Vice President, Memory Care

JOB SUMMARY

The Vice President of Memory Care provides enterprise-wide leadership and strategic direction for Experience Senior Living’s Memory Care philosophy, programming, operational standards, and resident experience across the portfolio. This role serves as the organization’s subject-matter leader for dementia care and is responsible for establishing a consistent, evidence-informed approach that supports residents living with cognitive change while promoting dignity, independence, purpose, safety, and meaningful engagement.

The Vice President of Memory Care will develop and advance organizational Memory Care standards, leader and team member education, training programs, competency validation, quality measures and performance expectations while partnering with Operations, Health & Wellness, Resident Experience, Culinary, Sales, Human Resources, and community leadership to ensure Memory Care is integrated across the full resident and family experience.

As the organization grows, this role will provide strategic oversight for new community development, program implementation, leadership onboarding and development, community stabilization, and continuous quality improvement. Through enterprise standards, data-driven performance monitoring, leadership development, and targeted community support, the Vice President of Memory Care will strengthen consistency and accountability while advancing a differentiated Memory Care experience across Experience Senior Living.

PRINCIPAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

The following essential functions are fundamental job duties of the position and are to be performed with or without appropriate reasonable accommodation(s).

Memory Care Strategy and Portfolio Leadership

Lead the development, implementation, and ongoing advancement of ESL’s enterprise-wide Memory Care strategy, philosophy, and operating model.

Establish organizational standards that promote person-centered, evidence-informed dementia care and support resident dignity, independence, purpose, safety, meaningful engagement, and quality of life.

Translate ESL’s Memory Care philosophy into clear operational standards, performance expectations, tools, resources, and measures of success across the portfolio.

Ensure consistent execution of Memory Care standards while allowing appropriate flexibility to meet individual resident needs, community dynamics, and state-specific regulatory requirements.

Evaluate portfolio performance, emerging trends, organizational needs, and opportunities and provide strategic recommendations to executive leadership.

Establish short- and long-term priorities that support the continued evolution and differentiation of ESL’s Memory Care experience.

Quality Regulatory and Operational Oversight

Establish and oversee Memory Care quality and performance standards encompassing resident care, engagement, safety, dining, family experience, staffing, programming, documentation, and operational practices.

Develop a consistent framework for evaluating Memory Care performance using quality data, resident outcomes, regulatory results, operational indicators, stakeholder feedback, and direct community observations.

Partner with Health and Wellness leadership to ensure wellness practices supporting Memory Care residents including evaluations, service plans, medication management, changes of condition, documentation, and care delivery align with resident needs, organizational standards and regulatory requirements.

Identify emerging risks and performance gaps and establish appropriate quality-improvement strategies, corrective actions, and leadership accountability.

Provide strategic support for regulatory readiness, survey response, and corrective action related to Memory Care operations.

Monitor regulatory updates, research industry developments and incorporate relevant evidenced and emerging practices into ESL’s Memory Care program Model..

Establish reporting and performance- monitoring processes and tools that provide leaders with actionable information and support data informed decision making.

Community Support and Strategic Support

Evaluate Memory Care performance across the portfolio and identify communities requiring focused intervention, additional resources, or performance-improvement support

Provide strategic oversight for communities experiencing leadership vacancies, operational challenges, regulatory concerns, resident or family experience issues or other significant performance needs.

Determine when specialized intervention is required and strategically deploy and organizational resources based on community needs and priorities.

Partner with Operations, Health & Wellness, Finance and community leadership to address barriers related to staffing, labor, leadership, resources, quality, and program execution.

Establish clear objectives and measures of success for community interventions and ensure appropriate transition and sustainability plans are implemented following periods of interim support.

Identify successful practices and scalable solutions and promote their adoption across the portfolio to strengthen organizational performance.

Leadership Development & Organizational Capability

Build organizational Memory Care capability by establishing leadership expectations, competencies, education, and development strategies for leaders responsible for Memory Care services.

