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Job overview
We are seeking an experienced operational leader to join the Surgery and Cancer Divisional leadership team at Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust. We are committed to delivering excellent, safe and patient-centred care for the people of North West London and beyond, delivered by highly skilled and compassionate staff.
We are looking for an inclusive leader who acts with integrity, is calm under pressure and builds exceptionally strong and credible relationships across all professional groups to influence decisions across a range of our services. We want to inspire you to take every opportunity to grow, discover and share best practice so you can deliver safe and effective services with great outcomes for our patients.
You must be educated to a Masters level or have equivalent experience plus additional management training and evidence of CPD. You must have considerable experience of working at a senior management level in a complex organisation, including experience of managing large budgets, staff management, managing competing workloads and experience of advising senior managers, executive colleagues and external stakeholders.
For an informal discussion please contact Steve Hart via Vanya Bettle ([email protected]).
Main duties of the job
- Drive the delivery of ambitious targets to continually improve performance within the Division.
- Support the development of the Division’s strategy and ensure alignment with the Trust.
- Support the development of challenging and ambitious service development strategies, anticipating future needs, for each Directorate within the Division, that contribute to the modernisation of patient services and significantly improve patient experience and staff engagement’s overall strategy and Integrated Business Plan.
- Support the Divisional Director of Operations in ensuring that each Directorate has clearly defined performance objectives supported by a management regime to deliver continuous improvement.
- In partnership with the Divisional Director of Operations, ensure that there are effective channels of communication within the Division.
- Work with the Finance Business Partner in developing and engaging clinicians and managers in a collaborative approach to financial management and developing financial acumen across the portfolio.
- Support the Divisional Director of Operations in reviewing the divisional workforce to ensure it has the right numbers and the right level of knowledge skill and expertise skill to deliver services in the most effective and efficient way.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
The full job description provides an overview of the key tasks and responsibilities of the role and the person specification outlines the qualifications, skills, experience and knowledge required.
For both overviews please view the Job Description attachment with the job advert.
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- Significant experience of operational management within a large healthcare organisation.
- Demonstrable success in delivering performance targets and improvements.
- Track record of financial delivery including EBITDA target ratio, efficiency savings, income and expenditure targets
- Experience of developing and producing complex business cases
- Extensive experience of leading workforce and organisational change and resolving complex employment issues.
- Proven track record of delivering measurable improvements in productivity, efficiency and quality of service
- Demonstrable experience of leading diverse, multi-disciplinary teams
- Evidence of building cohesive, motivated teams through clear objectives, effective communication and visible leadership
- Experience of managing individual performance including setting standards, addressing under performance, and developing staff to reach their full potential.
- Experience of identifying, assessing and managing operational risks across complex services and promoting a culture of learning
Desirable
- Experience of implementing digital or data driven operational improvement initiatives
- Experience of working across organisational boundaries or systems e.g. ICS, networked service models.
Education/ Qualifications
Essential
- First degree or equivalent level of experience
- Evidence of other professional development e.g. Masters degree or equivalent level of experience
- Extensive understanding of NHS operational management, performance frameworks and regulatory requirements in the acute sector
Desirable
- Formal training or certification in improvement methodology e.g. Lean, Six Sigma, QI fellowship or equivalent
Skills/Knowledge/ Abilities
Essential
- Skilled in translating complex performance and financial information into clear actions and priorities for operational teams.
- Strong financial literacy and understanding of financial management within the NHS including budget setting and cost control; cost improvement planning; business case development and investment appraisal; workforce productivity and resource utilisation.
- Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills with the ability to use data to diagnose issues, identify solutions and measure impact.
- Ability to lead teams through improvement cycles – from diagnosis and design to implementation and sustainability
- Proven ability to create an inclusive and supportive team culture that promotes collaboration, continuous improvement, accountability and wellbeing.
- Excellent influencing, negotiation, and relationship-building skills, with credibility across clinical, operational and corporate stakeholders
- High level of digital literacy, including use of performance dashboards, benchmarking tools and analytical software e.g. excel, model hospital.
- Demonstrates strong written communication skills, producing concise and compelling reports, business cases and board level papers.
- Actively listens, seeks feedback from patients and stakeholders, and adapts communication style to suit different audiences and situations.
- Shows political awareness and sensitivity, exercising sound judgement in managing contentious or high-profile issues
- Knowledge and ability to apply methodologies for improving productivity and operational performance such as: Lean, Six sigma or continuous improvement techniques; model hospital and GIFT benchmarking approaches; service line management, capacity and demand modelling and process redesign.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Deputy Divisional Director Operations with Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in London, London, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Manager and corporate role. The advertised salary is £103,102 - £117,560 pa inclusive. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 29 Jul 2026.
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