Director of Midwifery

Job summary

Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking an exceptional and visionary Director of Midwifery to help lead the transformation of services and shape the future of our maternity care. This pivotal senior leadership role is crucial to delivering safe, compassionate, and outstanding care for women, babies, and families across our hospital sites. As the most senior midwife in the Trust, you will provide strategic, clinical, and professional leadership across a complex and diverse service. You will work closely with the Chief Nurse, Medical Director, and wider senior teams to drive continuous improvement, innovation, and excellence in care. Your role will be key in championing the voice of midwifery and ensuring alignment with national standards, quality indicators, safeguarding priorities, and workforce development. You will be a visible and inspirational leader, shaping maternity services to meet the needs of our large and varied population, and supporting over 22,000 dedicated staff committed. Closing date 4th August 2026 Interviews will be held : 20th August 2026

Main duties of the job

The Director of Midwifery provides professional leadership to Midwives across the Trust to support the delivery of safe, effective and compassionate midwifery care. They are a key member of the Chief Nurse team and one of the key posts supporting the Chief Nurse portfolio. The Director of Midwifery will support the Chief Nurse in the translation of emerging national policy into Trust policy, guidance and practice and the continued development and implementation of the Trusts Nursing and Midwifery Strategy.

About us

The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust is committed to delivering the highest quality and safest treatment and care to every patient, every time. Our vision is to provide the highest quality specialist and integrated care. We will do this through delivery of our multi-year goals and strategic priorities, which you can read about on this page. Central to it all is The Leeds Way our values and behaviours that are at the heart of everything we do.

Details

• Date posted: 21 July 2026
• Pay scheme: Agenda for change
• Band: Band 9
• Salary: £112,782 to £129,783 a year
• Contract: Permanent
• Working pattern: Full-time
• Reference number: 001640
• Job locations: St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, West Yorkshire, LS9 7TF, United Kingdom

Job responsibilities

Why you should join our Team

The Director of Midwifery will professionally support the Head of Midwifery and maternity services to ensure that the required national and Trust nursing and midwifery policies and clinical practice standards are in place and that the Corporate Nursing team support and enable their delivery within the CSU’s through working in partnership with the Heads of Nursing.

The Director of Midwifery will work in partnership with the Deputy Chief Nurse and the Directors of Nursing to ensure that where nursing and midwifery practice standards fall short of required standards appropriate plans and support are in place to secure improvement. Furthermore, they will provide support in the daily management of the hospital with a particular emphasis on midwifery activities.

The role involves working in partnership with other organisations across the ICS and the post holder will develop and maintain a network of mutually beneficial relationships with the Local Maternity System (LMS), the Maternity Voices Partnership (MVP), and Public Health England, the Regional Chief Midwife, the Royal Colleges and other key stakeholders. This is with the aim of taking forward national policies for women and translating them into innovations and improvements in care for the women and babies’ of our local population. The post holder will develop a long term strategic vision that enables high quality and sustainable services contributing to the provision of high quality care, improved outcomes and improved family experiences.

What you will bring to the role

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the improvement priorities for midwifery services
• Lead the strategic and operational delivery of high-quality maternity and care
• Foster a culture of safety, personalised care, and continuous improvement
• Collaborate across senior leadership and clinical teams to embed best practice and innovation
• Provide expert midwifery advice and leadership to the Trust and Care Groups
• Champion workforce development and staff wellbeing within midwifery teams

What we offer:

• The opportunity to lead transformative change in a nationally recognized Trust
• A supportive and collaborative senior leadership environment
• The chance to make a real difference to the health and wellbeing of women and families across Leeds.

If you are a passionate and experienced midwifery leader with a clear vision for service excellence, we want to hear from you.

Please see the attached job description for further information about this vacancy.

About Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust

Our Trust values

The Leeds Way is working together to support each other and deliver the best possible care to patients.

We are….

Responsible Open and Honest One Team Kind

Our Trust priorities

Our purpose: Excellent, safe and sustainable care for every patient every time

Our priorities:

People Improvement and Innovation Partnerships Outcomes

To comply with UK Government regulations on Skilled Worker sponsorship, Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust is unable to provide sponsorship to applicants who do not meet the eligibility criteria or the salary threshold concessions set out under the Skilled Worker visa route. Please take this into consideration before submitting your application. Full guidance on these concessions, including details of who may qualify, can be found here.

We reserve the right to close this advert early if we receive a high number of suitable applications.