Deputy Director, Compliance

UTHealth Houston, a leading academic health science center dedicated to excellence in education, research, and clinical care, is seeking a Director, Institutional Compliance and Deputy Compliance Officer to help lead a well-established, institution-wide compliance program with more than 20 years of history. Reporting to the Associate Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer, this role advances strategies to prevent, detect, and respond to complex compliance risks within a highly regulated academic health environment.

The Deputy Compliance Officer oversees compliance intake, hotline administration, and case management, exercising sound judgment in issue identification, triage, and escalation of sensitive matters. This role partners closely with Legal Affairs, Human Resources, Internal Audit, and institutional leadership, with increasing collaboration alongside stakeholders.

The ideal candidate brings a strong foundation in employment law, compliance, employee relations, or a related field, with the ability to assess risk, navigate complex workplace concerns, and support investigations and corrective actions with discretion and integrity.

In this consultative leadership role, the Deputy Compliance Officer will supervise a growing team and support the continued evolution of the compliance program. Candidates should have at least 7 years of experience in compliance, risk management, investigations, or related case management, preferably within higher education, healthcare, or similarly regulated environments, and a minimum of 5 years of leadership experience. A Juris Doctor is preferred, particularly for those with experience in employment law or workplace investigations.

Position Key Accountabilities:

• Oversees the operations of the UTHealth Compliance Hotline including but not limited to the management of compliance reports; maintains a relationship with the vendor to ensure the Hotline meets the needs of the UTHealth community.
• Oversees and carries out independent investigation on matters related to compliance and/or responds to reports of possible compliance issues.
• Formulates annual compliance work plan focused on continuous improvement of processes in identified risk areas including institutional effectiveness planning and reporting.
• Prepares an delivers periodic and annual compliance reports, providing updates and education to the Executive Compliance Committee and other relevant stakeholders as required.
• Directs and conducts periodic risk assessments to identify high risk areas.
• Deploys a multi-faceted educational program that focuses on the elements of the UTHealth Compliance Program for new and existing workforce members.
• Develops and deploys effective communication throughout UTHealth to maintain high employee awareness of the UTHealth Compliance Program including how to raise and address concerns.
• Manages Human Resources activities for direct reports in regards to: recruiting and selection; hiring and termination, training, development, mentoring, counseling, performance evaluations, and salary planning.
• Responsible for the design, execution and effectiveness of a system of internal controls which provides reasonable assurance that operations are effective and efficient, assets are safeguarded; financial information is reliable and compliant with applicable laws, regulations, policies and procedures.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

Employment Law/Investigations

• Employment law knowledge relevant to workplace investigations (e.g., retaliation, protected activity, discrimination/harassment standards, confidentiality, due process/fairness).
• Ability to conduct end-to-end workplace investigations and produce effective documentation (chronologies, exhibits, interview summaries, findings reports) while maintaining confidentiality.

• Demonstrated interest and ability to learn and optimize enterprise systems, translating business needs into workflow/configuration and leading enhancements (requirements, testing, training, rollout, adoption).
• Ability to develop and interpret metrics/trend reporting from case management systems (dashboards/KPIs); strong Excel/data-handling skills.
• Advanced Microsoft 365 proficiency: Word (advanced editing/formatting), PowerPoint (executive-ready presentations), Outlook/Teams (complex scheduling and coordination).

• Strong leadership and collaboration skills; able to lead across entity lines and influence stakeholders.
• Strong project/case management: prioritization, documentation, follow-through, meeting deadlines; sound judgement and appropriate escalation.

• Excellent written and verbal communication; able to produce polished executive deliverables (reports, briefings, presentations).
• Professional, discreet, and solutions-oriented; able to manage difficult situataions and high-volume, time-sensitve work with integrity and strong attention to detail.

Licensed Attorney (Texas preferred) OR J.D. with employment law/litigation experience strongly preferred

Minimum Education:

Bachelor's Degree required. Doctorate Degree, Juris Doctor (JD) strongly preferred. Active law license (or eligibility) preferred.

Minimum Experience:

7+ years of progressive experience in compliance investigations with substantial workplace/employee relations investigations experience and demonstrated employment law application, including involvement in employment disputes and/or agency matters (EEOC/TWC). 1+ years as a power user/business owner of a hotline, case management, GRC, HR case system, or similar platform, including workflow configuration, reporting/dashboards, and user training/adoption. 5 years of professional experience in a leadership role in financial, legal, compliance, or audit functions, with some experience in a university and/or healthcare setting preferred.

Physical Requirements:

Exerts up to 20 pounds of force occasionally and/or up to 10 pounds frequently and/or a negligible amount constantly to move objects.

Security Sensitive:

This position is a security-sensitive position pursuant to Texas Education Code §51.215 and Texas Government Code §411.094. To the extent that a position requires the holder to research, work on, or have access to critical infrastructure as defined in Texas Business and Commerce Code §117.001(2), the ability to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure is a minimum qualification to be hired for and to continue to be employed in that position. Personnel in such positions, and similarly situated state contractors, will be routinely reviewed to determine whether things such as criminal history or continuous connections to the government or political apparatus of a foreign adversary might prevent the applicant, employee, or contractor from being able to maintain the security or integrity of the infrastructure. A foreign adversary is a nation listed in 15 C.F.R. §791.4.

Residency Requirement:

Employees must permanently reside and work in the State of Texas.