Coding Manager / Director of Coding Recruiters
Healthcare Headhunters recruits healthcare professionals for employers. No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
This is what we do all day: recruit healthcare professionals.
Hire a coding leader who can review difficult records, coach coders, and explain recurring findings before claims leave the department.
No postings. No stacks of resumes. No chasing. You interview a short list.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire.
Need someone now? Call 305-306-4829.
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What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
- Director of Coding
- Coding Supervisor
- Coding Auditor
What does an open seat cost you every week?
An open role costs you more than the recruiting fee. Someone covers the work, waits for care, or stops a service. We ask what is falling behind and who is carrying it. Use your own figures to compare the cost of waiting with the cost of hiring.
The seat is costing you every week.
Overtime, diverted patients, a stretched team and a schedule held together by favors.
The posting brought the wrong people.
Applicants arrive, but the person who has done this exact work is employed and not looking.
You are the one chasing.
Screening calls, no-shows and follow-ups land on the desk of someone with a facility to run.
What does this hire really come down to?
A Coding Manager or Director of Coding affects what happens between completed documentation and claim submission. On a typical day, this leader may answer a coder escalation, review an audit sample, trace a repeated edit, and discuss missing documentation with finance, clinical documentation, or medical staff.
Healthcare Headhunters recruits permanent leaders for this work on a contingency basis. Your team completes credentialing, clinical assessment, and the final hiring decision.
Decide whether you need a manager, director, or working leader with both duties. Managers stay close to queues, coder questions, chart reviews, findings, and coaching. Directors also address vendors, audits, planning, budget input, and updates.
Ask candidates to describe a decision, not just a title. What report or error pattern did they review? How did they distinguish a documentation gap from a coding error when output pressure conflicted with record support?
What do we check before you see anyone?
Credential status. We screen for CCS, CPC, or CRC credentials and ask whether the credential remains active with the issuing body. We also ask which coding settings the candidate has supported, since a credential alone does not show experience with your department’s work.
- ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS judgment. For inpatient facility coding, we ask how the candidate handles a record with conflicting clinical details or incomplete procedure information. They should explain what they would query, what they would not infer, and how they would document the issue for review.
- CPT and E/M scope. We ask where candidates have managed outpatient or professional fee coding. A leader should distinguish facility coding questions from professional fee questions, identify whether a finding stems from documentation or code selection, and describe the coaching that follows.
- Audit program ownership. We ask how the candidate selects records, categorizes findings, records conclusions, and reports results. Random samples can show routine accuracy. Targeted samples may follow a payer finding, an edit pattern, or a recurring error type.
- Team oversight. We ask how the candidate reviews quality and output for remote or onsite coders. If a coder produces high volume but repeats the same error, we want the sequence: chart review, discussion, education, follow-up sample, and any management action.
- Communication under disagreement. We ask about a coding question raised by a physician, clinical documentation specialist, finance leader, or vendor. Strong answers identify the record facts, applicable guidance, question asked, and follow-up. General statements about collaboration are not enough.
Where do we find them, and why would they move?
Coding supervisors and coding auditors are a strong source pool. Some seek larger teams, broader audit programs, or input on policy, reporting, and technology. Others have limited advancement with their current employer. Coding vendors can also produce relevant candidates. They may have reviewed varied coding processes, managed remote teams, or investigated repeat edits across client work.
We ask why they want a permanent employer role and whether they want accountability for one department rather than project-based assignments.
Which mistakes stall the search?
Do not promote a long-tenured coder without testing the candidate's leadership across the inpatient facility, outpatient, and professional fee work your department covers. Do not treat dashboard familiarity as management ability. Ask what chart review, coaching, escalation, or policy response followed the reported data.
Do not skip finance, compliance, or clinical documentation interviews. Those groups need to act on the coding leader’s findings and should test how clearly the finalist explains them.
How would we run the search for this opening?
Tell us whether the role covers inpatient facility coding, outpatient work, professional fee coding, auditing, vendor oversight, or a combination. If you choose, give finalists a de-identified coding or audit scenario drawn from work your team handles. Compare finalists against the same duties: chart review, audit ownership, staff coaching, reporting, and stakeholder communication.
Set the scope
We use that scope to separate manager candidates from director candidates and ask role-specific questions.
Test the work
Ask how they identify missing facts, apply coding guidance, document a finding, and decide who needs follow-up.
