Director of Credentialing

Director of Credentialing

Who Are We?

The National Board of Certification and Recertification for Nurse Anesthetists (NBCRNA) is the nation’s certifying body for initial, continued, and subspecialty certification of Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists (CRNAs). NBCRNA protects the public by establishing and administering rigorous, evidence-based credentialing programs that support safe practice, professional accountability, and lifelong learning.

Why Work at NBCRNA?

• You want to do good. We are a nonprofit organization whose mission is to promote patient safety through credentialing programs that support lifelong learning. Patient health and safety is at the forefront of what we do every day.
• You want to matter where you work. We are 30+ employees strong and growing. We don’t have layers of C-Suite management. Have an idea for the CEO? Walk down the hall and let him know. Work somewhere your voice will be heard.
• You want a life outside work. We get it, people have interests, commitments, and lives outside the workplace. At NBCRNA we encourage that and believe that maintaining a healthy life/work balance makes for happier and more productive employees.
• Your career matters to you. It matters to us too. We offer a competitive salary and benefits. We provide training opportunities to all employees (and actually give you the time and ability to take advantage of them). We provide annual employee reviews, giving us the ability to not only assess performance in a timely manner, but also work together with employees to set goals, grow, and advance their careers.

Position Summary:

The Director of Credentialing leads the day-to-day work of the Credentialing Department and is a key partner to the Chief Credentialing Officer. This role translates credentialing policy and organizational priorities into reliable, fair, and consistent execution across NBCRNA programs.

The Director manages the credentialing team, oversees complex cases, strengthens systems and quality controls, supports accreditation readiness, and ensures that candidates, certificants, program administrators, boards of nursing, and other stakeholders receive accurate, timely, and respectful service.

This is a hands-on leadership role requiring sound judgment, accountability, clear communication, and the ability to connect day-to-day operations with broader organizational priorities. The role is structured to allow a successful leader to take on broader strategic, accreditation, and enterprise responsibilities over time.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities

Leadership and Department Operations

• Lead the day-to-day operations of the Credentialing Department and ensure work is completed accurately, consistently, and within established service and compliance expectations.
• Recruit, coach, develop, and evaluate credentialing staff. Set clear expectations, assign work effectively, build cross-training, and hold the team accountable for results.
• Create a team culture grounded in professionalism, trust, collaboration, continuous improvement, and respectful service to internal and external stakeholders.
• Serve as the day-to-day escalation point for complex or sensitive credentialing matters. Evaluate facts, apply policy consistently, make recommendations, and elevate significant matters to the Chief Credentialing Officer when appropriate.

Credentialing Programs, Policy, and Compliance

• Oversee the operational administration of NBCRNA credentialing programs and related processes, including candidate eligibility, initial certification, continued certification, subspecialty certification, reentry, reinstatement, audit, discipline, appeals, and other special-case workflows, as assigned.
• Translate Board-approved policies and executive decisions into clear procedures, staff training, system requirements, quality controls, and stakeholder communications.
• Ensure credentialing decisions and records are accurate, well documented, defensible, and consistent with NBCRNA policies, candidate and certificant requirements, accreditation standards, legal guidance, and established internal controls.
• Support year-round accreditation readiness by coordinating evidence, maintaining policy and procedure documentation, assisting with self-study activities, and following through on identified compliance needs.

Quality, Data, Technology, and Improvement

• Develop and monitor practical operational measures, including service levels, workload, quality, error trends, case aging, and stakeholder experience. Provide clear reporting and recommendations to the Chief Credentialing Officer.
• Lead and participate in process improvement and modernization efforts that reduce unnecessary complexity, strengthen controls, improve the stakeholder experience, and allow staff to focus on work requiring judgment and expertise.
• Partner with Information Technology and system vendors on credentialing platforms, integrations, data quality, automation, user acceptance testing, reporting, and implementation of new or revised program requirements.
• Identify operational, regulatory, reputational, or compliance concerns and ensure they are documented, communicated, and addressed promptly.

Communication, Collaboration, and Strategy

• Partner closely with Assessment, Communications and Engagement, Information Technology, Finance, Human Resources, legal counsel, vendors, and other departments to implement credentialing priorities and resolve cross-functional issues.
• Ensure credentialing publications, handbooks, website content, forms, templates, and standard communications are accurate, current, clear, and consistent with approved policy.
• Build and maintain productive relationships with nurse anesthesia program administrators, candidates, certificants, boards of nursing, healthcare organizations, professional and regulatory organizations, and other external stakeholders.
• Contribute to departmental planning, budgeting, vendor oversight, resource allocation, and implementation of organizational priorities.
• Represent Credentialing in internal meetings, external workgroups, educational sessions, and professional forums, as assigned.
• Perform other duties and take on broader responsibilities as proficiency, readiness, and organizational needs evolve.

Qualifications and Leadership Competencies

• Proven ability to lead people and operations in an environment where accuracy, consistency, fairness, confidentiality, and public trust matter.
• Strong judgment and problem-solving skills, including the ability to assess complex facts, interpret policy, identify risk, make sound recommendations, and follow decisions through to completion.
• Clear, credible, and tactful communication skills. Able to explain complex requirements in plain language and prepare concise, high-quality written materials for staff, leaders, boards, regulators, and other stakeholders.
• Demonstrated ability to translate priorities into operational execution, manage competing demands, and maintain attention to detail without losing sight of the larger objective.
• Experience building effective processes, quality controls, performance measures, and documentation practices.
• Comfort working with credentialing, customer relationship management, case management, document management, reporting, and other enterprise technology systems. Ability to partner effectively on system design, testing, data quality, and implementation.
• High level of integrity, discretion, emotional intelligence, accountability, and professionalism when handling sensitive or confidential matters.
• Collaborative working style and demonstrated ability to build trust across departments and with external stakeholders, while remaining willing to address difficult issues directly and respectfully.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution required.
• Graduate degree in healthcare administration, business, nursing, education, public administration, organizational leadership, or a related field completed or actively in progress required. Candidates enrolled at the time of hire should have a defined completion plan.
• Five or more years of progressively responsible experience in credentialing, certification, licensure, healthcare operations, professional regulation, association or nonprofit management, or a closely related field required.
• Two or more years of direct people-leadership experience required, including responsibility for performance management, staff development, and operational outcomes.
• Experience supporting an accredited certification or credentialing program, including familiarity with NCCA, ABSNC, or comparable standards, strongly preferred.
• Experience in nurse anesthesia, advanced practice nursing, a healthcare certifying organization, a board of nursing, or a healthcare professional organization preferred.
• Relevant professional credential, such as ICE-CCP, CAE, or a comparable credential, preferred, or willingness to pursue one after hire.

Working Conditions:

We are currently offering a hybrid work schedule with three days in our office near O'Hare and two days working remotely.

At the NBCRNA, it is our primary mission to promote patient safety by enhancing provider quality. It is the diverse and unique thinking people we surround ourselves with that makes this possible. We offer equal opportunities to all employees, applicants, and volunteers regardless of color, race, gender expression or identity, sexual orientation, religion, ethnicity, age, disability status, genetic information, political affiliation, military service, citizenship, or other non-merit based factors in accordance with applicable federal, state and local laws. We welcome and embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion within our organization, with our fellow CRNA’s, with our local community and with our neighbors nationwide.

Benefits include but are not limited to generous PTO, insurance (healthcare, dental, vision), 401k, holidays, and long-term/short-term disability.