Job Summary:
This Director, Supply Chain Operations role is responsible for leading Supply Chain Operations across a portfolio of multiple Northern California hospitals and ambulatory care locations. The position oversees Senior Managers, Managers, Supervisors, and frontline operations responsible for inventory management, distribution, perioperative supply chain support, logistics, and customer service. The Director is accountable for operational excellence, inventory optimization, financial stewardship, regulatory compliance, workforce leadership, labor partnership, and customer satisfaction across assigned facilities.
The successful candidate will have demonstrated experience leading complex healthcare supply chain operations, driving standardization and change management initiatives, implementing inventory management best practices, and building high-performing teams in a unionized environment. This leader will partner closely with hospital executives, clinical leadership, finance, labor relations, and regional & National supply chain teams to improve service, reduce cost, mitigate operational risk, and support strategic initiatives across multiple medical centers.
This position requires a strong onsite leadership presence and routine travel across all assigned hospitals to support operational performance, customer engagement, leadership development, and execution of regional and enterprise Supply Chain Operations initiatives.
Essential Responsibilities:
Prepares individuals for growth opportunities and advancement; builds internal collaborative networks for self and others. Solicits and acts on performance feedback; drives collaboration to set goals and provide open feedback and coaching to foster performance improvement. Demonstrates continuous learning; oversees the recruitment, selection, and development of talent; ensures performance management guidelines and expectations to achieve business needs. Stays up to date with organizational best practices, processes, benchmarks, and industry trends; shares best practices within and across teams. Motivates and empowers teams; maintains a highly skilled and engaged workforce by aligning resource plans with business objectives. Provides guidance when difficult decisions need to be made; creates opportunities for expanded scope of decision making and impact.
Oversees the operation of multiple units within a department by identifying member and operational needs; ensures the management of work assignment completion; translates business strategy into actionable business requirements; ensures products and/or services meet member requirements and expectations while aligning with organizational strategies. Gains cross-functional support for business plans and priorities; assumes responsibility for decision making; sets standards, measures progress, and fosters resolution of escalated issues. Communicates goals and objectives; analyzes resources, costs, and forecasts and incorporates them into business plans; prioritizes and distributes resources. Removes obstacles that impact performance; guides performance and develops contingency plans accordingly; ensures teams accomplish business objectives.
Ensures long-term asset accounting by: guiding and providing support, when needed, for the asset approval (e.g., vehicles, medical equipment), transfer, and disposal processes; guiding the development of strategies to improve the maintenance of records of dispositions in the accounting system; developing innovative strategies to implement policies and compliance procedures, by proposing strategies for cost reductions that achieves accountability for the misuse of assets; and establishing innovative strategies to identify, evaluate, and implement cost restructuring and cost reductions.
Ensures ongoing quality customer services by: developing innovative strategies to improve the resolution of customer issues; determining innovative strategies to improve the resolution of backorder problems, delivery delays, repairs, and returns; and establishing innovative strategies to improve the efficiency of product returns and limit and address recalls.
Ensures adequate levels of inventory are maintained by: developing advanced strategies to resolve major disruptions in inventory, and guiding the development of strategies for administering of transactions and requests for supplies, equipment, and services; developing inventory management strategies to meet future inventory demand to minimize obsolescence or expiration; developing advanced strategies for maintaining automated inventory and ordering systems to support inventory reconciliation and engaging others on the team to implement; engaging others on the team to implement strategies to confirm highly complex and long-term reorder levels are updated, maintained, and adhered to so that proper product rotation remains valid, and inventory levels are accurate; and working collaboratively as an expert internal consultant and external spokesperson to maintain the inventory control system for broad initiatives (e.g., ensure accuracy of product line, proper level of stock, rotation of product, cleanliness of product/carts), and engaging others on the team to implement.
Maintains and improves supply chain and operations by: leading complex and long-term activities (i.e., shipping logistics, carrier, and inventory system evaluation) to optimize, maintain, and transform current processes for increased efficiency; developing and leading research plans to identify new/existing business operating models according to supply chain future state functional and technical design, and engaging others on the team to implement; and, as an expert internal consultant and external spokesperson, directing and leading processes on initiatives to determine end-to-end sourcing, procurement, and logistics.
