How to hire a service director

How to hire a service director, step by step

Here's a step-by-step service director hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a service director job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new service director
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a service director do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   The service director hiring process starts by determining what type of worker you actually need. Certain roles might require a full-time employee, whereas part-time workers or contractors can do others.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A service director's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, service directors from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   This list presents service director salaries for various positions.

   Type of Service Director	Description	Hourly rate
   Service Director	Medical and health services managers, also called healthcare executives or healthcare administrators, plan, direct, and coordinate medical and health services. They might manage an entire facility, a specific clinical area or department, or a medical practice for a group of physicians... Show more	$33-90
   Customer Service/Operations Manager	A customer service/operations manager is primarily in charge of spearheading and overseeing the efforts of a customer service team, ensuring efficiency and client satisfaction. Their responsibilities include setting goals and objectives, establishing guidelines and schedules, managing the employees, creating new programs for customers, and developing strategies to optimize customer service operations... Show more	$23-47
   Director Of Support Services	A director of support services spearheads and oversees the daily operations in a company's support services field. It is their duty to set goals and guidelines, establish budgets and timelines, coordinate with managers, perform research and analysis to identify the ideal practices, review client feedback, liaise with potential investors, and build positive relationships with business partners... Show more	$12-57

   Show more

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Patients
   • Healthcare
   • Patient Care
   • Customer Service
   • Oversight
   • Surgery
   • Perioperative
   • Business Development
   • Project Management
   • Human Resources
   • Risk Management
   • Service Delivery
   • Customer Satisfaction
   • Direct Reports

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Lead and manage implementation and customization of SharePoint to replace legacy document approval system and document filing system.
   • Lead the training program for child psychiatry residents.
   • Manage social medias (Weibo, Facebook and etc . )
   • Assist in managing client accounts by managing HVAC alignments and ensuring contractual requirements are meet.
   • Manage a staff of 280 FTE s and a management team of 6 in a union environment.
   • Manage all daily operations, both clinical and support, during and after Medicare trials to ensure long-term business viability.

   More service director duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in your service director job description is one of the best ways to attract top talent. A service director can vary based on:

   • Location. For example, service directors' average salary in missouri is 38% less than in california.
   • Seniority. Entry-level service directors 63% less than senior-level service directors.
   • Certifications. A service director with certifications usually earns a higher salary.
   • Company. Working for an established firm or a new start-up company can make a big difference in a service director's salary.

   Average service director salary

   $114,981yearly

   $55.28 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level service director salary

   $70,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 29, 2026

   Average service director salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	California	$140,766	$68
   2	New York	$132,996	$64
   3	Nevada	$124,803	$60
   4	Massachusetts	$119,004	$57
   5	Virginia	$118,467	$57
   6	Connecticut	$113,572	$55
   7	Texas	$112,332	$54
   8	Pennsylvania	$108,691	$52
   9	District of Columbia	$107,648	$52
   10	North Carolina	$106,268	$51
   11	Georgia	$105,927	$51
   12	Ohio	$105,421	$51
   13	Washington	$101,996	$49
   14	Tennessee	$101,255	$49
   15	Maine	$101,230	$49
   16	Wisconsin	$101,090	$49
   17	Utah	$100,736	$48
   18	Maryland	$99,811	$48
   19	Nebraska	$99,550	$48
   20	Arizona	$96,545	$46

   Average service director salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Mayo Clinic	$194,811	$93.66	13
   2	Stanford Health Care	$187,494	$90.14	15
   3	F5	$187,217	$90.01
   4	Palo Alto Networks	$187,159	$89.98	3
   5	Google	$181,750	$87.38
   6	Citi	$180,144	$86.61	1
   7	Kaiser Permanente	$176,545	$84.88	74
   8	Sheridan Community Hospital	$176,036	$84.63
   9	Thoughtworks	$172,266	$82.82
   10	UTMB HEALTHCARE SYSTEMS	$171,174	$82.30	11
   11	Five Star Gourmet Foods	$168,550	$81.03
   12	Tennant	$168,286	$80.91
   13	Rio Grande Hospital	$167,035	$80.31
   14	Trios Health	$165,909	$79.76
   15	Allergan plc	$164,362	$79.02	3
   16	BNY Mellon	$163,448	$78.58	3
   17	Benefit Cosmetics	$162,846	$78.29
   18	Northwell Health	$162,491	$78.12	45
   19	Appalachian Regional Healthcare	$161,893	$77.83	6
   20	Community Health Systems	$161,521	$77.65	102

