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Job overview
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced operational leader to join North West Ambulance Service as our Service Delivery Manager for Dispatch, Planning & Coordination within the Integrated Contact Centres (ICC).
Every emergency ambulance response begins with a decision. Behind those decisions is a highly skilled team responsible for ensuring the right resource reaches the right patient, at the right time. As Service Delivery Manager, you will provide strategic and operational leadership to one of the Trust's most critical operational functions, ensuring our dispatch, planning and coordination services remain safe, effective and responsive to the changing demands of urgent and emergency care.
Working alongside the Head of Dispatch, Planning & Coordination and the wider ICC Senior Leadership Team, you will lead experienced operational managers across multiple sites, providing visible leadership, driving service improvement, and ensuring operational performance is delivered whilst maintaining an unwavering focus on patient safety and staff wellbeing.
This is a varied and rewarding leadership role where no two days are the same. You will help shape the future of Dispatch & Planning through service transformation, workforce planning, operational resilience and continuous improvement, supporting the delivery of high-quality services for the communities we serve across the North West.
Main duties of the job
As Service Delivery Manager, you will provide senior operational leadership for the Dispatch, Planning & Coordination service, ensuring the effective delivery of operational performance, workforce planning and service resilience across the Integrated Contact Centres.
Working closely with senior operational, clinical and corporate colleagues, you will use operational intelligence, performance data and system insight to identify opportunities for improvement, supporting recovery where required and helping shape future service delivery.
You will provide leadership to a team of Duty Dispatch Leads and Area Dispatch Leads developing a positive, inclusive culture where people feel supported, empowered and accountable. Alongside day-to-day operational oversight, you will contribute to strategic planning, transformation programmes and organisational change, ensuring that improvements are translated into sustainable operational practice.
The role requires an experienced leader who is comfortable making decisions within a fast-paced operational environment, balancing competing priorities while maintaining a relentless focus on patient safety, staff wellbeing and service performance.
You will also deputise for the Head of Dispatch, Planning & Coordination when required, representing the service internally and externally, building strong relationships with operational partners and supporting the continued development of one of the UK's largest Integrated Contact Centres
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
All leadership roles at NWAS are expected to promote and role model our Be Think Do philosophy. We are looking for an inspiring leader who is compassionate, inclusive and able to lead confidently through complexity, ambiguity and periods of sustained operational pressure.
Please ensure that you have read and understood the job description and person specification before applying.
Person specification
Experience
Essential
- NHS Management experience, including evidence of significant external stakeholder engagement and comprehensive CPD
- Detailed understanding of the factors affecting successful service delivery in the Urgent Care environment.
- Can demonstrate experience in remedial performance management, with evidence of implementing action plans and performance improvement
- Can demonstrate successful financial management, rigorous financial monitoring and control, and evaluating competing budgetary priorities
- Has business planning, objective setting and performance management experience and is able to formulate medium/long term and tactical plans (which contribute to strategic plans) involving uncertainty and which might impact on the Trust
- Can demonstrate experience of successfully leading and managing a team
Skills / competencies
Essential
- Can evidence innovative and strategic thinking ability
- Is credible to internal and external stakeholders
- Has strong analytic, and critical reasoning skills involving highly complex facts or situations and capable of effective analysis, interpretation and comparisons of a range of options
- Able to demonstrate the ability to provide and receive highly complex information where there are significant barriers to acceptance
- Ability to demonstrate the ability to communicate in situations where it is considered sensitive or highly contentious
- Ability to translate strategic goals into effective and achievable operational plans and capable of monitoring their progress and outcomes
- Effective and adaptable interpersonal and influencing ability including the ability to persuade others with personal conviction and facts
- Able to lead, develop and motivate team working
- Highly developed negotiating and influencing skills
- Able to make sense of complex and conflicting priorities and reach effective and speedy solutions
- Is politically astute with knowledge of local decision making and influencing bodies. Open and democratic style
- Ability to handle detail within strategic plans and make informed decisions and judgements
- Ability to assess risks, anticipate difficulties and successfully address them
- Ability to drive, facilitating travel between multiple operational sites
- Demonstrable compassionate and inclusive leadership
- Experience in the application of HR processes
- Demonstrable experience of line management responsibilities
Values and behaviours
Essential
- Working together – demonstrate collaborative and inclusive working and challenge behaviour that is not inclusive or acceptable
- Being at our best – professional and adaptable and takes pride in work
- Making a difference – act with compassion, kindness and integrity towards everyone
- The post holder must be a role model for openness and inclusion
- Encourages innovative thinking in others
- Demonstrates resilience, confidence and self-belief when under pressure
- Can demonstrate self-awareness which includes awareness of impact on others
- Ability to work under pressure and meet deadlines
- Has high personal integrity, and emotional toughness
- Demonstrates a leadership style which is visible and democratic
- Committed to promoting diversity and awareness of equal opportunities
- Required to travel extensively across the Area
- Track record of continuous professional development
- Demonstrates commitment to the values, principles of public service and health and social care in particular
Qualification and knowledge
Essential
- Educated to Degree level in a relevant subject or able to demonstrate significant operational experience in lieu of this
- Educated to Masters level / equivalent experience
- Has specific in-depth knowledge of the challenges facing health and social care gained through a mix of experience and formal training
- Can provide evidence of recent on–going personal development activity
- Has current broad knowledge of the national NHS context in respect of transforming the response to urgent patient care needs
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Applying for this NHS job
This advert is for Service Delivery Manager with North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust in Bolton, North West, England. It is listed as a Band 8 Manager and corporate role. The advertised salary is £57,528 - £64,750 per annum. The contract type is Permanent. The application deadline is 21 Jul 2026.
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