Director | Strategic Workforce Planning

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Scheduled Weekly Hours:

Director | Strategic Workforce Planning

• Reports to: Vice President, Talent & Organizational Effectiveness
• Location: This is a hybrid position with occasional on-site needs. Candidates must reside in Michigan, Wisconsin, or Minnesota at the time of hire.

Emplify Health is seeking a strategic, data-driven leader to establish and advance enterprise workforce planning and management across our growing health system. This role will shape the direction of workforce strategy to support high-quality patient care, strong fiscal stewardship, and long-term organizational growth. The ideal candidate will bring deep analytical rigor, executive presence, and the ability to translate complex workforce data into clear, actionable insights that influence senior leaders and guide enterprise decisions.

This leader will partner closely with executives, HR, Finance, Operations, ITDS, and other key stakeholders to ensure Emplify Health has the right talent, in the right place, at the right time. A major focus of the role will be building workforce planning capabilities, advancing human capital management systems, and helping define the future use of Workday Adaptive Planning across HR and Finance.

What you’ll do

• Set the strategic direction for enterprise workforce planning and management in alignment with organizational goals, market trends, and evolving workforce needs.
• Partner with executive leadership to translate business priorities into workforce strategies that support patient care, operational performance, and financial stewardship.
• Analyze workforce data to identify trends, risks, gaps, and opportunities, and develop solutions that support current and future talent needs.
• Build forecasting structures that integrate business forecasts, strategic initiatives, operational demands, external economic factors, market trends, and organizational growth.
• Lead the deployment, adoption, and capability-building of human capital management and time scheduling systems, including UKG and Workday.
• Help lead the introduction of Workday Adaptive Planning for HR and Finance.
• Define business requirements and partner with ITDS to ensure systems support efficient scheduling, timekeeping, and workforce planning.
• Develop staffing models and resource allocation strategies that improve workload balance, patient experience, workforce engagement, and cost control.
• Collaborate with leaders to determine staffing levels, skill mix, scheduling approaches, and workload distribution.
• Support talent acquisition, retention, development, and succession planning strategies for critical roles and future skill needs.
• Develop and maintain KPIs, dashboards, reports, and presentations that inform senior leadership and support data-driven decision-making.
• Lead scenario planning and workforce analysis to help the organization anticipate and prepare for future workforce needs.
• Partner with HR business partners, Organizational Development, Talent Acquisition, Finance, and the Business Strategy & Innovation Office to align workforce planning with enterprise priorities.
• Drive process improvement, change management, and continuous improvement across workforce planning and management practices.
• Provide direction, coaching, and accountability to teams and partners, with a focus on outcomes, collaboration, and servant leadership.

What we’re looking for

Required

• Bachelor’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Business Analytics, Healthcare Administration, or a related field
• 8 or more years of experience in strategic workforce planning, healthcare operations, or leadership, or equivalent proven experience
• Strong analytical skills with the ability to interpret complex data and make data-driven decisions
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels
• Demonstrated leadership, project management, and agile execution experience
• Familiarity with workforce planning tools and human capital management systems

Preferred

• Master’s degree in Human Resources, Business Administration, Business Analytics, Healthcare Administration, or a related field
• Certification in workforce planning or human resources management
• Experience in a healthcare setting
• Experience with Workday Adaptive Planning in HR and Finance
• Knowledge of labor market trends and regulatory considerations

• Direct experience in healthcare analytics, preferably tied to workforce planning
• Hands-on experience with Workday Adaptive Planning
• Deep analytical rigor and the ability to turn dense data into clear, compelling business narratives
• Strong executive presentation skills and confidence presenting to senior leaders
• Experience influencing strategy, optimizing headcount, and supporting long-range talent decisions
• A collaborative, forward-thinking mindset with the ability to build something new and shape a function from the ground up

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.
• Opportunity: This is an opportunity to help build and define a critical enterprise capability at a growing healthcare system. You’ll have the chance to create the workforce planning strategy, strengthen partnerships with senior executives, and influence decisions that support our long-term growth and mission. This role is well suited for a leader who wants to build, improve, and make a visible impact across the organization.

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.

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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.