The Heart Center at Primary Children’s Hospital is a nationally recognized, high acuity, high volume program providing lifesaving care to children and young adults with the most complex congenital and acquired heart disease and serving as the only comprehensive congenital heart program across the Intermountain West. Ranked 12th nationally by U.S. News & World Report in 2025, the Heart Center delivers coordinated, family centered care across the full continuum, from fetal diagnosis to adult congenital and transplant care, supported by more than 60 University of Utah clinicians and over 600 Intermountain Health caregivers. With more than 20 subspecialty programs and among the highest pediatric cardiac volumes in the country, nursing leadership is central to achieving exceptional outcomes, advancing evidence based practice, and ensuring seamless care across inpatient, procedural, ambulatory, and outreach settings. The Nurse Director plays a pivotal role in unifying cardiac clinical operations across Primary Children’s Hospital and the University of Utah, aligning practice, culture, and strategy to deliver integrated, high quality care and improve the lives of children and families across the region.

This position provides leadership and operational direction to a designated service line or group of departments at a facility. It involves working with the Chief Nursing Officer and other management to ensure optimal patient care, financial goals, and leadership development. The role has regional accountability or responsibility for multiple departments and typically reports to the Chief Nursing Officer. Job duties are distributed as follows: 20% Tactical (staffing, equipment, employee relations), 50% Operational (budget management, supply acquisition, process improvement, performance evaluations), and 30% Strategic (developing goals, holding employees accountable).

 

• Champions the use of available resources to ensure nursing care is efficient, effective, safe, and delivered with compassion, in line with current practice standards.
• Facilitates collaborative decision-making and upholds professional independence by contributing departmental perspectives to executive decisions and ensuring staff are updated on activities at the executive level.
• Assists with development, implementation and management of annual capital/operating and personnel (FTE) budget for unit. Provides resources effectively for department managers to meet financial goals of department.
• Models and fosters an environment of professionalism and employee engagement on the unit.
• Ensures competent and sufficient number of staff to meet patient care needs, which includes hiring, orientation, retention, and employee satisfaction.
• Accountable for the implementation of clinical program protocols, and that ongoing monitoring and process improvement occurs to assure goals are achieved.
• Collaborates with medical director and system colleagues in the development and implementation of clinical program goals.
• Evaluates staff competency through use of performance reviews and peer reviews.
• Coordinates performance and compliance with patient safety initiatives, federal, state and other regulatory bodies such as Joint Commission, OSHA, CMS, DOPL, and other unit specific accrediting and certifying bodies.
• Facilitates use of resources by nursing staff such as nurse practitioners, other expanded role RNs, and other specialty roles.
• Serves as an exemplary figure for employees within all facets of providing patient care.
• Monitors and improves patient satisfaction utilizing available service metrics and national benchmarks to develop and implement action plans to achieve desired outcomes.
• Partners with physicians at the unit level to achieve clinical, operational, and service goals.
• Supports staff participation in outside community organizations such as volunteer health clinics, health fairs and advisory boards for not-for-profit organizations.

 

• Leadership
• Communication
• Problem-solving
• Financial acumen
• Clinical knowledge
• Resource management
• Patient safety
• Mentorship
• Community outreach

 

• Bachelor’s degree in nursing (BSN) from an accredited institution (degree will be verified).  
• Current Nursing License to practice as a Registered Nurse in state of practice.  Valid compact licenses must be transferred to the state of practice within 60 days of the start of employment.
• Basic Life Support (BLS) certification for Healthcare Providers.
• Leadership/supervisory experience.
• 3 years of management experience and 2 years of clinical experience.

 

• Master's degree from an accredited institution (degree will be verified) must be obtained within 4 years of hire.
• Experience in the area of oversight
• Specialty Certification

 

• Ongoing need for employee to see and read information, documents, monitors, identify equipment and supplies, and be able to assess customer needs.
• Frequent interactions with providers, colleagues, customers, patients/clients, and visitors that require employee to verbally communicate as well as hear and understand spoken information, needs, and issues quickly and accurately.
• Manual dexterity of hands and fingers to manipulate complex and delicate equipment with precision and accuracy. This includes frequent computer use for typing, accessing needed information, etc.
• May have the same physical requirements as those of clinical or patient care jobs, when the leader takes clinical shifts.
• For roles requiring driving: Expected to drive a vehicle which requires sitting, seeing and reading signs, traffic signals, and other vehicles.

 

With this position, you are eligible to participate in the Annual Pay for Performance (AP4P) Plan. This plan enables Intermountain Health to provide leaders with an additional performance compensation opportunity. The AP4P award opportunities are calculated as a percentage of your base salary. Awards are paid out based on attainment of selected Board-approved goals.

 

Intermountain Health Primary Childrens Hospital

 

Salt Lake City

 

Utah

 

40

 

The hourly range for this position is listed below. Actual hourly rate dependent upon experience. 

$58.62 - $90.48

 

We care about your well-being – mind, body, and spirit – which is why we provide our caregivers a generous benefits package that covers a wide range of programs to foster a sustainable culture of wellness that encompasses living healthy, happy, secure, connected, and engaged.

 

Learn more about our comprehensive benefits package here.

 

Intermountain Health is an equal opportunity employer. Qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or protected veteran status.

 

At Intermountain Health, we use the artificial intelligence ("AI") platform, HiredScore to improve your job application experience. HiredScore helps match your skills and experiences to the best jobs for you. While HiredScore assists in reviewing applications, all final decisions are made by Intermountain personnel to ensure fairness. We protect your privacy and follow strict data protection rules. Your information is safe and used only for recruitment. Thank you for considering a career with us and experiencing our AI-enhanced recruitment process.

 

All positions subject to close without notice.