| Location | New Orleans, Louisiana |
We are seeking an experienced District Director of Operations to join our growing pharmacy organization. St. Matthews Pharmacy specializes in delivering high-quality, patient-centered pharmacy services, with a strong focus on behavioral health, mental health, addiction treatment, and specialty pharmacy. This is an exciting opportunity for a results-driven pharmacy leader who thrives in a growing organization and is passionate about operational excellence, developing strong teams, and making a meaningful difference in patient care. The District Director of Operations provides strategic and hands-on leadership across multiple pharmacy locations within an assigned territory. This position is responsible for operational performance, financial results, regulatory compliance, staffing, inventory management, and consistent service delivery. The District Director works closely with Pharmacists-in-Charge (PICs) and site leadership to strengthen accountability, improve efficiency, and support continued growth. Reporting to the Senior Vice President of Operations, this role also partners with executive leadership and cross-functional teams to implement operational improvements, integrate new locations, and ensure pharmacies operate safely, efficiently, and profitably.
The District Director of Operations provides strategic and hands-on leadership for pharmacy locations within an assigned territory. This role is accountable for safe, compliant, consistent, and financially responsible operations across the district, including site leadership, workforce planning, inventory, service delivery, pharmacy systems, and execution of organizational priorities. The District Director develops Pharmacists-in-Charge (PICs) and other site leaders, uses performance data to improve results, and partners across Finance, Human Resources, Compliance, Quality, Technology, Clinical, Sales, and Client Services to support growth and operational excellence. The role serves as an operational escalation point and may assume delegated acting leadership responsibilities to maintain continuity during planned or unplanned absences of a PIC or other designated operational leader. The District Director of Operations reports to the Senior Vice President of Operations. Essential Functions: District and Multi-Site Operational Leadership • Provide leadership and oversight for all pharmacy locations within the assigned territory, ensuring consistent standards, workflows, service delivery, and accountability. • Translate enterprise priorities into district and site-level operating plans, clear expectations, measurable goals, and timely follow-through. • Coach, mentor, and hold PICs and other site leaders accountable for operational, clinical, financial, compliance, customer service, and people outcomes. • Conduct regular site visits, leadership check-ins, operating reviews, and staff engagement touchpoints to identify barriers, reinforce expectations, and maintain alignment. • Ensure staffing models, scheduling, cross-site coverage, and contingency plans support workload, patient care, service expectations, and business continuity. • Maintain sufficient operational and clinical engagement within assigned locations, including providing pharmacist coverage when necessary and appropriate, to support business continuity and maintain direct understanding of site operations. Financial Stewardship and District Performance • Own combined financial performance for assigned locations, including achievement of approved EBITDA and budget expectations, sustainable growth, and year-over-year improvement where applicable. • Manage controllable expenses, including labor, packaging, inventory, delivery, and other direct operating costs, within approved ranges. • Demonstrate disciplined management across applicable profit-and-loss categories and partner with Finance to identify variances, implement corrective actions, and improve profitability. • Monitor district and site-level dashboards, key performance indicators, productivity measures, and operating trends; communicate results, risks, and action plans to executive leadership. • Balance revenue growth, service quality, compliance, labor capacity, and cost discipline to support the long-term financial health of the organization. Operational Excellence and Customer Experience • Ensure reliable, accurate, efficient, and consistent execution of core pharmacy workflows across the district. • Monitor and improve telephony performance, including average speed of answer, abandonment rate, and hold times. • Ensure clean prescriptions meet established turnaround and workflow timeliness expectations. • Achieve or exceed established accuracy, quality, productivity, and operational performance targets. • Ensure customer concerns and service failures are resolved promptly, professionally, and effectively, with recurring issues addressed through root-cause analysis and corrective action. • Identify operational gaps, constraints, risks, and inefficiencies; lead corrective actions and continuous improvement initiatives across sites. Compliance, Quality, Safety, and Risk Management • Maintain regulatory, accreditation, payer, and audit readiness across assigned locations. • Ensure adherence to federal, state, and local pharmacy laws and regulations, including applicable DEA, FDA, state board of pharmacy, accreditation, payer, and company requirements. • Ensure standard operating procedures are current, communicated, trained, documented, and consistently followed across all sites. • Review incidents, complaints, medication or workflow errors, and safety events; ensure timely investigation, documentation, resolution, escalation, and corrective action. • Partner with Compliance and Quality teams on audits, monitoring, corrective action plans, performance improvement initiatives, and sustained remediation. • Ensure all team members complete required compliance training, certifications, and role-specific education within established timeframes. • Maintain a safe, compliant, and audit-ready work environment and promptly address identified risks. Inventory Management and Reconciliation • Oversee inventory management across the district, including purchasing, receiving, storage, replenishment, controlled substances, temperature-sensitive medications, returns, recalls, credits, and loss prevention. • Ensure inventory counts, perpetual inventory records, controlled-substance records, and required reconciliations are accurate, timely, documented, and compliant. • Review inventory variances, audit findings, dispensing or purchasing discrepancies, expired inventory, and unusual utilization trends; ensure investigation, resolution, recovery of credits where applicable, and documented corrective action. • Monitor inventory investment, turns, aging, out-of-stocks, waste, and related performance indicators; implement actions that support service continuity and financial stewardship. • Partner with Finance, Compliance, Procurement, and site leadership to maintain effective inventory controls and close identified reconciliation or audit gaps. Technology, Automation, and Innovation • Champion effective utilization of pharmacy systems, fulfillment automation, workflow tools, and available technology across assigned locations. • Monitor system performance and operational downtime; ensure proactive escalation, issue resolution, contingency planning, and