Director of Infection Prevention & Control

• Location: Elmira, NY 
• Employment Type: Full-Time
• Compensation range: 140k - 180k
• Level: System Leadership / Director
• Work Arrangement: Hybrid with rotational on-site presence

Position Overview:

A leading healthcare organization is seeking an experienced Director of Infection Prevention & Control to provide strategic, system-wide leadership across hospitals, ambulatory locations, and post-acute care settings.

This highly visible leadership position will oversee infection prevention strategy, regulatory compliance, accreditation readiness, quality outcomes, patient safety, antimicrobial stewardship, and enterprise risk mitigation.

The Director will serve as a trusted advisor to executive and clinical leadership while partnering with physicians, nursing, laboratory, pharmacy, quality, risk management, patient safety, public health agencies, and other key stakeholders.

The successful candidate will bring a strategic, systems-oriented approach to infection prevention and have the ability to translate epidemiologic and surveillance data into measurable improvements in patient and organizational outcomes.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and execute a comprehensive, system-wide infection prevention strategy aligned with organizational priorities, public health needs, and community health assessments.

• Maintain a rotational on-site presence across hospitals, ambulatory locations, and post-acute facilities.

• Advise executive and clinical leadership on emerging infectious threats, epidemiologic trends, disease burden, and exposure risks.

• Lead governance structures integrating infection prevention with quality, patient safety, and enterprise risk management.

• Serve as the accountable executive for system-level infection prevention risk mitigation.

• Collaborate with Population Health, Public Health agencies, Laboratory, Pharmacy, and clinical service lines.

• Use surveillance data and antibiograms to address antimicrobial resistance and strengthen antimicrobial stewardship.

• Ensure compliance with CMS Conditions of Participation, Joint Commission standards, NHSN requirements, and applicable state and federal regulations.

• Provide executive oversight for regulatory surveys, tracers, audits, and unannounced regulatory visits.

• Partner with Quality, Risk, Clinical Documentation Integrity, Clinical Data, and Patient Safety leaders to monitor and reduce Healthcare-Associated Conditions.

• Develop evidence-based interventions designed to reduce variation in care, improve outcomes, and protect reimbursement under value-based purchasing programs.

• Lead and mentor infection prevention leadership and professional staff across the system.

• Establish succession planning and competency-development programs.

• Foster a culture of accountability, psychological safety, professional development, and high performance.

• Partner with Finance, Communications/Marketing, Quality leadership, and Chief Medical Officers to communicate infection prevention performance and its organizational and financial impact.

• Integrate infection prevention standards into employee onboarding, annual competencies, leadership education, and ongoing professional development.

• Serve as the escalation authority for complex infection prevention matters, outbreak responses, and cross-disciplinary issues.

• Facilitate evidence-based solutions and ensure lessons learned are translated into sustainable organizational practices.

• Maintain oversight of infection-prevention-related performance expectations and metrics associated with clinical contracts.

• Promote and facilitate research and continuous improvement initiatives related to infection prevention and patient care.

Leadership Profile:

The ideal candidate will be:

• A strategic thinker who can connect infection prevention to enterprise-wide priorities, population health, quality, and financial performance.

• Comfortable advising senior executives, physicians, regulators, and clinical leaders.

• A confident change leader who can influence behavior across a complex healthcare system.

• Skilled at interpreting epidemiologic, surveillance, and clinical data and converting findings into actionable strategies.

• Proactive in identifying emerging infectious disease, antimicrobial resistance, regulatory, and public-health risks.

• Experienced in developing managers and future infection prevention leaders.

• Collaborative across clinical and non-clinical disciplines.

• Focused on creating sustainable systems rather than relying solely on episodic outbreak responses.

Required Qualifications:

• Master's degree in Nursing, Epidemiology, Microbiology, Public Health, or a related health science discipline.

• Minimum 10 years of experience in infection prevention, epidemiology, or quality leadership.

• Minimum 5 years of director-level or system-level leadership experience.

• Certification in Infection Control (CIC®) required.

• Demonstrated success leading infection prevention across a multi-hospital healthcare system.

• Experience working with public health agencies.

• Demonstrated ability to design, facilitate, and sustain improvement initiatives across hospitals and clinical settings.

• Strong ability to establish measurable goals and achieve system-wide performance improvements.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Epidemiology, Public Health, Nursing, or a related healthcare discipline.

• Master's degree in Nursing, Public Health, or Healthcare Administration.

• Fellowship or advanced professional involvement with APIC, SHEA, or Certified in Public Health (CPH).

• Experience with NHSN reporting and EHR-based infection surveillance.

• Experience with platforms such as Epic Bugsy, Theradoc, Tableau, Power BI, or Qlik.

• Strong data-analysis and visualization skills.

• Demonstrated ability to sustain strong employee engagement.

• Experience translating infection prevention and epidemiologic data into strategies that improve patient outcomes and organizational readiness.

Opportunity:

This is an opportunity for an accomplished infection prevention leader to take on a system-level role with significant executive visibility and influence.

The Director will have the opportunity to shape infection prevention strategy across multiple care settings, influence organizational quality and patient-safety priorities, develop future leaders, and help build sustainable systems that protect patients, employees, and the communities served.

Compensation: Competitive and commensurate with experience and qualifications.

Qualified candidates are encouraged to submit their résumé for confidential consideration.

• Elmira, NY, is in the scenic Finger Lakes region, offers a charming blend of outdoor adventure, rich history, and a vibrant community. Explore natural wonders like underground caves, stunning lakes, and hot air balloon rides, or take in the lively arts and dining scene. Elmira is within reach of top universities, making it a perfect spot to live and grow your career. Whether you're an outdoor enthusiast, a culture lover, or someone who enjoys the tranquility of nature, Elmira has something for everyone.
• Elmira is a town in western New York along the Pennsylvania border south of the beautiful Finger Lakes region. The biggest industrial landmark is the Corning Glass Works 14 miles west of Corning. There are many hidden gems from exploring underground caves to hot air balloon rides above foliage filled mountains, museums, amusement park, state parks, food and drinks, shopping, concerts, and more. August, July and June are the most pleasant months in Elmira. There are about 15.7 students per teacher in the public Elmira School District. Elmira College, Elmira Business Institute, Corning CC, Mansfield University in Pennsylvania, Ithaca and Cornell are all near by.
• 2 hours to Rochester or Syracuse,
• 30 minutes to Watkins Glen – south end of Seneca Lake.
• Join the team:  Become part of a team that is passionate about making a difference. Apply today to start an incredible journey as a Physical Therapist in one of New York's most beautiful regions!