Lead Nurse- Neonatology: Sponsorship Available

Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust

Job summary

Are you an experienced and inspiring nurse leader ready to shape the future of neonatal care? We are seeking a Band 8b Lead Nurse to lead our neonatal services across two sites: the Level 2 unit at St Mary’s Hospital (SMH) and the Level 3 unit at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital (QCCH).

This is a unique opportunity to make a lasting difference to babies, families and teams while delivering safe, high-quality and family-centred care.

We are looking for a credible, compassionate leader with substantial leadership experience. Neonatal expertise is welcomed, but experience gained in high-dependency or other acute clinical settings may also be highly transferable.

You will join a supportive, ambitious and high-performing Directorate where your ideas, expertise and leadership will have real influence. With responsibility across two distinct neonatal units, you will enjoy a varied and rewarding portfolio, work alongside committed multidisciplinary teams and help shape improvements for babies, families and staff. This role will suit a collaborative leader who is energised by challenge, values innovation and wants to make a visible difference.

Main duties of the job

  • Provide a visible, credible and authoritative nursing leadership presence across both sites
  • Champion responsive, compassionate and consistently high-quality neonatal care aligned with national and Trust priorities
  • Shape service development, quality improvement and workforce planning across the neonatal pathway
  • Create an inclusive culture that supports staff engagement, wellbeing, retention and professional development
  • Provide strong oversight of clinical governance, service performance, financial management and operational efficiency
  • Work in partnership with the senior triumvirate to deliver strategic priorities and Trust-wide nursing and midwifery ambitions
  • Lead neonatal governance and support the effective delivery of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)

Person Specification

Education

Essential

  • RN or RSCN
  • Educated to degree level in relevant subject area
  • Relevant management experience

Desirable

  • Master’s degree in a relevant subject area
  • Management course/qualification

Experience

Essential

  • Experience of working within Neonatology
  • Leading and developing a team
  • Budget management
  • Quality assurance
  • Change management

Desirable

  • Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
  • Experience of change management/implementation of practice change
  • Participated in nurse research

Skills

Essential

  • Knowledge of quality, standard setting and audit
  • Organisation and management skills
  • Organisation and management skills
  • Ability to work effectively under pressure

Desirable

  • Involvement in committees external to the Trust
  • Presented at national conferences

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 November 2026

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