Program Launch / Implementation Manager (Client-Facing)

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:

Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy

Job Summary:

We are seeking a dynamic and experienced Program Launch Implementation Manager to lead the successful onboarding and implementation of our largest client programs. This client-facing role is critical to ensuring a seamless transition from contract signature to program launch, delivering a best-in-class experience that reflects our commitment to excellence and innovation.

You will manage 4–5 concurrent partner implementation projects, leveraging your forward-moving mindset, project management expertise, and change leadership skills to guide clients through complex implementations. You will coordinate "deliverables" from a cross-functional team, ensuring that the program is proceeding as contractually obligated. This is a high-visibility role that requires exceptional communication, strategic thinking, and a passion for delivering measurable impact.

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KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

• Serve as the primary point of contact for clients during the implementation phase, ensuring alignment, transparency, and trust.

• Develop and manage detailed project plans using Smartsheet (or equivalent), including baselines, milestones, dependencies, and critical paths.

• Deliver regular status reports and executive updates to internal and external stakeholders.

• Create high-quality, client-facing collateral (e.g., PowerPoint decks, roadmaps, communication plans) that drive clarity and engagement.

• Lead cross-functional teams to ensure timely, on-budget, and high-quality delivery of all implementation activities. 

• Establish and utilize project plans to maintain timeline; capture and mitigate risks, issues, etc. 

• Facilitate strategic and operational meetings across stakeholders including Faculty, Partner Relationship Managers, Learning Education Designers, Data Team, & Partner Site client representatives

• Apply change management principles to support client adoption and readiness.

• Identify risks and proactively develop mitigation strategies to ensure project success.

• Seamlessly transition programs to operational owners for sustainable impact. 

• Ensure contract deliverables and program launch deadlines are met.

• Communicate challenges to successful program launch, both internal and external, to all parties in a timely manner.  Convene cross-functional teams to address challenges and keep the project moving forward.

Qualifications

• 5+ years of experience in project management, consulting, or client delivery roles.

• Proven success managing complex, multi-stakeholder implementations in fast-paced environments.

• Strong command of project management tools and methodologies (Smartsheet, MS Project, etc.).

• Exceptional communication and presentation skills; able to influence at all levels.

• Experience in change management and organizational readiness.

• Healthcare or enterprise SaaS experience is a plus.

• PMP-certification is preferred. 

• Travel Required - up to 6 trips per year. 

About the Department:

Vanderbilt Health Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy

The Vanderbilt Health Center for Patient and Professional Advocacy (CPPA), provides services, education and research that support the pursuit of professionalism and high reliability for medical centers and health systems worldwide.

Our programs, PARS® (Patient Advocacy Reporting System) and CORSsm (Coworker Observation Reporting System), use the observations and experiences of patients, families and fellow medical team members to create local and national data and discipline-specific benchmarks to identify, address and support the small group of physicians, advanced practice professionals, nurses, physician assistants and academic/research faculty who model disrespect towards patients, colleagues and trainees.  

The CPPA team, in partnership with research colleagues across the United States, has shown that clinical team members identified as modeling disrespect are associated with excessive malpractice claims experience. Their patients are at elevated risk for experience avoidable medical and surgical complications. Disrespectful behavior has also been shown to contribute to nursing turnover, reduce job satisfaction and threaten teamwork. In addition, individuals identified as high risk may be facing challenges that interfere with their ability to perform at their best professionally. 

CPPA partners with leaders from more than 300 health systems worldwide. Our work supports the core values and professional expectations that are foundational for effective teams in pursuit of high reliability and the delivery of safe, high-quality health care, education and research.

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: Directs activities to achieve operational plans with some near term effect on results of the department/area.* Problem Solving/ Complexity of work: Identifies issues, gathers facts to resolve technical and operational problems. * Breadth of Knowledge: Applies in-depth knowledge and skills of a professional/technical area and basic management knowledge to manage the work of the team.* Team Interaction: Leads a complex department with a focus on implementation. Typically executes on a short to medium term strategies.

Core Capabilities :

Supporting Colleagues: - Develops Self and Others: Invests time, energy, and enthusiasm in developing self/others to help improve performance e and gain knowledge in new areas. - Builds and Maintains Relationships: Maintains regular contact with key colleagues and stakeholders using formal and informal opportunities to expand and strengthen relationships. - Communicates Effectively: Recognizes group interactions and modifies one's own communication style to suit different situations and audiences .Delivering Excellent Services : - Serves Others with Compassion: Seeks to understand current and future needs of relevant stakeholders and customizes services to better address them. - Solves Complex Problems: Approaches problems from different angles; Identifies new possibilities to interpret opportunities and develop concrete solutions. - Offers Meaningful Advice and Support: Provides ongoing support and coaching in a constructive manner to increase employees' effectiveness. Ensuring High Quality - Performs Excellent Work: Engages regularly in formal and informal dialogue about quality; directly addresses quality issues promptly. - Ensures Continuous Improvement: Applies various learning experiences by looking beyond symptoms to uncover underlying causes of problems and identifies ways to resolve them. - Fulfills Safety and Regulatory Requirements: Understands all aspects of providing a safe environment and performs routine safety checks to prevent safety hazards from occurring. Managing Resources Effectively: - Demonstrates Accountability: Demonstrates a sense of ownership, focusing on and driving critical issues to closure. - Stewards Organizational Resources: Applies understanding of the departmental work to effectively manage resources for a department/area. - Makes Data Driven Decisions: Demonstrates strong understanding of the information or data to identify and elevate opportunities. Fostering Innovation: - Generates New Ideas: Proactively identifies new ideas/opportunities from multiple sources or methods to improve processes beyond conventional approaches. - Applies Technology: Demonstrates an enthusiasm for learning new technologies, tools, and procedures to address short-term challenges. - Adapts to Change: Views difficult situations and/or problems as opportunities for improvement; actively embraces change instead of emphasizing negative elements.

Position Qualifications:

Responsibilities:

Certifications:

Work Experience:

Relevant Work Experience

Experience Level:

3 years

Education:

Bachelor's

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.