Director of Midwifery: Sponsorship Available

Medway NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

Director of Midwifery

Division: Corporate Nursing and Maternity / divisional maternity services

Band: NHS AfC Band 9

Salary: £112,782 – £119,583 per annum/pro rata

Interview date: Friday, 6th November 2026*

*Please note, if selected for interview, you will also be asked to attend a stakeholder panel on the day of the interview.

Main duties of the job

The Director of Midwifery is the Trust’s most senior registered midwife and providesindependent, authoritative professional leadership for midwifery and the maternity andneonatal pathway, working jointly with the Divisional Director of Nursing for Children andYoung People. Reporting directly to the Chief Nursing Officer, the post holder is accountablefor advising the Board and Executive team on safety, quality, experience, equity, workforce,professional standards and strategic development across hospital, community and systemsettings.

Working as an equal member of the perinatal quadrumvirate with the Divisional Medical Director, Divisional Director of Operations and Divisional Director of Nursing for Children and Young People, or designated senior neonatal leader, the post holder will work with the Chief Nursing Officer to set the strategic direction for integrated maternity and neonatal improvement. They will provide strategic professional leadership and assurance for midwifery services across the Trust and influence the wider system so that women, babies and families, receive safe, personalised, compassionate and equitable care and concerns raised by families and staff are heard, acted upon and never obscured by hierarchy, reputation or operational pressure.

Person Specification

Qualifications

Essential

  • Registered Midwife with current NMC registration and no restriction incompatible with the role.
  • Evidence of substantial continuing professional development and advanced leadership development.

Knowledge

Essential

  • Expert contemporary knowledge of midwifery practice, integrated maternity and neonatal pathways, neonatal quality and safety, transitional care, perinatal optimisation, professional standards and evidence-based care.
  • Expert knowledge of maternity quality governance, perinatal surveillance, PSIRF, Duty of Candour, PMRT, MBRRACE-UK and incident learning
  • Detailed understanding of Ockenden, Kirkup, the Amos investigation, CQC maternity learning and current national maternity policy
  • Expert knowledge of safe staffing, establishment review, acuity, e-rostering, workforce planning across organisational boundaries, education and professional standards
  • Knowledge of equality, racial and socioeconomic disparities, cultural safety, personalised care and co-production with women and families

Experience

Essential

  • Substantial experience as a Director, Deputy Director, Head of Midwifery or equivalent senior midwifery leader in a complex acute and community maternity service
  • Proven track record of improving maternity safety, outcomes, experience, governance and culture at significant scale
  • Experience providing direct professional advice and candid assurance to Executives, Board committees, regulators and commissioners
  • Experience leading safe staffing, establishment review, recruitment, retention, education and professional workforce transformation
  • Experience leading CQC, NHS England, MIS/CNST or equivalent regulatory and external assurance processes

Skills

Essential

  • Provides credible, independent professional advice and speaks truthfully about risk under Executive, Board, regulatory and public scrutiny
  • Exceptional strategic, analytical and systems-thinking skills, able to identify signals, unwarranted variation and interdependencies in complex and conflicting information across organisational boundaries
  • Outstanding written communication, including Board assurance, strategy, regulatory responses and public-facing information
  • Advanced influencing, negotiation, conflictresolution and political skills, including respectful challenge across professional hierarchies
  • Strong financial, workforce, programme and performance-management capability.

Values

Essential

  • Demonstrates compassion, integrity, openness, humility, fairness, inclusion and an unwavering commitment to women, babies and families
  • Challenges racism, discrimination, bullying, incivility and exclusion and demonstrates culturally safe leadership
  • Promotes multidisciplinary teamwork, fair accountability, learning and continuous improvement

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: 1 November 2026

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