Provide leadership, direction, and development to assigned resources.. Build organizational Memory Care capability by establishing leadership expectations, competencies, education, and development strategies for leaders responsible for Memory Care services.

Partner with Operations and Human Resources to strengthen recruitment, selection, onboarding, development, performance management, and retention of Memory Care leadership.

Establish and oversee dementia-specific education and competency expectations for leaders and team members, including communication, engagement, behavioral support, resident dignity, family partnership, and person- centered care.

Ensure education extends beyond training completion through appropriate competency validation, observation, coaching, reinforcement, and accountability for application in practice.

Coach and advise Executive Directors, Directors of Memory Care, Health and Wellness leaders, and other community leaders regarding Memory Care leadership, program execution and operational needs..

Develop internal talent and succession strategies that create a sustainable pipeline of qualified Memory Care leaders as the organization grows..

Promote interdisciplinary collaboration and shared accountability for the Memory Care outcomes across community and organizational leadership..

Resident, Family and Memory Care Experience

Establish organizational expectations for differentiated Memory Care experience centered on knowing and supporting the whole person, including each resident’s abilities, interests, routines, preferences, relationships, history and life story.

Ensure meaningful engagement and purpose are integrated throughout the daily life rather than limited to scheduled programming.

Partner with Resident Experience leadership to develop purposeful and continuously improve purposeful, adaptable and individualized Memory Care engagement strategies, resources and programming.

Establish standards for family orientation, communication, education, engagement, and ongoing partnership throughout the resident journey.

Use resident and family feedback to identify trends and guide sustainable improvements to programs, practices, and the overall Memory Care experience.

Partner with Culinary, Operations, Resident Experience, Health & Wellness, and other functional leaders to advance dining, environmental, hospitality, wellness and care practices that promote comfort, choice, independence, connection, and belonging.

Serve as an executive-level resource for complex resident or family situations requiring additional Memory Care expertise or organizational support..

Program Development, Innovation & Continuous Improvement

Lead the continued development and refinement of ESL’s Memory Care model based on resident outcomes, family feedback, team experience, regulatory developments, research and evolving dementia-care practices.

Develop and maintain scalable Memory Care standards, operating tools, educational resources, competency frameworks, communication materials, and quality-review processes.

Evaluate emerging technologies, products, services, partnerships, and practices that may improve resident quality of life, family experience, team effectiveness, or operational performance.

Lead pilots and strategic initiatives, establish measurable outcomes, evaluate effectiveness, and make recommendations regarding implementation, refinement, expansion, or discontinuation

Provide Memory Care operational and resident-experience expertise during new community planning and design to ensure neighborhoods support resident safety, independence, dignity, meaningful engagement, appropriate staffing, and efficient operations.

Establish and oversee Memory Care readiness for new community openings, including leadership recruitment and onboarding, team training and competency validation operating systems and standards, resident assessment process, family communication, programming and implementation of ESL’s Memory Care model.

Provide strategic oversight through pre-opening, opening, and post-opening stabilization to support consistent execution of Memory Care standards and a successful transition to ongoing community operations.

Partner with Sales and Marketing to ensure ESL’s Memory Care philosophy, services, resident experience and value proposition are communicated accurately and consistently.

Maintain relationships with professional organizations, dementia-care experts, educational institutions, and other external resources.

Cross Functional and Executive leadership

Serves as ESL’s enterprise Memory Care subject-matter leader and strategic partner to executive and functional leadership.

Provides clear recommendations regarding portfolio performance, emerging risks, resource needs, industry developments, and opportunities while promoting shared accountability across Operations, Health & Wellness, Resident Experience, Culinary, Sales, Human Resources, Finance, and Risk Management.

Develop relationships with professional organizations, dementia-care experts, educational institutions, vendors, and other external partners to strengthen organizational knowledge and resources.

Travel and Schedule Expectations

Maintains a visible presence throughout the ESL portfolio through regular community visits and direct engagement with leaders and teams.