Choose with evidence
Your team decides whether the candidate can perform the role.
Where this search connects
Revenue Cycle, Reimbursement & HIM
SpecialtyHospitals & Health Systems
SettingPhysician Groups & Specialty Practices
SettingAmbulatory Surgery Centers & Surgical Hospitals
SettingHome Health & Hospice
SettingVP of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Revenue Cycle
Related roleDirector of Patient Financial Services (PFS / CBO)
Related roleDirector of Patient Access
Related roleNational median annual wage. SOC 11-9111, Medical and Health Services Managers.
BLS reports Medical and Health Services Managers as one occupation. It does not publish a separate estimate for Coding Manager / Director of Coding, its setting or its engagement terms.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS, 2025-05, released 2026-05-15. View source. See the full guide.
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Can one leader manage inpatient and professional fee coding?
Some can, but experience in one setting does not automatically translate to another. We ask where they used ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS and where they handled CPT and E/M, then compare that history with your scope. We screen credentials, work history, technical scope, and reasons for a move.
Do we need a Coding Manager or Director of Coding?
Choose a manager when daily queues, coder coaching, and audit follow-up need close attention. Choose a director when the role also includes department planning, vendor oversight, budget input, and executive reporting.
How should we assess audit program experience?
Ask about sample selection, error categories, reporting audiences, and corrective action. If a candidate only describes finding errors, ask how they checked for repeat findings after education or process changes.
What should we ask if our coding team works remotely?
Ask how the candidate reviews quality and output without relying only on activity data. Useful answers include routine chart review, accessible coaching, documented expectations, and a defined response when the same issue returns.
What are the search terms?
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What should you send us about this role?
Send us the role, where the person will work and what needs to change with this hire. We will ask about the work, not just the title. Share any license or schedule limits that could rule someone out before we begin the search.
If you need a Coding Manager, Director of Coding, Coding Supervisor, or Coding Auditor, tell us what records the team handles and where repeat findings appear. We will screen for the work your next leader must manage.
No upfront fee. You pay only if you hire. We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement.
What happens next
- We review your role, responsibilities and location.
- Ivan or a senior team member will reach out soon.
- You meet a focused shortlist when qualified candidates fit the agreed search.
- Fees.
- No upfront fee. Pay only if you hire, under the signed agreement.
- Exclusivity.
- Set out in the signed client agreement.
- Confidentiality.
- We agree the brief before outreach. This is not a promise of absolute anonymity.
- No hire.
- No hire means no fee on standard searches.
Which other positions in this family should you consider?
Director of Health Information Management (HIM) · Coding Auditor / Coding Educator
What do you get at each step of the search?
Our process for every search: calibrate the seat with you, map the market, research the real people, reach out to each one personally, qualify them in live conversation, then hand you a short list with a written brief on each person and support through the offer.
Search Calibration
You get an agreed brief: the work, reporting line, credentials, schedule, and offer you can make.
Market Mapping
You get a search aimed at relevant backgrounds, including people working now who have not applied.
Professional Contact Intelligence
We check appropriate ways to reach the people identified for your search. You do not have to chase them yourself.
Persistent Personalized Outreach
We explain your actual job and follow up with people who may consider a conversation.
Live Candidate Qualification
You see people we have spoken with about the work, interest, and practical fit, not an unread resume pile.
Candidate Intelligence and Process Support
You get a written brief and support through interviews and offer discussions. You make the hiring decision.
How long will it take to see a short list?
That depends on the job, schedule, available people, and what your employer can offer. We discuss those constraints before outreach and update you as candidates respond. We do not promise a fixed shortlist date. We check the job brief before arranging interviews. Tell us which parts of the role you can change.
What if a candidate receives a counteroffer?
We ask why the person wants to move and discuss competing decisions before an offer. A counteroffer can still change their choice. Keep the duties and offer clear rather than assuming more money settles every concern. Tell us early if parts of your offer cannot change, so the candidate hears it from us first.
What are the replacement terms?
We offer a candidate replacement guarantee on standard search agreements. The applicable period and exact terms are set out in the signed client recruiting agreement. Ask us to walk through those terms before you sign, so you know how a replacement would work for your opening and who would start it.
What do we not do in a standard permanent search?
We do not bill standard contingency search by the hour or simply repost your job. Temporary coverage is a separate arrangement. Any retainer or different engagement must be agreed, not assumed. Tell us early if you need coverage while the permanent search runs.