Supervisor of Donor Operations

Donor Network West’s mission is to save and heal lives through organ and tissue donation for transplantation and research.

At Donor Network West, we're looking for people who embody our core values: passion, excellence, equity and inclusion, and relationships. We welcome diverse perspectives and foster an environment of collaboration and service.

POSITION SUMMARY

The Supervisor of Donor Operations plays a critical leadership role in ensuring seamless service delivery to donor families and hospital partners within the 24/7/365 Donor Operations Department. This department is responsible for receiving donor referrals, assessing donation suitability, coordinating cases, engaging with grieving families, and serving as the primary liaison with the tissue recovery and logistics departments. 

The supervisor oversees planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of the Donor Operations team, with a focus on tissue allocation and utilization, authorization, customer service, and clinical expertise. Additionally, they support personnel management, including recruitment, succession planning, performance evaluations, time and attendance reporting, training, and Manager on Duty (MOD) responsibilities. The supervisor is responsible for daily monitoring of employee performance, conducting regular audits, implementing development plans for staff, and ensuring ongoing personnel development through training, coaching, mentorship, and continuing education. This role also contributes to policy development, process improvement, and organizational decision-making, ensuring operational excellence and alignment with DNWest’s mission.

ESSENTIAL JOB DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

• Provides daily oversight of tissue activities to ensure that referrals, authorizations, allocations, recovery coordination, and graft utilization meet regulatory requirements, maintain high organizational standards, and deliver exceptional service to hospital staff and donor families.
• Ensures optimal staffing levels at all times to support efficient operations.
• Acts as a resource to Donor Operations staff by offering escalation assistance on daily tissue activities to maximize donation efforts and effectively manage frontline staff workloads. 
• Provides guidance on donor suitability discussions, assesses cases for potential challenges and anticipated outcomes, and escalates issues to the Medical Director as necessary.
• Provides Manager on Duty (MOD) support, overseeing Donor Operations escalations, with required MOD coverage includes days, nights, weekends, and holidays. 

• Ensures that operational documentation, including referrals, screenings, authorizations, case coordination, and medical social history questionnaires, is completed in accordance with DNWest and partner standard operating procedures (SOPs) and industry standards.
• Supports department initiatives that align with strategic goals and drive innovation within Donor Operations.
• Tracks and trends performance improvement metrics within the department and collaborates with the Donor Operations Manager and Senior Leadership to implement strategies that enhance overall efficiency, productivity, and performance. 
• Activates the occurrence reporting system, investigates incidents, and performs root cause analyses to provide constructive feedback to the team.
• Works with Learning and Development to participate in and evaluate the effectiveness of educational materials aimed at improving the authorization process, increasing graft utilization, and enhancing customer satisfaction.

• Regularly reviews and evaluates the effectiveness of the department’s training program, collaborating with Learning and Development to implement necessary improvements.
• Works closely with Donation Coordinator Field Trainers and new staff during orientation to ensure that individual training needs are met.
• Facilitates ongoing training, continued education, and professional development opportunities to enhance staff competencies.
• Implements individualized development plans for team members to support professional growth and succession planning.
• Coaches team members to identify and achieve their professional goals and objectives, with focus on retaining and developing high-performing individuals.

• Exhibits strong decision-making capabilities and excellent communication skills, effectively engaging with medical center personnel, donor family members and Medical Advisory Board members.
• May serve as a liaison to outside contractors and vendors, occasionally taking the lead in projects that DNWest undertakes.
• Assumes responsibility for delivering in-services, debriefings, and other educational forums to both internal teams and external agencies as needed.

• Maintains professional competence to provide leadership and consultative services to direct reports, hospital partners, tissue processors, and donor families. 
• Keeps current knowledge of national and local regulations and best practices in organ and tissue operations, including authorization, recovery, preservation policies, and continued education trends.

• Adheres to the principles of “rule in vs rule out” mindset in all aspects of the job. 
• Highly organized and resourceful, with excellent written, verbal, and presentation communication skills.
• Demonstrates tact, maturity, and professionalism in all points of contact. 
• Builds and maintains positive relationships with all internal and external stakeholders. 
• Possesses a high degree of organization, critical thinking, and emotional intelligence. 
• Works autonomously and takes decisive action in urgent situations to minimize adverse events that may negatively impact authorization, the supply of organs and tissues, and the safety of recipients.
• Exhibits motivational and leadership skills to engage staff to meet organizational goals.

• Required: High School diploma or equivalent.
• Preferred: Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences or an equivalent degree/diploma/certification in an allied health field. 2 to 4 years of experience working in organ or tissue procurement or transplantation with significant knowledge of all aspects of organ, eye, and/or tissue banking. Prior supervisor experience and a proven ability to demonstrate a high level of effectiveness in goals achievement through skillful staff management.
• Bonus: Certified Tissue Bank Specialist (CTBS): Certification and/or Certified Eye Bank Technician (CEBT) Certification; Certified Procurement Transplant Coordinator (CPTC): and/or Certified Transplant Preservationist (CTP) certification.

Provided compensation data is subject to change based on location and work status. Salary data provided by third party sites do not accurately reflect our pay structure.

Salary : $80,713 - $100,891