Director, Workforce Transformation

Heartland Whole Health Institute is a non-profit that addresses physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being by working with health systems, employers, and communities to redesign health care delivery.

Job Description:

Job Title: Director, Workforce Transformation

Reports to: Associate Vice President, Workforce Transformation 

FLSA Classification: Exempt
Location: Bentonville, Arkansas (On-site)

Date Reviewed: 08/09/2026

Who We Are

Heartland Whole Health Institute (HWHI) is dedicated to transforming health care – beginning in our home of Northwest Arkansas and scaling to disrupt the national health crisis. We advocate, educate, and guide the implementation of an innovative system, rooted in whole health and the realignment of financial incentives. Our team members are collaborative, analytical, mission-driven, and working together to change the status quo.

The Institute’s 85,000-square-foot facility is located on the Crystal Bridges Campus for Art and Wellness, which includes Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and Alice L. Walton School of Medicine.

About The Position

The Director, Workforce Transformation provides strategic, operational, and subject matter leadership to advance health care workforce transformation initiatives aligned with organizational priorities and departmental direction. This role leads regional workforce planning, workforce development initiatives, partner engagement, and workforce data and analytics to identify and address health care workforce needs, strengthen workforce pipelines, and support sustainable workforce solutions across Northwest Arkansas and other priority regions.

The Director serves as a workforce subject matter leader, translating established workforce priorities into actionable initiatives, partnerships, and measurable outcomes. The Director analyzes workforce trends and regional conditions, evaluates workforce needs and opportunities, and works collaboratively with health care employers, education and training partners, community organizations, and other stakeholders to advance workforce solutions. The Director works across organizational teams to incorporate relevant data and evolving health care delivery needs into workforce initiatives.

Success in this role requires balancing strategic leadership with hands-on execution while translating data, workforce trends, and stakeholder perspectives into actionable recommendations and solutions. Success also requires strong analytical and relationship-building skills, the ability to navigate complex health care, education, and workforce environments, and the ability to collaborate across diverse stakeholders to advance sustainable workforce initiatives that strengthen health care workforce capacity and access to care.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Workforce Strategy

• Lead execution of regional workforce transformation initiatives aligned with organizational strategic priorities and departmental direction.
• Serve as a visible local and regional workforce leader, supporting partner engagement, community-based planning, and health care workforce ecosystem development.
• Facilitate partner input sessions, listening meetings, workgroups, and planning processes to identify workforce needs and develop actionable solutions.
• Advance workstreams related to health care workforce pipeline development, employer engagement, regional workforce forecasting, education-to-practice alignment, and community workforce readiness.
• Support the design and implementation of regional workforce strategies that align health care employer needs with education, training, policy, and strategic funding opportunities.
• Identify systemic barriers, interdependencies, and opportunities across clinical, administrative, technical, community-based, and interdisciplinary workforce segments.
• Evaluate whether proposed programs are responsive to documented demand, operationally feasible, financially sustainable, and capable of achieving measurable outcomes.
• Develop frameworks for scaling, replicating, or adapting effective workforce models across communities, occupations, or institutional settings.
• Incorporate rural, underserved, and geographically distributed workforce needs into regional planning and program design.
• Analyze state and national workforce policies, funding mechanisms, regulatory developments, and program models that may affect workforce supply, training capacity, retention, distribution, or care delivery.
• Help translate state and national workforce priorities into regional implementation strategies.

