Rural Health Transformation Program Director

Office of Health Transformation - Bismarck, ND - Director, Rural Health Transformation Program

Lead the Rural Health Transformation initiative and help North Dakota become the healthiest state in the country. Join the largest state agency – ND Health and Human Services – as its Rural Health Transformation (RHT) Director.

The role is located within the Office of Health Transformation (OHT) and ensures alignment with the broader OHT portfolio, supports enterprise health transformation goals, and serves as a key operational leader translating OHT strategy into measurable rural health outcomes.

As the Rural Health Transformation Director, you’ll provide strategic, operational, and policy leadership for a statewide initiative designed to strengthen rural health systems, improve access to care, and support sustainable community-based health delivery models. This role oversees the development, implementation, and evaluation of multi-year transformation strategies, including payment reform, facility modernization, workforce innovation, and partnerships across public and private sectors.

Your day will be spent in the following ways:

• directing long-term planning
• identifying policy, regulatory, and operational barriers and working with partners on resolutions
• facilitating internal and external stakeholder engagement, including steering committees and advisory councils
• managing program staff, contractors and external partnerships to ensure effective program delivery
• providing day-to-day leadership and oversight of rural health transformation grants, contracts and $200M program budget
• providing guidance on the development of data strategy to ensure effective data-driven decision-making

To be successful in this position, you must lead with LIGHT – leading with hope, instilling purpose and meaning, galvanizing gratitude, honoring health, and talking, walking and teaching civility, kindness and love for all. You wear your passion for health and wellness for all people on your sleeve. You support your passion and vision with deep strategic acumen, transformational leadership skills, and a strong people-centered mindset.

You are outcomes driven, relying on data to make smart decisions.

To be considered for this position, you must have the following qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in public health, public policy, healthcare administration, or a closely related field. Master’s degree is preferred.
• Minimum of six (6) years of progressively responsible experience in health, human services, or public sector programs.
• Minimum of five (5) years experience leading transformational teams and projects.
• Experience managing complex programs, grants, or initiatives with multiple stakeholders, both internally and externally.
• Demonstrated leadership experience in strategy implementation, coordination, and change management.

Candidates with the following qualifications are preferred:

• Experience with federal health programs, CMS initiatives, or large federal grants.
• Experience with legislative bodies, senior and executive leadership.
• Experience supporting rural or underserved health systems.
• Experience managing change within a large organization, which has ultimate impact on large numbers of North Dakotans receiving services.

Location:
This is an onsite position based at the ND State Capitol in Bismarck, ND.

About HHS: ND HHS strives to make North Dakota the healthiest state in the nation by reinforcing the foundations of well-being: physical, economic, and behavioral. Those services are to be delivered as close to home as possible with a focus on dignity and respect. The keys to delivery of those services are the 2800 committed, compassionate ND HHS team members and more than $6 billion in funding from nearly 200 different federal, state, and special sources.