Director - Healthcare Facility Planner, Healthcare Strategic Advisory

Ankura is a team of excellence founded on innovation and growth.

Practice Overview:

Our team advises the nation's leading health systems on their most critical capital and real estate investments. We help leaders mitigate risk and execute complex projects, from planning and design to financing and activation. Our work ensures our clients can deliver the right care, in the right place, at the right cost, directly impacting patient experience and population health.

Role Overview:

The Healthcare Architectural Planner is responsible for planning, programming, and developing healthcare environments that support clinical excellence, operational efficiency, patient-centered care, and long-term strategic growth. This role serves as a critical link between healthcare operations, strategic planning, facility investments, and capital project implementation The planner collaborates with health system leadership, the internal project team, and consultants to translate organizational objectives into effective, adaptable healthcare facilities.

The ideal candidate possesses strong healthcare planning, programming, and design experience, combined with the analytical skills necessary to evaluate facility performance, develop conceptual project budgets, and support capital investment decisions.

This is a remote position and location is flexible within the US.

Responsibilities:

Healthcare Planning & Programming

- Lead and support strategic facilities master planning through healthcare facility planning and programming.
- Conduct space needs assessments, utilization analyses, occupancy studies, and departmental evaluations to determine current and future facility requirements.
- Develop functional programs and space allocation recommendations aligned with strategic, operational, and clinical objectives.
- Evaluate patient flow, staff workflows, operational processes, and departmental adjacencies to inform planning recommendations.
- Prepare planning concepts, adjacency diagrams, stacking plans, and test-fit studies for healthcare facilities.
- Facilitate stakeholder workshops, user group meetings, and planning sessions to establish project requirements and priorities.

Strategic Facility Planning

- Analyze existing facility conditions and identify opportunities for optimization, expansion, renovation, consolidation, modernization, or redevelopment.
- Assess the physical space implications of strategic growth scenarios, service line initiatives, and operational changes.
- Evaluate facility deficiencies, capacity constraints, and space utilization to support long-term planning efforts.
- Develop conceptual project budgets and order-of-magnitude cost estimates for facility renovations, expansions, new construction, and capital improvement initiatives.
- Collaborate with architects, engineers, contractors, and cost consultants to validate assumptions and evaluate planning alternatives through comparative cost analyses.
- Support capital planning and investment decision-making by assessing the financial implications of facility planning recommendations and implementation strategies.
- Support development of business cases for capital investments, including financial, operational, and strategic analyses.
- Participate in capital prioritization and portfolio planning efforts across client’s portfolio of assets.
- Assist healthcare organizations in prioritizing capital investments based on operational needs, strategic objectives, facility conditions, and financial constraints.

Capital Project Implementation

- Support strategic facility planning efforts from concept development through business case evaluation and project initiation.
- Collaborate with project teams throughout planning, design, and construction phases.
- Review design solutions to ensure alignment with clinical workflows, operational objectives, strategic goals, and industry best practices.
- Provide guidance regarding healthcare design standards,, patient experience, and operational efficiency.
- Support project managers with scope development, design reviews, budget validation, and stakeholder coordination.
- Participate in design charrettes, planning meetings, and executive presentations.
- This position emphasizes healthcare planning and programming over technical building design.

Data Analysis & Reportin g

- Collect, analyze, and interpret facility, operational, utilization, and market data to support planning recommendations.

- Assist in the translating of operational and clinical planning assumptions into facility and space requirements.

- Support scenario modeling and sensitivity analyses for strategic facility investment decisions.

- Develop planning reports, executive presentations, dashboards, and supporting documentation.

- Create facility assessment scorecards, benchmark comparisons, and planning models to evaluate performance and future needs.

- Present findings and recommendations to healthcare executives, clinical leaders, and project stakeholders.

Regulatory & Industry Knowledge

- Maintain knowledge of healthcare planning guidelines, FGI requirements, accreditation considerations, and industry best practices.
- Apply evidence-based design principles, patient safety considerations, and operational planning strategies to project recommendations.
- Stay informed on emerging healthcare delivery models, facility trends, and regulatory requirements affecting facility planning and design.
- Understand the facility implications of ambulatory growth, virtual care, care-at-home models, and evolving healthcare delivery strategies.

Required Qualifications:

- Bachelor's degree in Architecture, Healthcare Planning,, Architectural Engineering, or related field.
- 5-8 years of experience in healthcare architecture, medical planning, healthcare facility planning, or healthcare facility development.
- Experience supporting healthcare master planning, facility programming, renovations, expansions, and capital planning initiatives.
- Experience developing conceptual project budgets and planning-level cost estimates for healthcare facility projects.
- Demonstrated ability to assist facilitating executive, physician, and operational stakeholder workshops.
- Strong understanding of hospitals, ambulatory care, and healthcare operational workflows.
- Proficiency with AutoCAD, Revit, Bluebeam, and Microsoft Office Suite.
- Strong analytical, communication, presentation, and facilitation skills.
- Ability to manage multiple projects and collaborate effectively with multidisciplinary teams.
- Authorized to work in the U.S. without employer sponsorship.

Preferred Qualifications:

- Licensed Architect (RA) or actively pursuing architectural licensure.

- Experience with acute care hospitals, academic medical centers, ambulatory facilities, behavioral health facilities, and/or large integrated health systems.

- Knowledge of healthcare forecasting, capacity planning, facility benchmarking, and capital investment analysis.

- Experience participating in Strategic Facility Master Planning (SFMP) engagements.

- Experience evaluating service line growth scenarios and facility implications.

Ankura is an Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against based on disability. Equal Employment Opportunity Posters, if you have a disability and believe you need a reasonable accommodation to search for a job opening, submit an online application, or participate in an interview/assessment, please email [email protected] or call toll-free +1.312-583-2122. This email and phone number are created exclusively to assist disabled job seekers whose disability prevents them from being able to apply online. Only messages left for this purpose will be returned. Messages left for other purposes, such as following up on an application or technical issues unrelated to a disability, will not receive a response.