4. Writing a service director job description

   A job description for a service director role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a service director job description:

   Service director job description example

   Under the direction of the CNO, this position is responsible for the direction and leadership of operational, financial, programmatic, and personnel activities for the perioperative departments. This includes establishing, meeting and continuously monitoring the goals and objectives while maintaining alignment with the strategic goals and objectives of the organizations.
   
   Is accountable for overall supervision of the surgical service departments, communicating collaboratively with the CNO and/or CEO to resolve issues and develop systems to facilitate the overall departmental function, creating an environment of patient-centered care.
   
   Demonstrates critical thinking skills, ability to organize and delegate to respond to urgent or emergent situations. Demonstrates decision-making skills based on accurate information and/ or analysis of data.
   
   Interprets, executes and enforces the policies and procedures of the hospital and the nursing departments.
   
   Contributes to the success of the organization by providing leadership, direction, and coordination of operations, finances, and human resources within the assigned areas.
   
   Continually assesses services provided, identifies problems, and utilizes data to analyze and propose innovative approaches for solutions.
   
   Reports all problems or patient complaints to Chief Nursing Officer and initiates immediate steps to correct problems when appropriate.
   
   Interprets, implements and monitors Joint Commission, state, and federal regulations pertaining or department functions. Ensures organizational compliance with Joint Commission standards as well as requirements set by state and federal regulatory bodies.
   
   Identifies potential risks to patients: identifies risks to patients in order to reduce incidence of injury; identifies actions to eliminate, minimize or report risks; identifies procedures to follow in the event of an incident; reports processes for common problems, failures and user errors.
   
   Demonstrates the spirit of the philosophy, mission, and values of the hospital through words and actions and implements them into departmental processes, programs, and the working environment.
   
   Applies the principles and values of customer service and continuous quality improvement while performing day-to-day activities of the position.
   
   Develops and implements clinical outcome measures for quality improvement, cost and complication reduction, implementation of evidence-based medicine.
   
   Analyzes surgical block allocation/reallocation and overall utilization management across perioperative services.
   Education: Graduate of a school of nursing. Bachelor of Science in Nursing preferred. Master of Science in nursing or related field preferred. Experience: Minimum five (5) years experience as RN in a hospital setting with three (3) years demonstrated leadership and supervisory ability. Required License/Certifications : Current RN licensure by the State Board of Nursing of Louisiana. Current CPR certification required, ACLS/PALS Certification. Preferred License/Certifications: Advanced certification in perioperative services Required Skills, Knowledge and Abilities: Effective communication skills; both orally and written. Computer skills needed. Ability to manage a team and work with others within a team to ensure quality patient care. Strong problem-solving skills.

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5. Post your job

   To find service directors for your business, try out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important talent pools for any company is its current employees.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and your current work to ask if they know any service directors they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit entry-level service directors with the right educational background.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter have more than 3.5 billion users, and they're a great place for company branding and reaching potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your service director job on Zippia to find and recruit service director candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   To successfully recruit service directors, your first interview needs to engage with candidates to learn about their interest in the role and experience in the field. You can go into more detail about the company, the role, and the responsibilities during follow-up interviews.

   It's also good to ask about candidates' unique skills and talents. You can move on to the technical interview if a candidate is good enough for the next step.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new service director

   Once you've selected the best service director candidate for the job, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, this letter should include details about the benefits and perks you offer the candidate. Ensuring that your offer is competitive is essential, as qualified candidates may be considering other job opportunities. The candidate may wish to negotiate the terms of the offer, and you should be open to discussion. After you reach an agreement, the final step is formalizing the agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   Once that's done, you can draft an onboarding schedule for the new service director. Human Resources should complete Employee Action Forms and ensure that onboarding paperwork is completed, including I-9s, benefits enrollment, federal and state tax forms, etc. They should also ensure that new employee files are created for internal recordkeeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a service director?