Senior Sister/Charge Nurse - Neonatal ICU

Job overview

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced and highly motivated neonatal nurse to join our well-established senior sister/charge nurse team. We seek a neonatal nurse qualified in specialty with proven leadership qualities to work within the senior team, maintaining standards of excellence in a fast moving, dynamic and supportive environment.

You will work across the ITU, HDU and SCBU clinical areas and regularly manage the day-to-day activity of the service, demonstrate effective and safe decision-making ability and participate in all aspects of staff management.

The Neonatal Intensive Care Unit is a specialist regional intensive care unit providing specialist neonatal medical and surgical intensive care within the East of England Neonatal Operational Delivery.  It is the regional centre for specialist neonatal neurosurgery, ophthalmology and ENT surgery.

The NICU provides a full range of neonatal services for the catchment population of Cambridge and takes tertiary referrals for ill neonates from the 17 Units within the East of England and surrounding districts.

We will offer you a full and comprehensive orientation package and professional support tailored to individual needs with ongoing support from the Neonatal Clinical Education Team in order for you to achieve your full potential. You will get training and development in this friendly and dynamic organization, which seeks to innovate and strives for excellence in delivering first-class patient care.

Main duties of the job

The post holder will be responsible for being a clinical expert, providing safe and effective care to all categories of neonates.

Assess care needs, plan, implement and evaluate programmes of care.

Participate in the supervision, mentorship and appraisal of pre and post registration staff.

Regularly manage the day to day activity of the service and demonstrate effective and safe decision making ability when doing so.

Provide comprehensive leadership and management skills of nursing staff through periods of supervised practice.

Participate in all aspects of staff management.

You will be responsible for providing direct clinical care to infants requiring emergency and elective transfer.

Team working ability and leadership skills will be used to ensure safe and effective delivery of the service for staff, parents and babies according to the CUH Trust values and behaviours.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.

Due to Home Office immigration rules, a full time permanent vacancy cannot be filled by individuals on a Student visa. Therefore, please be advised that if you are a Student visa holder, we will not be able to offer you a full time permanent contract unless you have: -    applied for a Graduate visa -    or you will have successfully completed your course and have applied for a Graduate visa before the anticipated start date of your employment

For NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough based roles, all applicants from NHS Cambridgeshire and Peterborough who have identified that they are at risk of redundancy will be prioritised over those not at risk. However, interviews cannot be guaranteed.

This vacancy will close at midnight on 6 May 2026

Interviews are due to be held in the week commencing 18 May 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.