Assistant Vice President UW Medicine HR

Position: Assistant Vice President for UW Medicine HR
** Job Description
**** This search is being managed by Isaacson, Miller. For full consideration for this role, please apply at the Isaacson, Miller website at .
** The Assistant Vice President (AVP) for UW Medicine HR leads a broad, matrixed HR operations function embedded within UW Medicine—serving medical centers, clinics, and shared services—while reporting to central UW Human Resources (UWHR). The AVP oversees recruitment, workforce systems, organizational development/training, employee relations, learning technologies, and project & reporting functions within the UW Medicine health system. This role ensures that HR operations support UW Medicine’s strategic, financial, and operational goals through integrated talent strategy, equitable policy application, efficient workforce systems, and responsive HR service delivery across a complex and unionized healthcare environment.

The AVP acts as a strategic partner to UW Medicine senior leadership (Dean/CEO, President of Hospitals and Clinics, Hospital CEOs, CFO, and other members of the UW Medicine Executive Leadership team), advising on workforce planning, labor relations, compliance, and organizational design. In addition, the AVP leads enterprise level HR transformation efforts—aligning people strategy with institutional goals, shaping culture, driving process improvement, and ensuring the health system attracts, retains, and develops a highly qualified, diverse workforce ready to meet current and future challenges.
** Position Complexities
** This role operates at the intersection of multiple, often competing domains. It demands leadership over multidisciplinary teams within a high volume, high stakes academic healthcare environment that includes 20,000 employees across multiple employment programs. The AVP must navigate a matrix structure reporting to the vice president for UWHR with a dotted line to the president for UW Medicine—balancing accountability to central UWHR and partnership obligations to UW Medicine leadership.

State and federal regulations, labor contracts, and shifting operational priorities create a constantly evolving backdrop. The AVP must apply independent judgment and creative problem-solving to deliver compliant solutions that meet institutional needs while minimizing legal or operational risk. They must negotiate sensitive issues—sometimes under tight deadlines or political pressure—maintaining tact, diplomacy, and discretion when working with senior administrators, clinical leadership, and union stakeholders.

Effectively managing this environment requires adept change management and communication skills, the ability to juggle shifting priorities and resources, and a consultative leadership style that builds trust across clinical, compliance, administrative, and academic functions.
** Position Dimensions & Impact
** With responsibility across UW Medicine—including Harborview Medical Center, UW Medical Center (Montlake and Northwest), Airlift Northwest, Primary Care and Population Health, Faculty Practice Plan Services, and shared services—the AVP’s decisions influence HR delivery for approximately 20,000 employees and many distinct operational units. The AVP shapes the employee experience—from hiring, onboarding, performance management, and training and professional development to separations. Their leadership directly affects UW Medicine’s reputation for service excellence, operational responsiveness, workforce stability, and institutional culture.

By guiding and aligning HR policy, workforce strategy, labor relations, and system compliance, the AVP helps ensure the health system remains a workplace of choice, enabling high-quality patient care through stable, engaged, high-performing teams. Their work serves as a critical line of defense against institutional risk—legal, compliance, financial—and ensures that HR practices support long-term organizational resilience, equity, and strategic agility.
** Key Responsibilities
**** Strategic Leadership & Workforce Strategy (35%)
*** Set direction and oversight for all embedded HR operations teams (Recruitment; Workforce Systems; OD & Training; Employee Relations; Learning…