Director | Pharmacy Innovation

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Scheduled Weekly Hours:

Director | Pharmacy Innovation

The Director, Pharmacy Innovation provides leadership for pharmacy innovation, strategic execution, and connected portfolio delivery across pharmacy services. This role translates pharmacy strategy into executable initiatives by coordinating solution owners, portfolio managers, project managers, pharmacy leaders, clinical teams, IT and digital partners, operational stakeholders, and external partners. The Director establishes governance, prioritization, performance measurement, and execution discipline to ensure pharmacy innovation projects move from concept through implementation and produce measurable operational, clinical, financial, and patient-care value.

This role identifies emerging pharmacy and healthcare opportunities, supports development of innovative programs and technologies, and ensures execution remains aligned with organizational goals, resource capacity, patient safety, operational performance, and business outcomes.

Essential Job Duties and Major Responsibilities

• Lead the pharmacy innovation and strategic execution function, ensuring pharmacy initiatives are aligned with enterprise strategy, pharmacy priorities, patient care needs, operational goals, and financial targets.
• Oversee a portfolio of pharmacy innovation, transformation, operational improvement, digital health, automation, and technology-enabled initiatives from concept through implementation and sustainment.
• Provide direction and coordination for solution owners, portfolio managers, project managers, and cross-functional delivery teams to keep work connected, sequenced, resourced, and accountable.
• Develop and maintain project intake, prioritization, governance, escalation, benefit-realization, and executive-reporting processes for the pharmacy innovation portfolio.
• Partner with pharmacy leadership, clinical teams, operations, IT and digital, finance, quality, compliance, and external partners to design, pilot, implement, and scale new programs, technologies, and workflows.
• Conduct market research, trend analysis, benchmarking, and environmental scanning to identify emerging opportunities, best practices, and risks in pharmacy innovation, digital health, automation, technology, and care delivery.
• Develop business cases, charters, roadmaps, project plans, resource plans, budget inputs, risk assessments, and performance metrics to support innovation and strategic execution initiatives.
• Monitor project and portfolio performance, including milestones, risks, dependencies, resource constraints, budget considerations, and outcome measures; provide clear updates and recommendations to senior leadership.
• Facilitate change management, stakeholder engagement, communication, and adoption strategies to support successful implementation and sustained use of new solutions.
• Identify execution gaps, competing priorities, operational barriers, and interdependencies across projects; coordinate resolution with accountable leaders and project teams.
• Support grant writing, funding proposals, vendor evaluation, partnership development, and innovation-related business development where applicable.
• Evaluate the impact of innovation initiatives and recommend continuous improvements based on operational, clinical, financial, patient experience, and staff experience outcomes.
• Provide thought leadership on pharmacy innovation, strategic execution, portfolio management, project delivery, and technology-enabled pharmacy transformation.
• Maintain awareness of regulatory, compliance, privacy, security, and safety requirements that may affect innovation initiatives and technology implementation.
• Lead enterprise portfolio strategy, project governance, and customer and stakeholder expectation management.
• Deliver consulting-style project delivery, workplan management, and client or stakeholder deliverable accountability.
• Drive operational performance, business plan development, and execution of health-system strategies.

Core Leadership Responsibilities

• Organizational Strategy and Implementation - Recognizes market trends, assesses impact on the area of responsibility, contributes to responsive strategic plans, develops operational plans, communicates priorities, and gains alignment and commitment from staff.
• Fiscal Management - Uses established processes to ensure accountability for effective operations and resource management.
• Human Resource Management - Uses established processes to select, align, develop, motivate, manage, and retain a team of highly skilled employees.
• Excellence in Service and Quality - Achieves seamless delivery of quality patient care, patient safety, excellence in patient experience, and customer service. Uses continuous quality improvement principles in decisions, improvements, and system design.
• Organizational Leadership - Provides leadership and accomplishes objectives by ensuring integration of processes and initiatives while modeling collaboration. Participates in and supports brand and service delivery teams as requested.
• Maintains accountability for implementation of requirements of regulatory agencies.
• Serves as liaison to the community.
• Performs duties and responsibilities as defined by the department, if applicable.

