Chief Nursing Officer

Chief Nursing Officer

Northwestern Medical Center | St. Albans, Vermont

Hiring Range: $220,000 - $310,000

The posted hiring range represents the anticipated pay range for this position. Individual compensation is determined based on a variety of factors, including relevant experience and internal equity. Placement within the range will be based on the candidate's qualifications and alignment with the requirements of the role.

The Opportunity

The CNO will have a meaningful opportunity to shape the future of nursing at NMC.

Working collaboratively with nursing leaders, physicians, clinical teams, and executive leadership, the CNO will build upon NMC's clinical strengths while advancing a culture of quality, accountability, collaboration, professional development, and patient-centered care. The CNO will balance clinical priorities with quality, utilization, financial stewardship, regulatory requirements, and the patient experience.

This leader will oversee key clinical areas, including the Progressive Care Unit, Surgical Services, Emergency Services, Family Birth Center, Pharmacy, Shift Administration, and Clinical Education.

What You'll Lead

As CNO, you will:

• Champion nursing excellence. Provide organization-wide leadership for professional nursing practice and continually advance clinical standards, education, competency, and evidence-informed care.
• Elevate quality and patient safety. Establish and advance quality improvement goals, strengthen clinical systems and workflows, identify patient-care risks, and foster a culture in which employees feel empowered to identify opportunities to make care safer.
• Build and develop an exceptional nursing workforce. Attract, develop, coach, and retain talented clinical leaders and caregivers while anticipating future staffing needs and strengthening professional development throughout nursing.
• Shape the future of clinical care. Assess current and future demand for clinical services, evaluate new models of care, and lead changes in patient-care delivery and workflow.
• Strengthen physician and clinical partnerships. Build credibility and strong working relationships with physicians and medical staff leaders to advance patient care, clinical protocols, service development, utilization management, and patient throughput.
• Create an engaged culture. Build a shared vision for nursing, engage employees in decision-making, encourage diverse perspectives, recognize success, and create an environment where people understand how their work contributes to NMC's mission and goals.
• Drive operational and financial performance. Understand the financial implications of clinical decisions and develop thoughtful business plans supporting major initiatives, investments, and service-line development.
• Lead through change. Serve as a visible and trusted change leader who communicates openly, challenges the status quo when appropriate, uses data to drive decisions, and continuously seeks better ways to deliver care.

The Leader We're Looking For

NMC is looking for more than a highly experienced nurse executive. We are seeking a visible, collaborative, forward-thinking leader who connects with people and inspires them to deliver their best work.

The successful candidate will bring:

• A BSN with a master's degree, preferably an MSN; an MHA, MBA, or MPH may also meet the graduate-degree preference identified for the position.
• At least five years of hospital nursing and clinical operations experience, including experience advancing professional nursing practice, education, staffing, nursing relationships, systems thinking, community partnerships, and service-line development.
• A current Vermont RN license; certification in Nursing Leadership is considered a plus.
• Strong leadership, communication, interpersonal, organizational, and team-building capabilities.
• The ability to build trusted relationships across nursing, medical staff, leadership, employees, community partners, and patients.
• A track record of strengthening clinical quality while balancing workforce, operational, regulatory, and financial priorities.

The Leader Who Will Thrive at NMC

The ideal CNO will be both strategic and highly visible.

They will listen before acting, build trust across disciplines, empower nursing leaders, collaborate effectively with physicians, and translate strategy into meaningful improvements at the bedside.

They will also understand that building a strong nursing organization requires more than policies and metrics. It requires developing people, creating accountability, recognizing great work, strengthening communication, and giving caregivers a meaningful voice in how care is delivered. These qualities closely align with NMC's expectations for developing talent, coaching leaders, engaging employees, influencing others, and fostering collaboration.

Why This Role Matters

The Chief Nursing Officer will have the opportunity to influence virtually every aspect of the patient and caregiver experience at NMC.

From workforce development and nursing practice to patient safety, quality, clinical operations, physician collaboration, service-line strategy, and organizational culture, the CNO will play a central role in ensuring that NMC continues to deliver exceptional care to the community it serves.

If you are a nursing leader who wants to inspire people, elevate clinical practice, strengthen culture, and help shape the future of patient care, we want to hear from you.