Objective To analyze the mediating effect of thriving at work between coaching leadership and occupational growth in nurses. Methods A total of 447 nurses from 7 grade-A tertiary hospitals in Henan province were surveyed using the Occupational Growth of Nurse Scale, the Coaching Leadership Perception Assessment Scale (Nurse Version) and the Thriving at Work Scale. Results The coaching leadership score was 69.61±19.17, thriving at work score was 49.93±10.12, and occupational growth score was 49.00±10.07, which were positively correlated with each other (all P.<0.05). Stratified regression analyses revealed that after controlling for general information variables, coaching leadership and thriving at work explained 38.2% of the total variance in occupational growth.Thriving at work mediated the relationship between coaching leadership and occupational growth, with the mediating effect accounting for 52.560% of the total effect. Conclusion Coaching leadership perception helps to enhance clinical nurses′ thriving at work and thus their occupational growth, prompting nursing managers to tap into nurses' career development potential by exercising coaching leadership.