Operations Lead, Advanced Research Programs

Location:

Michigan, Minnesota or San Francisco Bay Area

Full-Time - Operations Lead, Advanced Research Programs

About Homeward: Homeward Health is dedicated to improving access to high-quality healthcare in rural communities. We partner with local providers and health plans to deliver innovative, community-based care that meets people where they are.

• Lead day to day operational planning and execution across Advanced Research Programs initiatives.
• Build operational readiness plans for new care models, service offerings, sites, partners, and delivery environments.
• Develop and validate workflows that support clinical care delivery, mobile care operations, technology enablement, regulatory requirements, and partner engagement.
• Collaborate closely with Service Design, User Research, Clinical Strategy, Product, and Operations teams to ensure care models are both operationally feasible and scalable.
• Coordinate and help execute simulations, operational testing, and readiness reviews to validate implementation plans before deployment.
• Translate lessons learned into repeatable frameworks and best practices that improve future program execution.
• Support on-time delivery of program milestones by tracking risks, dependencies, and competing priorities, and escalating tradeoffs..
• Build strong day-to-day relationships with hospital operational, clinical, and IT contacts, and support operational aspects of new hospital partner onboarding.
• Flag risks, dependencies, operational gaps, and implementation challenges early, partnering with contracted regulatory and clinical-operations specialists on anything requiring deep compliance expertise.
• Help develop mitigation strategies and contingency plans that support successful program delivery.
• Operate effectively within complex environments spanning mobile healthcare delivery, technology integration, logistics, and partner coordination, along with regulatory and compliance.
• Help ensure operational decisions balance innovation, practicality, scalability, safety, and quality.

• 5-7 years of experience in healthcare operations, clinical operations, healthcare program management, implementation leadership, or related fields.
• Demonstrated success supporting or executing complex healthcare initiatives involving multiple stakeholders, work streams, and delivery environments.
• Strong clinical operations experience with the ability to engage effectively with health system leaders, hospital operations teams, clinical stakeholders, and implementation partners.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into operational plans and drive execution in ambiguous and rapidly evolving environments.
• Experience developing workflows, operating models, implementation plans, staffing strategies, and readiness assessments.
• Strong project and program management skills with exceptional attention to detail and follow through.
• Ability to simplify highly complex challenges into clear, actionable plans and communications.
• Outstanding written and verbal communication skills.
• Strong facilitation and stakeholder management skills; comfort partnering with senior leaders and external specialists without formal authority over them.
• Demonstrated ability to identify and mitigate operational risks while maintaining execution momentum.
• Bachelor's degree required.
• Comfort working alongside fractional or contracted specialists (e.g., regulatory, clinical operations) as a coordinating partner rather than sole owner of that expertise.

• Experience working in rural healthcare.
• Clinical degree, licensure, or clinical certification.
• Experience supporting mobile healthcare delivery models, community based care, or field operations.
• Experience working with laboratory operations, diagnostic equipment, medical devices, or clinical technology.
• Experience supporting federally funded programs, healthcare innovation initiatives, or grant funded healthcare projects.
• Experience with healthcare technology integrations, EHR implementation, or interoperability initiatives.