Director of Women and Children’s Strategic Programme: Sponsorship Available

Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust

Job summary

Lead the delivery of the largest healthcare infrastructure investment in Cornwall’s history.

This is not just another programme leadership role.

Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust is seeking an exceptional and visionary leader to lead the delivery of a transformational £400m+ New Women and Children’s Hospital Programme that will reshape healthcare for generations to come.

As Director of the Women and Children’s Strategic Programme, you will take executive-level responsibility for one of the most significant capital and service transformation programmes in the NHS. Part of the first wave of hospitals to be built under the national New Hospitals Programme, you will lead the planning, development and delivery of a new state-of-the-art Women and Children’s Hospital while driving the redesign of services, patient pathways and models of care across Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly.

This is a rare opportunity to leave a lasting legacy.

The programme represents the largest single infrastructure investment in Cornwall’s history and is recognised as being of both regional and national significance, attracting oversight from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care and the New Hospital Programme.

Main duties of the job

Why this role is different……you will not simply manage a construction project.

You will:

Shape the future of Women and Children’s healthcare for an entire population.

Lead a nationally significant NHS transformation programme.

Influence strategic decisions at Trust Board, regional and national level.

Direct complex business case development, commercial strategies and programme governance.

Work with political leaders, clinical leaders, regulators, national bodies and local communities.

Lead the delivery of a modern, sustainable, digitally enabled healthcare campus designed for future generations.

We are looking for a leader who:

Has successfully delivered major programmes, ideally exceeding £150m.

Can unite clinicians, executives, system partners and national stakeholders around a common vision.

Thrives in complex, high-profile environments where strategic thinking and decisive leadership are essential.

Combines commercial acumen, programme expertise and outstanding stakeholder management skills.

Wants to make a genuine difference through creating better healthcare environments and outcomes for patients and families.

The successful candidate will operate with significant autonomy, leading a diverse team of professionals and managing major strategic, financial, reputational and clinical risks while maintaining momentum through a highly complex national assurance and delivery process.

Person Specification

Knowledge and Experience

Essential

  • Demonstrable experience directly leading and accountable for multi-faceted programmes of work, at a scale of £100m+.
  • Experience leading Board level or national assurance processes.
  • Experience working and communicating effectively at Board level within a public sector organisation.
  • Experience operating with strategic autonomy in a complex public sector environment.
  • Proven multi-disciplinary experiences within programmes delivering design, major construction, refurbishment, delivery and handover of infrastructure and the built environment, to a high quality, on time and to budget.
  • Demonstrable experience of leading multiple professional teams.
  • Ability to evidence successful completion and delivery of high value multi-facet programmes
  • Demonstrable experience of HM Treasury business case development for major capital projects.
  • Demonstrable experience of delivery of savings and managing external contracts and external contractors.
  • Management of significant capital budgets exceeding £100m
  • Track record of leading complex organisational change
  • Demonstrable experience of working with key stakeholder groups internal and external to an organisation e.g. Patient Groups, clinical stakeholders, Council of Governors
  • Understanding of public sector corporate governance and assurance requirements.
  • A thorough proven knowledge of the context and application of standard forms of construction contract (e.g. NEC, JCT, etc.).
  • Proficiency in change control and knowledge management
  • Proven knowledge and understanding of the Public Procurement Regulations
  • Specialist proven knowledge and demonstrable experience of NHS construction procurement processes including traditional, P21+, Procure 22, LIFT, etc
  • Detailed proven knowledge and understanding of Health and Safety legislations and requirements of working within a built environment, including knowledge and experience of Construction Design
  • Understanding risk and risk management systems.
  • Detailed proven knowledge and demonstrable experience of Microsoft Office and other project management software.

Desirable

  • Demonstrable experience directly leading and accountable for multi-faceted programmes of work, at a scale of £250m+.
  • Demonstrable experience leading and accountable for multi-faceted programmes of work, at a scale of £100m+ within an NHS setting.
  • Demonstrable experience of HM Treasury business case development for major capital projects within the NHS.
  • Understanding of the working of an acute NHS Hospital Trust
  • Management of significant capital budgets exceeding £250m.
  • Demonstrable experience of interpreting Department of Health policies and technical memorandum
  • Significant experience of managing a full range of in-house FM services including Estates, Capital Planning, Facilities Management, and Property Management.
  • Proven knowledge and demonstrable experience of NHS procedures, standards and governance requirements
  • Experience of working on a major hospital development programme and the production of the associated business cases.
  • Experience of using ProCure23 (P23) framework for the development and delivery of NHS Capital schemes.
  • A detailed proven knowledge and application of NHS technical documents (HTNs, HBNs, etc.), British Standards, regulations, legislation, and best practice guidance.

Qualifications

Essential

  • Master’s degree in management, project management, programme Management, Construction, or Estates related discipline
  • Membership of an appropriate professional body (e.g. Association of Project Managers, Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Institute of Healthcare Engineering and Estate Management).
  • Chartered status within a recognised body (see examples above).
  • Proven evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD).
  • Qualifications and professional standing sufficient to command credibility at Board, regional and national level

Desirable

  • Post Graduate management or project management qualification.
  • Leadership development.
  • Better Business Case Practitioner

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).

Closing Date: 19 October 2026

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