Child Life Specialist NICU
The Child Life Specialist in the NICU at Confidential Client provides specialized support to pediatric patients and their families, facilitating age-appropriate interactions to reduce distress and promote coping and development. This role involves developing and implementing patient-centered care plans, supervising volunteers and students, and collaborating within a multidisciplinary team to deliver advanced care for critically ill newborns in a Level IV NICU setting.
About Careertakes
👉 Important disclosure: Careertakes is a third-party recruiting platform supporting this hiring process. If selected, you will be employed directly by our client, Healthcare & Nursing.
Applicants for this role may also receive access to additional matched opportunities through the Careertakes platform.
Position overview
Confidential Client is seeking a Child Life Specialist to provide developmentally appropriate psychosocial care, preparation, and therapeutic play for pediatric patients in a Level IV NICU. This full-time contract role supports a 51-bed neonatal intensive care unit at Fort Douglas, UT. The position reduces patient and family distress, promotes coping and independence, and includes supervision of volunteers, pre-internship students, and assistants.
What You’ll Do
- Provide age-appropriate education, psychological procedural preparation, coping support, comfort management, and therapeutic play for neonatal and pediatric patients and their families.
- Assess, prioritize, and document patient- and family-centered care needs.
- Develop, implement, and evaluate individualized pediatric care plans in collaboration with the multidisciplinary team.
- Supervise and mentor volunteers, child life pre-internship students, and child life assistants.
- Provide staff education (in-services, newsletter articles) and participate in community outreach and foundation partnerships.
- Adhere to the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) Code of Ethics and department expectations.
Schedule & Compensation
- Employment type: Full-time (Contract position) — 40 hours/week.
- Typical schedule: Monday–Friday, 8:30 AM – 5:00 PM.
- Hourly range: $24.30 - $37.52 per hour (actual pay dependent on experience).
- Estimated annual midpoint: approximately $53,158 (estimate only).
- Sign-on bonus: $3,000 for new hires.
Required Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution (degree verification required).
- Documentation of a successfully completed 600-hour internship supervised by a child life specialist.
- Child Life Certification from the Association of Child Life Professionals (ACLP) required within 15 months of hire.
- Experience working with pediatric patients in medical, hospital, or behavioral health settings.
- Proficiency with basic computer applications (word processing, spreadsheets, databases).
Preferred Qualifications
- One year of experience with pediatric patients in a medical, hospital, or behavioral health setting.
- Prior work as a child life assistant or pre-internship/practicum student.
- Experience supervising volunteers working with children and adolescents.
- Spanish language skills a plus.
Essential Functions & Physical Requirements
- Frequent verbal communication with care teams, patients, and families; ability to hear and respond to alarms and spoken information quickly and accurately.
- Ongoing ability to read monitors, documents, and identify equipment and supplies.
- Manual dexterity for fine motor tasks and frequent computer use.
- Ability to lift, transfer, and move patients and equipment as needed; may stand for extended periods.
- Ability to assess, document, and follow up on clinical care in a fast-paced setting.
Skills & Competencies
- Pediatrics and developmental understanding
- Training, mentoring, and supervision
- Documentation and clinical writing
- Strong communication and relationship-building
- Initiative, critical thinking, accountability, and teamwork
- Growth mindset and adaptability
Why Join
- Work as part of an experienced multidisciplinary NICU team providing advanced care for premature and critically ill newborns.
- Competitive hourly pay with a $3,000 sign-on bonus for new hires.
- Comprehensive benefits package available (details provided by the client).
- Opportunity to grow professionally and contribute to family-centered care initiatives.
Location
Work location: Fort Douglas, UT (on-site in the Level IV NICU).
Notes & Hiring Practices
- Degree and internship documentation will be verified.
- This posting is for a position with Confidential Client; Careertakes is supporting the recruitment process as a third-party platform.
- All positions are subject to close without notice.
Equal Opportunity & Hiring Transparency
Careertakes and our client are Equal Opportunity Employers committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce. We prohibit discrimination or harassment of any kind. To support a fair and efficient hiring process, AI tools may be used to assist with application review or resume screening. These tools do not replace human decision-making. Final hiring decisions are made by people.
If you have questions about how your data is used, please contact us directly.
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