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Job requirements
Requirements from the employer’s person specification. These describe the role, not your personal match.
Essential
29 listedRequirements the employer expects applicants to meet.
- Skills
Excellent written and verbal skills.
- Skills
Confident and able to establish credibility quickly at all levels of the organisation including senior and Trust Board level.
- Skills
Ability to use communications packages and ability to change at short notice, ensuring modern technology is utilised appropriately.
- Skills
Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful comms for dissemination to broad range of stakeholders as required.
- Skills
Able to influence and interact with a diverse customer group.
- Skills
Ability to promote quality of opportunity and good working relations (providing practical leadership).
- Skills
Ability to manage multi-agency, multi-disciplinary project teams.
- Skills
Ability to analyse very complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
- Knowledge
Evidence of solid understanding of patient confidentiality and relevant aspects of libel law, Freedom of Information Act, Equality Act and Data Protection.
- Knowledge
Understanding of public sector and awareness of the relevant social and political environments and impact on the health economy.
- Knowledge
Knowledge and understanding of the law and national guidance as it relates to the duty of health bodies to engage with and consult patients and the public with respect to significant service changes.
- Experience
An all-round communications professional with proven track record in planning and delivering successful communications campaigns.
- Experience
Significant recent experience of successfully operating in politically sensitive environment.
- Experience
Significant experience of leading public engagement and consultation exercises.
- Experience
Experience of a broad range of communications and engagement disciplines including internal communications, media management, stakeholder management, campaign development and evaluation, use of social media and public relations.
- Experience
Substantial experience of media relations and profile raising on a national level.
- Experience
Experience of managing the reputations of organisations.
- Experience
Experience of drafting briefing papers and correspondence at senior level.
- Experience
Experience of co-ordinating projects in very complex and challenging environments.
- Experience
Experience of dealing with conflict and working across large or cross-organisational teams to achieve desired outcomes.
- Experience
Experience of managing own workload and making informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.
- Experience
Experience of line management/supervisory responsibilities.
- Experience
Experience of creating and giving presentations.
- Experience
Experience of managing within a budget, making adjustments as required.
- Qualifications
Educated to masters level and/or equivalent level of skills or experience plus training and/or experience in the communications field to degree-level equivalent.
- Qualifications
Evidence of continuous professional development.
- Additional Requirements
Determined and self-motivated.
- Additional Requirements
Able to travel across the region and potentially wider as required to role.
- Additional Requirements
Able to participate in the on-call rota and be flexible with hours potentially at short notice.
Desirable
5 listedAdditional qualities the employer would prefer.
- Experience
Experience of managing and reporting risks.
- Experience
Experience working in a healthcare / NHS / public sector environment.
- Experience
Experience of leading communications strategies for major capital projects on the public sector.
- Experience
Previous NHS experience.
- Qualifications
Either an under-graduate or post-graduate qualification in journalism, marketing, public relations or related field.
Job overview
This role will lead the delivery of an ambitious communications programme for Cambridge Children’s Hospital, aligned to CUH’s major building, modernisation and service development programme.
You will provide expert and strategic communications and engagement advice and leadership to the delivery boards of Cambridge Children’s Hospital. This will be achieved through developing strategies for communications and and leading their delivery across our wide range of building programmes.
Main duties of the job
You will be accountable for ensuring the smooth and timely delivery of internal, external and communications priorities in line with the agreed strategy for Cambridge Children’s Hospital.
You will collaborate across the multiple parties involved in our projects and work closely with our commissioners, who have overall responsibility for consulting on service change. This will involve the development, planning, co-ordination, delivery and evaluation of operational activity, ensuring highly effective communication channels are established and ensuring work is completed within deadlines.
You will manage a team of communications and engagement professionals across CUH and CPFT (the two NHS partners on the project) and line-manage a communications and engagement manager. You will be the first point of contact for any questions about Cambridge Children’s Hospital communication from either our internal, external (including media) and other stakeholder audiences.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.
Please note:- Internal applicants on permanent contracts can apply for this post as a secondment or fixed term contract. For secondments you must have the approval of your line manager before applying. If you are an internal applicant currently on a fixed term contract you are able to apply for this as a fixed term position.
All roles in the Trust include a mandatory 12-week training period. Therefore, successful candidates are expected to have the Right to Work for a period of at least 6 months from the proposed start date. Immigration and Right to Work status will be discussed with successful candidates at conditional offer. CUH will not offer sponsorship to candidates that have applied for a fee waiver.
All appointments with a start date on or after 1 October will be subject to a 12-week probationary period. This provides a structured and supportive period to help you settle into your role, with regular reviews and feedback.
This vacancy will close at midnight on 29th September 2026.
Interviews are due to be held on 14th October 2026.
Benefits to you
At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.
On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.
CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.
Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.
We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Head of Communications – Cambridge Children’s Hospital with Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Cambridge, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Administrative and IT role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 p.a. pro rata. The contract type is Secondment: 12 months (Maternity Cover). The application deadline is 29 Sep 2026.
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