Director Health Equity Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Payroll Title:
ORGANIZATIONAL CNSLT 5 Department:
OFFICE OF DIVERSITY Hiring Pay Scale
$166,600 - $215,200 / Year Worksite:
Lightwave Avenue Appointment Type:
Career Appointment Percent:
100% Union:
Uncovered Total Openings:
1 Work Schedule:
Days, 8 hrs/day, Monday-Friday
#140921 Senior Director, Health Equity
Initial Review Date: Wed 8/26/2026
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UC San Diego values and welcomes people from all backgrounds. If you are interested in being part of our team, possess the needed licensure and certifications, and feel that you have most of the qualifications and/or transferable skills for a job opening, we strongly encourage you to apply.
Reassignment Applicants : Eligible Reassignment clients should contact their Disability Counselor for assistance.
DESCRIPTION
The Senior Director of Health Equity will provide strategic leadership and operational direction to advance health equity across the academic health system. As a subject matter expert, the Senior Director will play a pivotal role in leading the integration of health equity into all aspects of the health system's mission, including patient care, research, education, and community engagement.
The Senior Director independently uses and applies wide-ranging experience and proficiency in organizational development, effectiveness, business process analysis, and strategic planning on projects that typically have organization-wide impact. Understands business needs and how systems, both technical and non-technical, can support those needs. Having wide-ranging experience, uses organizational development concepts and organization objectives to resolve the most complex issues with organization-wide impact and great political sensitivity, where analysis of circumstances and information requires an in-depth evaluation of factors. Exercises judgment in selecting methods, techniques and evaluation criteria for obtaining results. Is considered a subject matter expert of the organization and often recognized as an expert externally in the industry.
Key Responsibilities:• Performs complex and advanced situational analyses, understands past performance and determines present and future performance and/or resource allocations. • Exercises wide judgment in selecting and developing methods, interventions and evaluation criteria for obtaining appropriate results and resolution of organizational effectiveness issues as they relate to advancing quality and closing disparity gaps in patient outcomes. • Assesses highly-complex situations and prepares briefings and presentations for the CAO/ACMO, Health Equity. • Works with clients, usually senior leadership and their staff, to identify and implement evidence-based or best practice solutions in quality of care for patients, health equity, community engagement, and culture transformation, in alignment with strategic, organizational goals. • Provides collaborative leadership and consultation, strategic planning, design and facilitation, and high-level project management on complex, multi-faceted problems to achieve strategically aligned solutions. • Maintains fiscal and budgetary responsibility, including oversight of external grants/gifts/awards/contracts. • Oversees day-to-day operations of health equity programs and initiatives, ensuring effective execution of workplans, timelines, staffing, and budgets across multiple concurrent projects. • Ensures organizational readiness and compliance with health equity-related regulatory and accreditation requirements (e.g., Joint Commission, state reporting mandates), including oversight of the data and reporting infrastructure needed to track progress. • Leads cross-functional teams to solve highly complex organizational issues. • Supervises and manages multiple team-members, including but not limited to, less experienced organizational consultants.
MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS
Required Experience & Education

• Bachelor's degree in a related field and seven or more years of relevant experience in healthcare or a health-related field (e.g., public health), including at least three years of professional work focused on health equity in a large, highly matrixed health system or similar health care setting, or equivalent combination of education, training, and experience. Relevant experience includes leading clinical initiatives focused on improving patient outcomes, leading organizational transformation or culture-change initiatives, or leading large clinical, health services, or public health research project teams.
• Demonstrated knowledge of and ability to apply theories, methods, and frameworks to design, implement, and evaluate organizational interventions to advance health equity.
• Experience developing, implementing, and evaluating interventions or strategies to address health and healthcare inequities or community-based health initiatives with demonstrated impact and results