Minimum Qualifications

Education

• Required: Bachelor’s degree in Pharmacy, Healthcare Administration, Business, Operations Management, Supply Chain, Information Systems, or related field

Certification, Registration, and Licensure

• Desired: Project management, portfolio management, Lean/Six Sigma, Agile, or change-management credential such as PMP, PgMP, PMI-ACP, Lean Six Sigma, Prosci, or equivalent

Experience

• Required: 5 to 10 years of progressive leadership experience in pharmacy, healthcare operations, healthcare consulting, innovation, transformation, strategic execution, program management, or related fields
• Required: Demonstrated success leading innovation, transformation, process improvement, technology implementation, operational performance, or strategic execution initiatives in a healthcare or pharmacy environment
• Required: Experience overseeing solution owners, portfolio managers, project managers, or cross-functional delivery teams to ensure projects, priorities, timelines, and execution remain connected
• Required: Experience building governance structures, prioritization frameworks, project intake processes, dashboards, performance metrics, and executive reporting for a portfolio of initiatives
• Required: Experience facilitating change management, stakeholder engagement, and adoption of new workflows, programs, technologies, or operating models
• Required: Experience with business cases, market research, trend analysis, benchmarking, resource planning, and benefit realization

Why Emplify Health?

• Benefits Package: We offer a comprehensive benefits package that varies based on your location. To learn more about the specific benefits available in your area, please inquire with the recruiter during the application process.
• Remote Work Opportunity: This position is eligible for hybrid work. However, candidates must be residents of Wisconsin (WI), Iowa (IA), Michigan (MI), or Minnesota (MN) at the time of hire. Candidates will ideally live within a reasonable driving distance to La Crosse or Green Bay, WI.
  

If you need assistance with any portion of the application or have questions about the position, please contact HR-Recruitment@gundersenhealth.org or call 608-775-0267.

We inspire your best life by relentlessly caring, learning and innovating. This is our purpose. Together with our values — belonging, respect, excellence, accountability, teamwork and humility — our pillars set our foundation and our future.

Equal Opportunity Employer

Around here, loving your job is part of the job. Join our mission in changing healthcare while finding a career you'll love!

Gundersen Health System offers a proud, local history spanning more than 100 years. Our personalized patient care model is only the beginning of what you will experience as we foster population health transformation and innovation to serve our communities and you. We've made it a priority to enrich the lives of our employees as they find a career they love. Using each employee’s unique talents and passions, Gundersen is committed to delivering exceptional patient and family-centered care to the communities we serve.

You can be part of an exciting, highly adaptable and mission-driven organization with a work environment that supports you personally and professionally and a work culture where you are valued and appreciated offering an employee-first culture, work-life balance, and career advancement & growth opportunities. This culture allows our organization to attract elite talent, like yourself!

What You Can Expect:

• Empowerment to shape your work environment, encouragement to improve processes and create efficiencies, and support when seeking opportunities for growth

• Culture that encourages self-care and provides you with opportunities to be your best self at work and at home

• Competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits packages, as applicable, ensuring your comfort and well-being as a valuable team member

• Support for your career growth through Professional Development Opportunities, our Tuition Investment Program, Career Development Center, and online continuing education courses

About Us

Inside our walls and our neighborhoods, we deliver world-class medical care and the right amount of love. We call it LOVE + MEDICINE and it’s more than our practice. It is who we are.

Gundersen Health System, based in La Crosse, WI, is the leading provider of primary and specialized care in western Wisconsin, southeast Minnesota, and northeast Iowa; serving more than 500,000 residents throughout 22 counties. Our physician-led, not-for-profit healthcare system includes a 325-bed teaching hospital, tertiary referral center, and Level II Trauma Center; community clinics; 6 affiliate critical access hospitals; nursing homes; behavioral health services; vision centers; pharmacies; and air and ground ambulance services. Together, we inspire your best life by relentlessly caring, learning, and innovating. We deliver Love + Medicine every day to change lives in our communities and enrich the lives of our employees.

Looking for Remote/Hybrid Work?

Select Remote/Hybrid Eligible under More search to see our remote-eligible openings.

Explore Life at Gundersen

A rewarding career and an excellent quality of life awaits you. Learn more about our excellence in patient care, education, research, culture, and something we call Love + Medicine at www.gundersenhealth.org/careers/life.