Executive Chief People Officer: Sponsorship Available

County Durham & Darlington NHS Foundation Trust

Job summary

We are looking for an experienced Director to join our
Executive Leadership Team at County Durham and Darlington NHS Foundation Trust
to lead and develop our people, culture and workforce agenda.

The Executive Chief People Officer will have a remit
in relation to being strategic leader for a range of innovative people,
workforce and organisational development strategies which will support our
improvement and culture journey.

As
the strategic lead, the Executive Chief People Officer is accountable for all
matters relating to people, culture and workforce for the Trust

Main duties of the job

The Executive Chief People Officer will have a wide
ranging portfolio across a range of People and Culture functions with the
opportunity to lead the development and implementation of the Trust’s new
People and Culture Strategy which needs to be underpinned with a programme of
transformation which reflects the opportunities for improvement that the Trust
has embarked on.

Working with the wider executive team and external
stakeholders, you will focus on building a culture of providing safe and
effective high quality care for our patients and staff at County Durham and
Darlington.

The postholder will play a leading role in working
with senior leaders and partners in transforming the Trusts approach to care,
ensuring that our people are at the heart of our new clinical strategy that we
have started to develop.

Closing date: Thursday 3rd September 2026 (0900 hours)

Interview date: Wednesday 16th September 2026

Person Specification

Experience

Essential

  • Board-level or near Board-level leadership experience in a complex NHS, health or care environment.
  • Successful track record of shaping and delivering people, culture and workforce strategy in a large, multi-site organisation.
  • Strong understanding of NHS policy, system reform, integrated care, regulatory frameworks and the productivity and transformation agenda.
  • Evidence of delivering complex organisational change with measurable benefits for staff experience, patient care, leadership capability or service performance.
  • Experience of leading cultural change, staff engagement, inclusion, wellbeing, employee relations and partnership working at scale.
  • Experience of using workforce intelligence, performance indicators and risk insight to inform Board decisions and improve services.
  • Experience of working constructively with trade unions, clinical leaders, system partners, regulators and external stakeholders.
  • Evidence of strategic innovation, sound judgement and the ability to translate ambition into delivery.

Desirable

  • Senior leadership experience in an acute and community provider.
  • Experience of delivering transformative and cultural change across organisational boundaries.
  • Knowledge of improvement methodologies and benefits realisation.

Qualifications

Essential

  • Relevant postgraduate qualification or equivalent demonstrable portfolio of senior strategic leadership experience equivalent to Masters level.
  • Chartered Fellow of the CIPD
  • Evidence of continuing professional and personal development, including Board-level leadership development.

Desirable

  • Postgraduate leadership qualification.
  • Formal improvement, organisational development or systems leadership development qualification or certification.

Additional Requirements

Essential

  • Authentic, inclusive and compassionate leader committed to collective leadership.
  • Able to role model NHS Leadership Framework behaviours and build confidence across staff, partners and the public.
  • Gravitas, credibility and resilience to operate effectively at Board level.
  • Commitment to public service, equality, staff voice and respectful workplace culture.
  • Able to travel between sites, participate in the executive on-call rota and meet Fit and Proper Person requirements.

Special Skills and Knowledge

Essential

  • Strategic thinker with the ability to connect people, culture and workforce to quality, productivity, finance and performance.
  • Compelling communicator with excellent presentation, influencing and public speaking skills.
  • Politically astute, system-minded and able to build trust across complex stakeholder groups.
  • Highly developed leadership capability, emotional intelligence and resilience under pressure.
  • Courage to challenge constructively, simplify complexity and follow through on change.
  • Able to interpret complex workforce, financial and performance data and convert insight into action.
  • Able to lead through ambiguity, balance competing priorities and maintain grip on delivery.

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: 3 September 2026

To apply for this job please visit www.jobs.nhs.uk.