[Hiring] Director, Leadership Effectiveness @St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

Role Description

The Director, Leadership Effectiveness serves as a senior internal consultant and practitioner within the Leadership Academy, partnering with leaders and teams to strengthen leadership effectiveness across St. Jude.

The Director leads a portfolio of complex leadership and organizational-effectiveness initiatives, from diagnosis and design through implementation, evaluation, and sustained adoption. The role combines expertise in organizational development, behavioral science, human-centered design, and organizational change to strengthen leadership capability and address the conditions that shape leadership in practice.

Working across organizational boundaries, the Director translates St. Jude’s leadership expectations into practical approaches that improve how leaders and teams operate. The role partners closely with HR Leadership Development, Culture Strategy, Academy Operations, and other institutional functions to align interventions with institutional priorities and deliver measurable results.

• Serve as a trusted advisor to senior leaders on complex leadership, team, and organizational-effectiveness challenges.
• Lead a portfolio of leadership-effectiveness initiatives, defining objectives, scope, implementation plans, resource needs, and measures of success.
• Manage and develop Academy staff through clear goal setting, performance management, coaching, and ongoing feedback, supporting engagement and career development in alignment with Academy priorities.
• Diagnose challenges by distinguishing among individual capability, team dynamics, organizational conditions, and broader systemic factors.
• Conduct stakeholder research, interviews, observation, and analysis of qualitative and quantitative evidence to identify needs and patterns across the institution.
• Design and lead interventions that strengthen leadership effectiveness, team performance, decision-making, collaboration, and organizational performance.
• Translate Leading the St. Jude Way, the Culture Principles, and leadership capabilities into practical behaviors, tools, experiences, and ways of working.
• Apply organizational development, systems thinking, behavioral science, and human-centered design to develop evidence-informed solutions.
• Design, prototype, test, and refine interventions; guide implementation and establish approaches that support sustained adoption.
• Define and evaluate intervention outcomes in partnership with the SVP and Academy Operations, using findings to improve approaches and inform decisions about broader implementation.
• Facilitate senior leadership teams through complex conversations, problem-solving, reflection, and decision-making.
• Advise leaders navigating organizational change, addressing the leadership behaviors, team practices, and organizational conditions required for successful implementation.
• Lead cross-functional and matrixed teams, aligning stakeholders, clarifying responsibilities, and securing executive sponsorship for assigned initiatives.
• Partner with HR Leadership Development to determine when formal learning is an appropriate response and shape solutions accordingly.
• Partner with Culture Strategy where leadership behavior intersects with broader culture priorities, maintaining clear roles and coordinated action.
• Direct the work of external coaches, facilitators, consultants, and other practitioners supporting assigned initiatives, establishing expectations and evaluating quality and effectiveness.
• Partner with Academy Operations on initiative budgets, resource allocation, contracting, and delivery planning.
• Advise the SVP on emerging leadership needs, systemic barriers, intervention priorities, and opportunities for institutional impact.
• Communicate insights, recommendations, progress, and outcomes clearly to senior leaders and institutional partners.
• Remain directly involved in consulting, design, facilitation, and implementation, consistent with the Academy’s small-team operating model.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in organizational development, behavioral science, business, design, or a related field required; master’s degree preferred.
• 7-10 years of progressively responsible experience in organizational effectiveness, organizational development, leadership consulting, strategic design, or related work within a consulting firm or complex organization.
• Demonstrated experience managing and developing direct reports and leading complex work through direct, matrixed, and cross-functional teams.
• Demonstrated success advising senior executives on complex organizational challenges and translating insights into practical, implemented solutions.
• Experience leading leadership, team-effectiveness, or organizational-change initiatives from diagnosis through implementation and evaluation.
• Strong understanding of how organizational functions, leadership practices, and institutional conditions interact to influence performance.
• Demonstrated ability to conduct and synthesize qualitative and quantitative research, test assumptions, and develop evidence-informed recommendations.
• Advanced facilitation and consulting skills, including experience guiding senior teams through sensitive issues, competing perspectives, and consequential decisions.
• Experience applying human-centered design, systems thinking, behavioral science, and organizational-change methods.
• Strong project leadership skills, including experience coordinating resources and aligning cross-functional and matrixed teams.
• Ability to define meaningful outcomes and evaluate changes in leadership practice, team effectiveness, and organizational performance.
• Strong executive communication and presentation skills, with the ability to engage credibly with senior leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, exercise sound judgment, prioritize competing needs, and remain directly involved in execution.

Preferred Special Skills, Knowledge and Abilities

• Experience in navigating complex organizational environments.
• Experience directing external consultants, coaches, or facilitators.
• Relevant advanced training or credentials in organizational development, executive coaching, facilitation, or related disciplines.

Physical Demands and Working Conditions

The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job.

• While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to stand; walk; sit; kneel, use hands to finger, handle, or operate; see and/or communicate.
• The employee must occasionally lift and/or move up to 25 pounds.
• Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, depth perception and the ability to adjust focus.
• The employee must move about the workspace to access work surface and shelves, cabinets, drawers, and equipment that are at, below or above the work surface.
• The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.
• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
• The noise level in the work environment is usually quiet.

Compensation

In recognition of certain U.S. state and municipal pay transparency laws, St. Jude is including a reasonable estimate of the compensation range for this role. This is an estimate offered in good faith and a specific salary offer takes into account factors that are considered in making compensation decisions including but not limited to skill sets, experience and training, licensure and certifications, and other business and organizational needs. It is not typical for an individual to be hired at or near the top of the salary range and compensation decisions are dependent on the facts and circumstances of each case. A reasonable estimate of the current salary range is $138,320 - $262,080 per year for the role of Director, Leadership Effectiveness.

Company Description

St. Jude is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

No Search Firms. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital does not accept unsolicited assistance from search firms for employment opportunities.