Workforce Development

• Design and advance integrated workforce pathways spanning career awareness, preparation, education, clinical training, employment, retention, advancement, and leadership development.
• Align K-12 career-connected learning, postsecondary education, graduate and professional training, employer-based learning, and continuing development with demonstrated workforce needs.
• Evaluate gaps between educational output, employer demand, clinical training capacity, credentialing pathways, and workforce retention.
• Advance strategies that strengthen recruitment, onboarding, retention, upskilling, career mobility, and workforce well-being across priority occupations.
• Identify opportunities for apprenticeships, earn-and-learn models, stackable credentials, clinical placements, faculty and preceptor development, leadership development, and other approaches that reduce barriers to workforce entry and advancement.
• Promote training models that prepare professionals for whole health, team-based care, value-based care, technology-enabled practice, and evolving community needs.
• Develop measures that demonstrate the value and impact of workforce investments, including improvements in training capacity, workforce availability, geographic distribution, retention, employer participation, and access to care.

Workforce Data and Analytics

• Direct regional workforce research, analysis, forecasting, and reporting activities that inform organizational strategy, investment decisions, and partner action.
• Establish analytical priorities and coordinate internal and external contributors responsible for workforce data collection, validation, analysis, visualization, and interpretation.
• Synthesize workforce supply, demand, vacancy, turnover, retention, training capacity, educational output, demographic, geographic-access, and labor-market data into actionable intelligence.
• Oversee the development and continuous improvement of workforce dashboards, regional profiles, environmental scans, forecasts, briefs, and public- or partner-facing data products.
• Apply scenario planning and comparative analysis to evaluate future workforce needs, training requirements, care-delivery changes, and potential intervention strategies.
• Translate complex findings into clear implications, recommendations, and decision materials for organizational leadership, employers, educators, funders, policymakers, and community partners.
• Establish standards for the accuracy, consistency, usability, transparency, and visual quality of workforce intelligence products.
• Develop evaluation frameworks and performance indicators that assess implementation, outcomes, sustainability, and the contribution of workforce initiatives to access, capacity, and community need.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of workforce interventions and recommend whether initiatives should be continued, modified, expanded, replicated, or concluded.
• Build internal workforce assessment, research, planning, and implementation capabilities while leveraging external expertise as appropriate to support organizational priorities.

Workforce Transformation

• Support the advancement of workforce policy, statewide workforce planning, and strategic partnership priorities.
• Contribute research, analysis, and writing support for workforce-related briefs, presentations, funding proposals, legislative materials, publications, and executive reports.
• Support preparation for high-level meetings, site visits, convenings, and external presentations by developing briefing materials, talking points, data summaries, and partner updates.
• Contribute to publications, policy briefs, presentations, and thought leadership that position the organization as a credible workforce convener, advisor, and source of evidence-informed solutions.
• Collaborate with the Graduate Medical Education (GME) Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and other organizational teams to integrate workforce intelligence, align related initiatives, and reduce duplication across areas of shared interest.

Team Leadership

• Establish clear expectations, priorities, and accountability measures to support effective team performance and achievement of departmental goals.
• Lead, coach, and develop a high-performing team fostering a culture of excellence, accountability, collaboration, and growth.
• Promote continuous improvement, professional development, and collaboration within the assigned team to drive results and support organization priorities.
• Support recruitment, onboarding, and training of new team members to ensure alignment with organization standards and practices.
• Monitor and manage team performance, addressing attendance, conduct, or productivity issues promptly and professionally.
• Encourage employee engagement and morale through recognition and open communication practices.
• Perform other duties and responsibilities as assigned to support evolving organizational needs.