Skills & Competencies

• Demonstrates superior analytical, problem-solving, project planning, and implementation skills, including the ability to interpret and use data and analytics to drive quality improvement and organizational change, and to learn quickly, exercise sound judgment, and draw well-reasoned conclusions.
• Knowledge of the organizational environment and culture of academic health systems and large research universities to understand patient and partners' priorities, issues, motivations and constraints.
• Superior written, verbal, and presentation skills, with the ability to facilitate, influence, and persuade people at all levels of the organization, through both logic and appeal to positive motivation, to drive and sustain change.
• Possesses superior relationship-building skills, with a track record of successful collaboration with internal and external partners, including community organizations.
• Demonstrates superior strategic-thinking and consulting skills, including the ability to lead significant engagements from inception to conclusion and to integrate health equity principles and programs across the enterprise.
• Ability to navigate organizational complexity, handle multiple constituencies, agendas, and competing priorities, and deal productively with ambiguity and conflict to find common ground.
• Incorporates excellent skills in change management on a regular basis.
• Strong leadership skills with a proven ability to manage diverse teams and build consensus across stakeholders

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS

• Master's degree in Health Administration, Public Health, Business or a health-adjacent field or Doctorate degree in a health-related field.
• Seven or more years of progressive leadership experience in an academic health system or highly matrixed healthcare organization.
• Leadership experience at the director level or above, with direct oversight of budget, staff, and programs within a health system, academic medical center, or public health organization.
• Completion of a formal leadership development program (e.g., a fellowship, executive education program, or certificate in health care leadership)
• Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and expertise using the DMAIC process for data driven improvement
• PMP certification.
• Experience with health system data or analytics tools used for equity reporting (e.g., Tableau, EHR-based dashboards).
• Bilingual or multilingual proficiency.
• Experience designing or implementing equity-focused programs and trainings.
• Experience working in a clinical operations role.
• Experience with grant writing or managing externally funded research or implementation projects.
• Experience writing and publishing peer-reviewed publications or reports and presenting at regional or national meetings.
• Experience developing community-academic partnerships or memoranda of understanding (MOUs).

SPECIAL CONDITIONS

• Must be able to work various hours and locations based on business needs.
• Employment is subject to a criminal background check and pre-employment physical.

Pay Transparency Act
Annual Full Pay Range: $136,600 - $267,600 (will be prorated if the appointment percentage is less than 100%)
Hourly Equivalent: $65.42 - $128.16
Factors in determining the appropriate compensation for a role include experience, skills, knowledge, abilities, education, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. The Hiring Pay Scale referenced in the job posting is the budgeted salary or hourly range that the University reasonably expects to pay for this position. The Annual Full Pay Range may be broader than what the University anticipates to pay for this position, based on internal equity, budget, and collective bargaining agreements (when applicable).
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If employed by the University of California, you will be required to comply with our Policy on Vaccination Programs, which may be amended or revised from time to time. Federal, state, or local public health directives may impose additional requirements. If applicable, life-support certifications (BLS, NRP, ACLS, etc.) must include hands-on practice and in-person skills assessment; online-only certification is not acceptable.
UC San Diego Health is the only academic health system in the San Diego region, providing leading-edge care in patient care, biomedical research, education, and community service. Our facilities include two university hospitals, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, Shiley Eye Institute, Sulpizio Cardiovascular Center, the only Burn Center in the county, and dozens of outpatient clinics. We invite you to join our team!
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To foster the best possible working and learning environment, UC San Diego strives to cultivate a rich and diverse environment, inclusive and supportive of all students, faculty, staff and visitors. For more information, please visit UC San Diego Principles of Community .
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, age, protected veteran status, or other protected status under state or federal law.
For the University of California's Anti-Discrimination Policy, please visit: https://policy.ucop.edu/doc/1001004/Anti-Discrimination
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UC San Diego Health maintains a marijuana and drug free environment. Employees may be subject to drug screening.
Misconduct Disclosure Requirement: As a condition of employment, the final candidate who accepts an offer of employment will be required to disclose if they have been subject to any final administrative or judicial decisions within the last seven years determining that they committed any misconduct; or have filed an appeal of a finding of substantiated misconduct with a previous employer.
a. "Misconduct" means any violation of the policies governing employee conduct at the applicant's previous place of employment, including, but not limited to, violations of policies prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or other forms of harassment, or discrimination, as defined by the employer. For reference, below are UC's policies addressing some forms of misconduct:

• UC Sexual Violence and Sexual Harassment Policy
• UC Anti-Discrimination Policy
• Abusive Conduct in the Workplace