites?

rigor of their improvement methodology versus surface-level fixes

How have you approached workforce planning or staffing models when you're short frontline supervisors or managers, especially somewhere like cardiology where coverage really matters?

depth of staffing model knowledge specific to a specialty service line versus generic HR talk

What key performance indicators would you watch first in your initial 90 days running Heart and Vascular clinic operations here, and what would make you flag one as a real risk versus normal variation?

whether they know which metrics matter in this specific service line and can distinguish signal from noise

Situational

Say you're six weeks into the quarter and one of your Heart and Vascular clinics is badly over labor budget while another is under-staffed and losing access. How do you approach it?

how the candidate balances budget accountability against patient access, and whether they think in terms of tradeoffs across sites rather than single-site fixes

A cardiologist tells you their clinic's scheduling template is killing their ability to see patients, but the fix would create coverage gaps at another site. How do you work through that?

how they navigate clinician partnership when operational authority and clinical priorities pull in different directions

If corporate priorities for growth and access conflict with what a local clinic can realistically absorb given staffing, how do you decide what to push and what to push back on?

judgment on when to escalate versus adapt enterprise strategy to local reality

This role involves a lot of driving between sites and evening clinician meetings. How do you personally manage being visible across several locations without losing a handle on any one of them?

realism about the travel and schedule demands and whether they've actually sustained that pace before

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The full job description

As published by Advocate Health.