Responds to significant operational, regulatory, resident, family, and leadership needs and provides executive-level support when escalation or specialized Memory Care expertise is required.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in gerontology, nursing, healthcare administration, social services, behavioral health, therapeutic recreation, operations, or a related field required; advanced degree preferred.
• Ten or more years of progressive experience in senior living, dementia care, healthcare, or a related resident-service environment.
• Five or more years of successful multi-site, regional, divisional or corporate leadership experience with responsibility for Memory Care programs, operations, quality or resident experience
• Advanced knowledge of dementia disease processes and person-centered, evidenced informed practices that promote dignity, independence, engagement, safety, purpose and quality of life.
• Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) certification required or ability to obtain within an established timeframe following hire. Dementia-care trainer certification, such as Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care Trainer (CADDCT), or a comparable professional credential preferred.
• Demonstrated success developing and implementing and sustaining enterprise or multi-site Memory Care programs, operating standards, training frameworks, quality measures, and scalable systems.
• Strong working knowledge of assisted living and Memory Care regulatory requirements, survey readiness, quality assurance, risk management, resident rights and care documentation across multi-state operations.
• Demonstrated Experience using operational, quality, resident, workforce and financial data to identify trends, establish priorities, evaluate program effectiveness and drive sustainable performance improvement.
• Proven Ability to lead through organizational growth, operational challenges, regulatory concerns, leadership transitions, new community openings, acquisitions, and change
• Experience developing and overseeing dementia-specific education, leadership development, competency validation, and ongoing training strategies for leaders and frontline team members.
• Demonstrated success developing senior and community leaders, establishing performance expectations managing accountability, building high-performing teams, and influencing across multiple organizational levels and functional areas.
• Strong financial and operational acumen, including experience with budgeting, staffing models, labor management, resource planning, and evaluating the operational sustainability of programs and initiatives.
• Ability to represent ESL as a credible Memory Care subject-matter leader with residents, families, professional organizations, industry partners, and other external stakeholders.
• Proficiency with technology and the ability to effectively utilize company systems, data, and reporting platforms.
• Excellent written, verbal, presentation, facilitation, coaching, relationship-building, and executive communication skills.
• Valid driver’s license and ongoing compliance with ESL’s Motor Vehicle Policy.
• Ability to meet applicable state-specific training, certification, background, health, and regulatory requirements.
• EXPECTED PERFORMANCE
• Translate ESL’s organizational strategy and Memory Care philosophy into clear, scalable, and measurable and sustainable operating practices that can be consistently executed across the portfolio.
• Establish clear performance expectations, measures of success, and accountability for Memory Care quality, operations, leadership, and resident and family experience.
• Proactively identify portfolio trends, emerging risks, performance gaps, and opportunities for improvement and take timely, appropriate action to strengthen outcomes.
• Demonstrate the ability to balance resident quality of life, regulatory compliance, operational effectiveness, team capability, family experience, and financial sustainability when establishing priorities and making decisions.
• Lead effectively through organizational growth, new community development, leadership transitions, regulatory challenges, operational change and periods of uncertainty
• Build effective cross-functional partnerships and influence outcomes across organizational levels while maintaining clear ownership, accountability, and alignment with ESL standards.
• Establish credibility and trusting relationships with residents, families, team members, community and divisional leaders, executive leadership, professional partners, and external stakeholders.
• Use data, resident and family feedback, community observations, regulatory outcomes, and operational performance to evaluate effectiveness and drive continuous improvement.
• Communicate complex information clearly, objectively, and professionally and provide actionable recommendations, including during sensitive, high-risk, or high-pressure situations.
• Demonstrate executive presence, sound judgement, strategic thinking, adaptability, accountability, integrity, and the ability to make timely decisions in the best interest of residents and the organization.
• Model and advance ESL’s ESL’s mission, vision, and values and commitment to a differentiated, person-centered Memory Care experience.