Ensures purchasing strategy is consistent with the overall national sourcing strategy by: developing advanced strategies for improving the processing of purchase requests; forming strategies for purchase standardization, quality, amounts, or equivalency across a range of product categories; building advanced strategies to resolve future purchase-related problems and defining advanced long-term cost savings strategies; creating advanced strategies that establish order quantities, and developing innovative long-term strategies for improving product evaluations and trials; and establishing advanced processes to drive novel strategies for selection of new products and equipment.
Ensures ongoing compliance with state and federal regulations, and company policy/procedures pertaining to purchasing, inventory management, and distribution by: developing innovative strategies for applying best standards and practices; developing innovative strategies for managing quotations for new stock and non-standard items, fulfilling contracts, monitoring the external environment, and internal trends, ensure compliance; establishing policies and procedures for compliance monitoring (e.g., Joint commission, Sarbanes-Oxley [SOX]) and performance management audits to ensure staff performance is consistent with established standards; building advanced strategies for improving the implementation of corrective action and the resolution of deficiencies as necessary on a timely basis and in accordance with company policy; and developing advanced strategies for improving the educational and training programs for managers/product users.
Ensures suppliers/vendors performance and relationships by: developing long-term strategies to evaluate suppliers/vendor compliance with policies and regulations; directing, designing, and integrating components of relevant programs while also supporting the onboarding new suppliers/vendors, guiding contract negotiation, and serving as an external spokesperson regarding broad suppliers/vendor-related organizational initiatives to ensure their continued ability to support KP; promoting innovative strategies for corrective actions at scale; developing innovative strategies for managing the resolution of suppliers/vendor issues; and establishing strategies to broadly improve strategies for meeting operational and cost targets across suppliers/vendors.
Provides technical analysis and reporting services for others by: driving analyses and integrating results on utilization, quality, inventory levels, and courier routes for highly complex and long-term projects; forming innovative strategies to continually expand customer services and improve member satisfaction, and forming advanced strategies for the implementation of proven quality improvement procedures; defining tools, techniques, and assumptions to ensure highly complex analyses are appropriate to support operational and business decisions; and distributing reports in response to business needs for broad initiatives documenting complex analytical results.
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (Core)
Ambiguity/Uncertainty Management
Attention to Detail
Business Knowledge
Communication
Constructive Feedback
Critical Thinking
Cross-Group Collaboration
Decision Making
Dependability
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Support
Drives Results
Facilitation Skills
Health Care Industry
Influencing Others
Integrity
Leadership
Learning Agility
Organizational Savvy
Problem Solving
Short- and Long-term Learning & Recall
Strategic Thinking
Team Building
Teamwork
Topic-Specific Communication
Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: (Functional)
Accounting
Business Documentation
Business Process Improvement
Business Relationship Management
Compliance Management
Contract Management
Cost Estimation
Cost Optimization
Cost/Managerial Accounting Data
Critical Facility Operations Knowledge
Customer Experience
Data Extraction
Data Integration
Data Integrity
Distribution Logistics
Financial Plan Budgeting
Incident Management
Operations Management
Preventative Maintenance
Project Management
Quality Assurance Process
Risk Management
Service Focus
Shared Services
Supplier Management
Systems Thinking
Warehouse Operations
Minimum Qualifications:
Minimum four (4) years of experience with databases and spreadsheets.
Minimum three (3) years of experience in a leadership role with direct reports.
Minimum six (6) years of experience managing operational or project budgets.
Bachelors degree in Mathematics, Statistics, Engineering, Social/Physical/Life Science, Business, or related field AND minimum nine (9) years of experience in purchasing, contracting, negotiations, material management, logistics, finance, or directly related field OR Minimum twelve (12) years of experience in purchasing, contracting, negotiations, material management, logistics, finance, or a directly related field.
Preferred Qualifications:
Four (4) years of experience in healthcare experience or another heavily regulated industry (e.g., Banking, Manufacturing).
Five (5) years of experience working cross-functionally across departments, functions, or business lines.
COMPANY: KAISER
TITLE: Director, Supply Chain, Operations
LOCATION: Walnut Creek, California
REQNUMBER: 1429267
External hires must pass a background check/drug screen. Qualified applicants with arrest and/or conviction records will be considered for employment in a manner consistent with Federal, state and local laws, including but not limited to the San Francisco Fair Chance Ordinance. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, protected veteran, or disability status.