Qualifications and Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in healthcare administration, public health, health policy, health services administration, education, business administration, or a related field required. Master’s degree preferred. Doctoral degree (e.g., DNP, PhD, DrPH, MD, DO) highly preferred.
• 8–10+ years of progressively responsible experience in healthcare workforce development, healthcare workforce strategy, workforce planning, education, public health, health system transformation, or related functions within healthcare, higher education, nonprofit, government, or similarly complex organizations.
• 5–7+ years of progressive leadership experience leading and developing teams, including direct responsibility for staff supervision, performance management, coaching, and professional development.
• Broad knowledge of healthcare workforce development, healthcare workforce strategy, workforce planning, education and training pathways, and evolving health care delivery models. Demonstrated expertise in addressing complex healthcare workforce challenges, including workforce supply and demand, recruitment and retention, training capacity, pipeline development, clinical education, regulatory implications, and regional workforce needs.
• Demonstrated experience with healthcare workforce data, analytics, forecasting, and evaluation preferred.
• Demonstrated success designing, leading, evaluating, and implementing strategic initiatives, workforce development initiatives, education and training initiatives, regional or statewide workforce initiatives, or other complex organizational initiatives.
• Proven ability to translate strategy into implementation through the development of workplans, timelines, budgets, and measurable outcomes.
• Experience leading or contributing to a regional or statewide workforce initiative, healthcare workforce program, or other large-scale program preferred.
• Experience with national or state workforce programs, grant-funded initiatives, or similar healthcare workforce initiatives preferred.
• Proven ability to cultivate and sustain strategic partnerships with hospitals, health systems, academic institutions, government agencies, community organizations, and other strategic external partners to advance collaborative initiatives and organizational priorities. Experience leading or managing complex, multi-stakeholder initiatives requiring coordination across diverse partners and sectors.
• Experience working in or with rural and underserved communities and a demonstrated commitment to improving access to care.
• Strong financial and operational acumen, including experience with budget development, resource planning, workforce funding strategies, and grant-based funding models, with the ability to translate complex funding structures into actionable strategies.
• Demonstrated ability to influence organizational strategy, build consensus, and lead initiatives across departments and stakeholder groups. Demonstrated leadership presence, sound judgment, and the ability to influence outcomes without direct authority.
• Strong communication (verbal, written, presentation) and interpersonal skills with the ability to engage, influence, and work effectively with diverse internal and external stakeholders, including the ability to communicate complex workforce, education, regulatory, funding, and data concepts to executive, clinical, and policy audiences.
• Demonstrated ability to use data, analytics, and performance measurement to inform decision-making, monitor impact, communicate results, and connect workforce, education, and care delivery considerations into integrated solutions.
• Proven ability to manage competing priorities, coordinate multiple initiatives simultaneously, and maintain strategic and operational oversight in a fast-paced environment.
• Demonstrated analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to evaluate complex issues, identify opportunities, and implement practical solutions.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications, including Excel and PowerPoint skills for reporting, data analysis, and presentations.
• Familiarity with project management tools, collaboration platforms, and related technologies used to support departmental and organizational operations.
• High level of integrity and discretion in handling confidential and organizational information.
• Ability to work both independently and collaboratively within a multidisciplinary environment.
• Demonstrated ability to remain focused and steady in fast-paced environments with competing demands, including periods of transition, uncertainty, or operational strain.
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, ever-changing environment, remaining adaptable and resilient.

Physical Demands and Work Environment:

The physical demands and work environment characteristics described here are representative of those required to successfully perform the essential functions of this position. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform these essential functions.

Physical demands: In the work environment described, this position requires utilizing a computer and a telephone for prolonged periods of time, good hand-eye coordination, bending and stretching, and the physical stamina to lift and transport a minimum of 10 pounds. Visual acuity to review written materials is required for this job.

Work environment: Work is performed on-site (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-5 p.m.) in a professional, climate-controlled office environment with standard office equipment, including computers, printers, and telephones. This role requires working in an open setting near colleagues. The noise level is typically low to moderate. The role also requires interaction with both the public and internal team members in a professional and courteous manner. Some travel will be required, including occasional overnight travel, and a flexible schedule may be necessary to accommodate business needs, including occasional evening and weekend work hours.

Heartland Whole Health Institute is an equal opportunity employer committed to building and maintaining a workplace that is free of discrimination and harassment of any kind. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, veteran status, or any other status protected by the laws or regulations in the locations where we operate.

All offers of employment are contingent on your successful completion (where permitted by state law) of a confidentiality agreement and a background check. In addition, you will need to provide proper identification verifying your eligibility to work in the United States.