The posting
Regional Director of Operations
Operations · Assisted Living / Memory Care / Independent Living
Location: Field-based within the assigned region; home office required
Region: Multi-state — California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, Minnesota
Employment Type: Full-Time, Salaried
FLSA Status: Exempt
Reports To: Vice President of Operations
Direct Reports: All Executive Directors within the assigned region
Travel: 70 - 90% of scheduled time, by ground and air
Compensation: Salary $120,000.00
About Milestone Retirement Communities
Milestone Retirement Communities operates Assisted Living, Memory Care, and Independent Living communities across six states. We are guided by three core values — Compassion, Innovation, and Accountability — and by a simple belief that how we age should be reimagined. Our leaders are measured not only on results, but on the experience residents, families, and Team Members have every day.
About the Role
The Regional Director of Operations holds full operational accountability for a portfolio of Milestone communities. Reporting to the Vice President of Operations, you will lead and develop the Executive Directors in your region and own occupancy, financial performance, regulatory compliance, resident and family experience, workforce stability, and the quality and consistency of daily operations in every community.
This is a field-based leadership role. You will be in your communities on a predictable cadence, close enough to each building and each leadership team to anticipate risk before it surfaces, and you will coach Executive Directors toward independent, high-performing operation of their communities. When an Executive Director vacancy occurs, you step in to stabilize the community until a permanent leader is in place.
What You Will Do
Lead and develop Executive Directors
- Provide direct, coaching-oriented oversight of every Executive Director in the region through regular one-on-ones, performance reviews, and community visits.
- Set clear expectations, measurable goals, and consistent accountability cadences aligned with Milestone's performance standards.
- Build individualized development plans, lead Executive Director recruitment and onboarding with the People Team, and address performance gaps directly.
- Serve as interim community leader during an Executive Director vacancy to keep operations stable.
Own operational and financial performance
- Meet or exceed occupancy targets; monitor census weekly and act early on at-risk movement.
- Lead monthly operational reviews covering census, financials, staffing, quality indicators, and resident satisfaction, with documented action plans for underperformance.
- Hold communities to approved budgets; analyze variance and manage labor, supply, and controllable expenses against industry benchmarks.
- Contribute regional forecasts and market context to the annual budget process, and manage capital projects with the National Director of Maintenance.
Maintain compliance and survey readiness
- Maintain current working knowledge of state licensing requirements, Department of Health regulations, and federal standards in every state in your region.
- Keep all communities in continuous survey readiness through mock surveys, internal audits, and compliance walkthroughs.
- Lead survey, inspection, and licensure responses; coordinate Plans of Correction to timely, verifiable resolution with the Chief Compliance Officer.
- Ensure incident reporting, grievance resolution, and abuse and neglect protocols are followed without delay and within each state's required timeframes.
Drive census and workforce stability
- Partner with Sales leadership to align move-in readiness, service delivery, and community presentation with census growth strategy.
- Review pending move-ins, move-outs, and at-risk resident flags, and ensure Executive Directors act to retain residents and manage transitions well.
- Work with the Chief Human Resources Officer and the People Team on workforce planning, staffing models, leadership pipeline, and retention strategy.
- Monitor turnover, absenteeism, and open positions by community; identify patterns and co-develop solutions.
Partner across the enterprise
- Keep the Vice President of Operations informed on all material developments, including regulatory events, leadership vacancies, financial variances, and resident safety matters.
- Escalate immediately on suspected abuse, neglect, exploitation, or abandonment; resident death, elopement, or serious injury; Immediate Jeopardy or Class A citations; licensure actions or state investigations; and media or legal inquiries.
- Contribute a grounded, field-level perspective to enterprise leadership meetings, operational reviews, and strategic planning.
What You Bring
Required
- Bachelor's degree in Healthcare Administration, Business Administration, Nursing, or a closely related field certifications.
- Five to seven years of progressive leadership in senior living or long-term care, including two to three years of multi-site or regional operations management.
- Demonstrated experience leading Executive Directors or community Administrators in Assisted Living, Memory Care, and/or Independent Living, with measurable results in occupancy, quality, and financial performance.
- Working knowledge of state licensing requirements and regulatory process in at least one state in the Milestone portfolio.
- Financial fluency, including P&L ownership, budget development, labor management, and variance analysis.
- Valid driver's license, acceptable driving record, and the ability to travel by ground and air throughout the assigned region.
Preferred
- Master's degree in a related field.
- Multi-state regulatory experience across two or more of California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Oklahoma, and Minnesota.
- Current licensure, or eligibility for licensure, as a Residential Care Administrator, Assisted Living Administrator, or state equivalent.
- Experience leading turnaround or stabilization work in under-performing communities.
Licenses, Certifications, and Pre-Employment Requirements
- Current licensure — or eligibility for licensure — as a Residential Care Administrator, Assisted Living Administrator, or equivalent, as required by state regulation within the assigned region.
- Completion of all state-required administrator training, continuing education, and dementia care training for the states in the assigned region, within required timeframes.
- Successful completion of state and national criminal background checks, fingerprinting, and applicable state registry checks prior to and during employment.
- Completion of all pre-employment and ongoing health screening requirements, including tuberculosis screening and any state-required immunizations.
- Completion of all Milestone required training within the allotted time, including assigned RELIAS coursework.
Travel, Physical Demands, and Work Environment
This role is field-based and requires frequent travel — 70-90% percent of scheduled time — by ground and air within the assigned region, along with a home office in the region. Reasonable accommodations will be considered for qualified individuals with disabilities.
- Frequent walking and standing throughout entire communities, including stairs, and frequent sitting for desk, virtual, and vehicle work.
- Occasional stooping, kneeling, crouching, climbing, or balancing; frequent reaching, handling, and repetitive keyboard motion.
- Ability to lift and carry up to 50 pounds independently and up to 50 pounds with assistance.
- Occasional evening, weekend, holiday, or after-hours availability for regulatory actions, emergencies, and significant operational events.
- Possible exposure to communicable diseases, blood-borne pathogens, cleaning chemicals, outdoor weather during site walks, and residents with responsive behaviors related to cognitive change; access to memory care neighborhoods and secured areas is required.
How We Work — Our Values in This Role
- Compassion — You hold every community to a standard of care and hospitality you would accept for your own family, and you extend the same regard to the leaders and caregivers who deliver it.
- Innovation — You look for the cause, not just the symptom, use data to find the pattern behind a recurring problem, and spread what works across the region.
- Accountability — You own regional outcomes without qualification, report bad news early and completely, and close performance gaps rather than tolerating them.
Equal Opportunity Statement
Milestone Retirement Communities is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, veteran status, or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.
This posting is a summary of the full position description and is not an employment agreement. Duties listed are considered essential functions and are subject to modification to reasonably accommodate qualified individuals with disabilities. The complete signed job description is maintained by Human Resources.
