Associate Director Psychological Professions – Acute Care Group: Sponsorship Available

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

This is an exciting opportunity to shape the future of psychological leadership within Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH). We are strengthening the voice of psychological professions across the organisation and this new role will play a pivotal part in that vision. As Associate Director for Psychological Services within the Acute Care Group you will join a team of associate directors and hold collective responsibility for that group. The Acute Care Group encompasses three key service clusters: 1) Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC) 2) Adult Acute Psychiatric Inpatient Wards and Psychiatric Intensive Care Units 3) Later Life Psychiatric Inpatient Services. TheAcute Care Groupsits alongside three other care groups within GMMH, namely theCommunity Care Group,Specialist Care Groupand theHealth and Justice Forensic Mental Health and Recovery Care Group.

Main duties of the job

The postholder will be responsible for professional psychological practice and quality within the care group, ensuring excellence in service delivery, staff wellbeing, patient experience and outcomes.

The post holder will provide professional leadership and line management for senior psychological practitioners within the care group and act as a motivator and expert resource. They will work closely with the Care Group Leadership team and the Director for Psychological Professions (CPPO). They will be part of a collaborative and compassion focussed leadership team, taking a trauma responsive approach to delivering services. They will enable and support the pooling, development, sharing and retention of psychological knowledge and skills, strategic planning for psychological professions, professional and clinical governance and a clear identity for psychology within the care group. The post holder will facilitate co-ordination of supervision and training placements and support recruitment, professional self-regulation and continuing professional development. It is expected that the post-holder will also provide some focused clinical input to Bolton Home Based Treatment Team and act as Lead Psychological Professional for UEC as part of their job plan.They may be asked to deputise for the CPPO as appropriate.

Person Specification

Qualifications & experience

Essential

  • Qualified to doctorate level or equivalent
  • Registered professional HCPC or equivalent
  • Experience of acute care services
  • Professional Leadership experience

Desirable

  • Research experience
  • Experience managing others & of related processes (e.g. HR, recruitment)

Knowledge & skills

Essential

  • Training and experience supervising others
  • Demonstrated ability to with with clinical complexity with individuals, teams and services, in all aspects of the role of a psychologist (assessment, formulation, intervention, consultation)
  • Experience leading psychological or multi-professional services at a senior, strategic level within an NHS Trust or healthcare environment.
  • Experience of leading and implementing strategic change or service transformation projects

Desirable

  • Experience using data to develop strategy and improve services
  • Experience in managing budgets, workforce planning, recruitment, and retention

Personal

Desirable

  • Personal experience of mental health difficulties
  • Demonstrating values which are relevant for this role

Disclosure and Barring Service Check

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act (Exceptions Order) 1975 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service (formerly known as CRB) to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Certificate of Sponsorship

Applications from job seekers who require current Skilled worker sponsorship to work in the UK are welcome and will be considered alongside all other applications. For further information visit the UK Visas and Immigration website (Opens in a new tab).

From 6 April 2017, skilled worker applicants, applying for entry clearance into the UK, have had to present a criminal record certificate from each country they have resided continuously or cumulatively for 12 months or more in the past 10 years. Adult dependants (over 18 years old) are also subject to this requirement. Guidance can be found here Criminal records checks for overseas applicants (Opens in a new tab).

UK Registration

Applicants must have current UK professional registration. For further information please see
NHS Careers website (opens in a new window).

Closing Date: 19 August 2026

To apply for this job please visit apps.trac.jobs.