Discover Vanderbilt University Medical Center: Located in Nashville, Tennessee, and operating at a global crossroads of teaching, discovery, and patient care, VUMC is a community of individuals who come to work each day with the simple aim of changing the world. It is a place where your expertise will be valued, your knowledge expanded, and your abilities challenged. Vanderbilt Health is committed to an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and where your uniqueness is sought and celebrated. It is a place where employees know they are part of something that is bigger than themselves, take exceptional pride in their work and never settle for what was good enough yesterday. Vanderbilt’s mission is to advance health and wellness through preeminent programs in patient care, education, and research.

Organization:

Emergency Operations

Job Summary:

The Director, Business Continuity will serve as the foundational leader responsible for building, implementing, and maturing the Business Continuity Program.

This individual will develop the groundwork for a dedicated Business Continuity department, including establishing governance frameworks, formalizing Continuity of Operations (COOP) plans, integrating with IT Disaster Recovery teams, and leading extended IT downtime preparedness efforts across the health system.

The Director, Business Continuity will play a central role in business relationship management and business impact analysis, partnering closely with stakeholders to assess operational dependencies, evaluate application-level risks, and determine organizational readiness for potential disruptions.

This is a high-impact opportunity for someone who excels at program building, stakeholder engagement, and strategic execution in a dynamic, evolving environment.

Core Requirements

• Business continuity experience, preferably within a healthcare environment, including planning, program development, and operational readiness
  
  

Clinical Background

• Registered Nurse with critical care experience strongly preferred
• Demonstrated clinical leadership experience, ideally across multiple units or service lines
  
  

Informatics & Technical Knowledge

• Background in clinical informatics or healthcare IT
• Comfortable navigating and translating technical / IT terminology and system dependencies into business impacts
  
  

Business & Organizational Expertise

• Strong ability to engage stakeholders and communicate effectively across the organization
• Experience partnering with both clinical and operational leaders
  
  

Additional Preferred Experience

• Experience working on a healthcare business continuity or emergency preparedness team
• Proven ability to build or mature continuity programs and frameworks
• Background in developing emergency or operational response plans, within healthcare or comparable complex environments
  
  

Business Continuity Program Development & Governance

• Build and maintain VH's enterprise-wide Business Continuity Management System (BCMS), establishing foundational policies, standards, and governance structures.
• Develop a multi-year maturation roadmap aligned with ISO 22301 principles and VH's strategic priorities.
• Establish reporting cadences, executive dashboards, and metrics to communicate program maturity and readiness posture to senior leadership.
• Serve as the business leader and gatekeeper for all regulatory continuity plans, ensuring alignment with the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and enterprise risk management.
• Define and standardize BC methodologies, including Business Impact Analysis (BIA), dependency mapping, and recovery strategy development.
  
  

Continuity of Operations (COOP) Plan Management

• Oversee the development, maintenance, and annual review cycle of Continuity of Operations Plans (COOPs) across all divisions and service lines.
• Manage Departmental Sub-Plans and unit-level extended IT downtime guidance to ensure frontline staff have actionable contingency workflows.
• Maintain the Emergency Operations Plan (EOP), Emergency Management Plans, and related regulatory documentation across the health system.
• Ensure all continuity plans meet Joint Commission (EM.13.01.01, EM.14.01.01), CMS Conditions of Participation, and other applicable regulatory and accreditation standards.
  
  

Extended IT Downtime & Disaster Recovery Integration

• Lead operational business continuity planning and coordination for extended IT downtime scenarios, including cyber events.
• Partner with IT Disaster Recovery (VEC Business Resilience Services) to align Business Impact Assessments (BIAs) with IT systems recovery priorities and Recovery Time Objectives (RTOs).
• Integrate BIA findings with current IT DR workstreams to ensure congruence between operational continuity needs and technical recovery sequencing.
• Coordinate the development of phased extended-downtime playbooks: 72-hour, 7-day, and 30-day horizons for highest-impact clinical and business processes.
• Serve as the operational BC liaison to the IT-DR/EM-BCP joint governance structure.
  
  

Exercises, Training & After-Action

• Design and facilitate division-level and enterprise-wide tabletop exercises (TTX) to validate COOP assumptions and operational workflows.
• Lead after-action reviews (AARs), corrective action plan development, and gap register maintenance following exercises and real-world events.
• Develop and oversee a training curriculum for BC plan activation, staff readiness, and leadership awareness across clinical and administrative audiences.
• Track and report exercise findings, completion rates, and improvement trends to the Enterprise Resiliency Program and executive steering committees.
  
  

Our professional administrative functions include critical supporting roles in information technology and informatics, finance, administration, legal and community affairs, human resources, communications and marketing, development, facilities, and many more.

At our growing health system, we support each other and encourage excellence among all who are part of our workforce. High-achieving employees stay at Vanderbilt Health for professional growth, appreciation of benefits, and a sense of community and purpose.

Core Accountabilities:

• Organizational Impact: Implements strategies for a sub function with direct impact to the function results.* Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Resolves highly complex business issues that are often unprecedented that have immediate impact on own sub-function or entity and wider implications to the organization. * Breadth of Knowledge: Applies expertise within professional/technical area and uses advanced business knowledge to develop objectives.* Team Interaction: Leads a sub-function serving the organization at large or across one or more entity(s).
  
  

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Acts upon constructive feedback from all levels of the organization and initiates strategies to develop talent in others. - Builds and Maintains Relationships: Leverages relationships and insight to forecast potential future needs and influence delivery of work to exceed expectations. - Communicates Effectively: Anticipates difference audience concerns, styles and finds mutually beneficial solutions across conflicting and sensitive issues. Delivering Excellent Services: - Serves Others with Compassion: Demonstrates in-depth knowledge of broad-based issues and considers the interests of others to improve satisfaction of services. - Solves Complex Problems: Critically evaluates complex information and identifies trends/risks to make recommendations to improve processes across areas. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing feedback and development discussions to motivate and support team members to maximize performance. Ensuring High Quality: - Performs Excellent Work: Anticipates problems or obstacles which may interfere with quality standards and develops plants to ensure area's quality standards are met. - Ensures Continuous Improvement: Routinely draws upon valuable learning from others, past experiences, and new information to determine key opportunities. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Develops appropriate corrective actions for unsafe environments in order to ensure operational and safety compliance. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Identifies potential obstacles to goal achievement and develops solutions to address those obstacles. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Creates the appropriate systems and processes to effectively manage resources. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Applies in-depth knowledge of data to recommend and implement new approaches to improve decision making capabilities. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Identifies opportunities and leads development of new initiatives that create value across areas. - Applies Technology: Creates the energy and drive for self/others to identify and leverage technology in new, innovative ways to drive greater efficiencies. - Adapts to Change: Anticipates the change process and clearly communicates impact on others/own team(s), assisting them in embracing the change.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

5 years

Education:

Bachelor's (Required)

This role offers the opportunity to make a meaningful impact within Vanderbilt Health, supported by a comprehensive benefits package which may include health, disability, retirement and/or wellness offerings to enhance your well-being and professional growth.

Vanderbilt Health is committed to fostering an environment where everyone has the chance to thrive and is committed to the principles of equal opportunity. EOE/Vets/Disabled.