Department: 09120 AMG ASLMC: ACS - General Administration Status: Full time Benefits Eligible: Yes Hou rs Per Week: 40 Schedule Details/Additional Information: Monday - Friday standard business hours with occasional required time on evenings/weekends as needed. Responsible for clinic operations for Southeast Wisconsin. Pay Range: $63.45 - $95.20 Major Responsibilities   Operational Integration & Performance   • Directs clinical and administrative operations across assigned care locations to ensure consistent execution of service line, divisional, and enterprise priorities.  • Exercises direct operational authority, in partnership with the service line leadership team, to establish operational plans, set performance expectations, and implement management routines across practices.  • Accountable for adherence to approved operating and labor budgets, monitoring operational performance, identifying risks and variances, and directing corrective actions to achieve financial and operational targets.  • Drives integration across care settings and specialties to improve access, capacity, growth, and operational consistency.  • Monitors key performance indicators, including throughput, quality, experience, and financial metrics, and leads operational response to performance trends and location-based initiatives.  Leadership of Frontline Management   • Provides direct leadership to managers and supervisors, including coaching, development, and performance management, in partnership with Advocate Health Acute, Ambulatory, and Virtual Nursing and other groups as needed.  • Establishes clear leadership expectations and holds frontline leaders accountable for operational performance, quality, teammate engagement, and patient experience.  • Directs recruitment, onboarding, development, and resolution of teammate concerns through frontline leaders to maintain a strong and effective work environment.  • Ensures compliance with organizational policies, regulatory requirements, and standards of performance across assigned areas.  Clinician Partnership & Engagement Support   • Partners with clinician leadership and the service line leadership team to align operational execution with clinical priorities and care delivery needs. Exercises direct operational authority to remove barriers, coordinate stakeholders, and implement workflow, scheduling, and resource decisions that support clinician effectiveness and patient care.  • Supports clinician recruitment, onboarding, retention, and engagement through operational leadership and administrative coordination, while clinician leadership retains accountability for clinician practice and professional standards.  • Optimizes coverage models, scheduling, and resource allocation across sites in partnership with enterprise, divisional, local, and clinician leaders.  Quality, Improvement & Workforce Oversight   • Leads continuous improvement efforts focused on quality, safety, access, efficiency, and patient experience, including root cause analysis, corrective action planning, and follow-through on performance gaps.  • Uses data, benchmarking, and performance reviews to identify risks, improvement opportunities, and operational priorities across assigned locations.  • Directs workforce planning, staffing models, recruitment support, and performance expectations through frontline leaders using Advocate Health and Clinical Services operating standards.  • Designs and directs the work of assigned areas, including talent development, succession planning, feedback, recognition, and performance improvement.  • Ensures understanding of and compliance with the organization’s Code of Ethical Conduct and applicable policies, regulations, and laws. • Designs and directs the work of the assigned area(s) of responsibility. Selects, coaches, and develops teams, setting  objectives  that align with organizational strategy to inspire and motivate the teams. Manages organizational talent through performance management, succession planning, and development. Designs and directs processes by which team and individual performance are recognized, feedback is consistently delivered, and performance is systematically improved.   • Develops and/or recommends  operating and  capital budgets and controls expenditures within approved budget  objectives .   • Responsible for understanding and adhering to the organization's Code of Ethical Conduct and for ensuring that people actions, and the actions of employees supervised,  comply with  the policies, regulations, and laws applicable to the organization's business.   Minimum Job Requirements  Education • Bachelor’s Degree in Healthcare or related field required.   Certification / Registration / License  • N/A Experience • ​Typically requires 7 years of experience in operational leadership roles.       Knowledge / Skills / Abilities   • Strategic thinking with the ability to translate service line priorities into operational plans and measurable results.  • Strong operational leadership, execution, and performance improvement skills across complex healthcare environments.  • Financial, analytical, and problem-solving acumen, including use of data to identify risks, trends, and improvement opportunities.  • Ability to lead through managers, establish accountability, and drive results through clear expectations, coaching, and change management.  • Strong relationship-building and collaboration skills, with the ability to partner effectively with clinicians, executives, and cross-functional teams.  • Executive presence and strong written and verbal communication skills.  • Commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion and to fostering an engaged, high-performing work environment.  Physical Requirements and Working Conditions   • Frequent local travel to various care settings  • Clinician meetings may occur before or after normal business hours  • Be available for development needs and attend to unplanned needs of the team  • Exposed to normal office environment  Preferred Job Requirements  Preferred Education    • Master's degree preferred. Preferred Certification / Registration / License  • Clinical certification, licensure, Fellow status, or previous clinical experience preferred  This job description indicates the general nature and level of work expected of the incumbent. It is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities required of the incumbent. Incumbent may be required to perform other related duties. Our Commitment to You: Advocate Health offers a comprehensive suite of Total Rewards: benefits and well-being programs, competitive compensation, generous retirement offerings, programs that invest in your career development and so much more – so you can live fully at and away from work, including: Compensation • Base compensation listed within the listed pay range based on factors such as qualifications, skills, relevant experience, and/or training • Premium pay such as shift, on call, and more based on a teammate's job • Incentive pay for select positions • Opportunity for annual increases based on performance Benefits and more • Paid Time Off programs • Health and welfare benefits such as medical, dental, vision, life, and Short- and Long-Term Disability • Flexible Spending Accounts for eligible health care and dependent care expenses • Family benefits such as adoption assistance and paid parental leave • Defined contribution retirement plans with employer match and other financial wellness programs • Educational Assistance Program Note: Eligibility for programs listed above may depend on your FTE or status (e.g., full-time, part-time, per diem, temporary, etc.); please ask a Recruiter for more information during an interview. About Advocate Health  Advocate Health is the third-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States, created from the combination of Advocate Aurora Health and Atrium Health. Providing care under the names Advocate Health Care in Illinois; Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama; and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin, Advocate Health is a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience and value-based care. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Advocate Health services nearly 6 million patients and is engaged in hundreds of clinical trials and research studies, with Wake Forest University School of Medicine serving as the academic core of the enterprise. It is nationally recognized for its expertise in cardiology, neurosciences, oncology, pediatrics and rehabilitation, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. Advocate Health employs 155,000 teammates across 69 hospitals and over 1,000 care locations, and offers one of the nation’s largest graduate medical education programs with over 2,000 residents and fellows across more than 200 programs. Committed to providing equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides more than $6 billion in annual community benefits.

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