communication. • Adopt and integrate approved AI-enabled tools into daily operations when appropriate to improve efficiency, accuracy, communication, and decision support. • Identify and implement technology-driven workflow improvements that reduce operational friction and improve capacity or service. • Lead change management, training, and team adoption for new systems, automation, tools, and processes. • Partner with Technology, Enablement, and Operations teams to optimize system configuration, workflows, data quality, and user productivity. People Leadership, Talent Development, and Culture • Build engaged, accountable, high-performing teams and reinforce company values, leadership expectations, and a positive workplace culture across the district. • Partner with Human Resources on workforce planning, recruitment, selection, onboarding, coaching, performance management, conflict resolution, corrective action, retention, and leadership development. • Complete and maintain meaningful development plans for direct reports and participate in talent review and succession planning processes. • Develop succession plans and a pipeline of capable talent to support current operations, future growth, and leadership continuity. • Promote team stability through visible leadership, effective communication, timely feedback, recognition, and resolution of workplace concerns. • Pursue at least one meaningful individual leadership-development goal as established through the performance planning process. Strategic Execution, Growth, and Cross-Functional Collaboration • Execute assigned strategic and operational initiatives that contribute to company growth, integration, scalability, and organizational priorities. • Support onboarding of new clients, pharmacy locations, acquisitions, or integrations with operational accuracy, defined ownership, and clearly established project timelines. • Collaborate effectively with executive leadership, Operations, Technology, Clinical, Finance, Human Resources, Compliance, Quality, Sales, and Client Services. • Demonstrate adaptability, urgency, and sound judgment during periods of organizational change, growth, disruption, or competing priorities. • Contribute to the successful design and rollout of new programs, processes, service offerings, and operating models. • Serve as the primary operational liaison between assigned pharmacy locations and enterprise leadership, elevating decisions, risks, resource needs, and dependencies appropriately. Logistics and Service Continuity • Provide operational oversight of courier, shipping, packaging, and distribution activities as they relate to pharmacy workflow, cost, quality, and patient or client service. • Ensure contingency and business-continuity plans are practical, communicated, and activated when necessary to maintain safe and timely operations. Delegated Acting Operational Leadership and PIC Support Responsibilities • When legally permitted, properly licensed, formally designated, and approved in accordance with applicable state requirements, assume temporary PIC responsibilities. Otherwise, provide delegated operational leadership and continuity support during the absence of the designated PIC. • Ensure continuity of pharmacy operations, patient services, staffing, workflow management, documentation, and organizational functions. • Maintain appropriate communication and coordination with executive leadership, regulatory agencies, accreditation organizations, payers, and other governing bodies. • Monitor staffing levels and operational resources to ensure adequate personnel and support are available for safe and effective operations. • Oversee the accurate and timely completion of operational reports, records, and documentation required by regulatory, accreditation, payer, or company standards. • Exercise delegated operational authority consistent with applicable law, licensure, formal designation, company policies, and established approval requirements until the designated PIC or operational leader returns. Additional Duties • Perform other duties as assigned. Education and Experience: • Doctor of Pharmacy (PharmD) degree from an ACPE-accredited college of pharmacy or FPGEC certification (required). • Active, unrestricted pharmacist license in the primary state of responsibility (required); additional state licenses required or obtained within a defined timeframe based on assigned territory and business needs. • Minimum of 7 years of progressive pharmacy operations leadership experience, including prior PIC or comparable pharmacy management responsibility. • Demonstrated experience leading multi-site pharmacy operations, a district or territory, or comparably complex pharmacy environments. • Demonstrated accountability for financial performance, labor and expense management, operational metrics, regulatory compliance, controlled substances, inventory controls, audits, and corrective action. • Experience leading technology adoption, process improvement, organizational change, client onboarding, or pharmacy integrations preferred. • Experience within retail, specialty, long-term care, community, mail, or other complex pharmacy models preferred. • Valid driver’s license and ability to travel up to 75% of the time throughout the assigned territory and to other company locations to meet the expectations of the role and support business needs. Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: • Executive-level communication, active listening, relationship management, and cross-functional collaboration skills. • Ability to lead through influence, establish clear accountability, and make timely decisions across geographically dispersed locations. • Strong financial acumen, including understanding of EBITDA, budgets, controllable expenses, productivity, and operational performance drivers. • Ability to analyze dashboards, trends, audit results, inventory variances, and service metrics and translate findings into practical action plans. • Detailed knowledge of pharmacy operations, controlled-substance requirements, inventory management, reconciliation, quality systems, and regulatory expectations. • Demonstrated servant leadership, coaching, performance management, conflict resolution, talent development, and succession-planning capabilities. • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment with frequent interruptions and changing business needs. • High degree of integrity, discretion, trustworthiness, and ethical conduct. • Demonstrated commitment to company values, customer service, continuous improvement, and operational excellence. • Intermediate to advanced proficiency in Microsoft Office applications, including Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Visio, and the ability to adopt new pharmacy, automation, analytics, and AI-enabled tools. Physical Requirements: • Light to moderate physical effort, including lifting or carrying up to 30 pounds; heavier weights with assistance. • Ability to sit, stand, walk, speak, and hear for extended periods. • Repetitive motions and prolonged computer use. • Specific vision abilities include close vision, distance vision, peripheral vision, and the ability to adjust focus. • Ability to travel up to 75% of the time between operating sites within the assigned territory and to other company locations as necessary to meet role expectations and support the business, including overnight travel when required. |