Job summary
An exciting opportunity has arisen to join London Ambulance Service NHS Trust as a Deputy Divisional Director of Operations within the Trust Operations Directorate. As a newly created post, this is an opportunity to shape divisional operational leadership.

This senior leadership role has delegated accountability for the safe, effective, efficient and sustainable delivery of emergency and urgent care services across the Division. Reporting to the Divisional Director of Operations, you will lead operational performance, workforce delivery, service improvement, financial management, quality and productivity, ensuring the Division can meet current and future patient demand.

Working closely with operational, clinical and corporate colleagues, you will drive improvements in patient outcomes, operational resilience, workforce performance, productivity and patient flow. You will lead the development and delivery of divisional business plans, workforce plans and transformation programmes, whilst providing visible and compassionate leadership across a large and complex operational workforce.

The successful candidate will be an experienced senior operational leader with a proven track record of delivering performance improvement, managing large multidisciplinary teams and leading organisational change in a complex environment.

Priority consideration will be given to eligible redeployment candidates in accordance with the Trust's Redeployment Policy.

Main duties of the job

• Deputise for the Divisional Director across the full range of divisional responsibilities.
• Lead the delivery of operational, workforce, quality, financial and performance objectives across the Division.
• Develop and implement divisional business plans, workforce plans and productivity programmes.
• Hold senior managers accountable for agreed standards, plans and outcomes.
• Drive continuous improvement using data, operational intelligence and performance metrics.
• Lead workforce planning, recruitment, staff engagement, organisational development and succession planning activities.
• Work collaboratively with NHS providers and urgent care partners to improve patient pathways, reduce hospital handover delays and enhance operational resilience.

About us
London Ambulance Service is the busiest ambulance service in the UK and one of the busiest in the world. Every day our staff provide urgent and emergency care to millions of Londoners.

Our values of Caring, Respect and Teamwork underpin everything we do. This role offers an exceptional opportunity to influence operational delivery across one of the most complex healthcare systems in the country and play a key role in shaping the future of emergency and urgent care services in London.

We are committed to improving the diversity of our senior leadership workforce and creating an inclusive environment where everyone can thrive. We particularly welcome applications from candidates from groups that are currently under-represented at senior leadership levels within the Trust.

Job responsibilities
Essential Criteria

• Educated to Master's level or equivalent experience.
• Significant senior operational leadership experience within the NHS, ambulance sector, emergency services or a similarly complex environment.
• Proven experience of delivering operational improvement and transformation.
• Experience leading large multidisciplinary teams through organisational change.
• Strong understanding of performance management, workforce planning, governance and patient safety.
• Experience managing significant budgets and resources.
• Exceptional communication, leadership and stakeholder engagement skills.
• Experience of developing high-performing teams and leading through others.
• Ability to analyse complex information and make decisions in highly pressured environments.
• Ability to participate in the Trust's strategic on-call rota and undertake Gold Command responsibilities.

Desirable Criteria

• Experience within ambulance services, urgent and emergency care, or a 24/7 operational environment.
• Senior leadership qualification or evidence of significant leadership development.
• Experience working across Integrated Care Systems and with NHS partners.
• Experience leading large-scale service redesign and transformation programmes.
• Knowledge of emergency preparedness, resilience and response arrangements.

Additional Information
This post requires a highly visible and inclusive leader who can build strong relationships across operational, clinical and corporate services, deliver sustained performance improvement, and support the Trust's ambition to provide outstanding urgent and emergency care for Londoners.

Person Specification
Qualifications, Accreditations, Education
Essential

• A recognised ambulance clinical response qualification and evidence of ongoing professional development relevant to the clinical grade or commitment to achieving this within 12 months.
• Educated to masters level in healthcare leadership, operational management, urgent and emergency care or another relevant discipline, with evidence of further advanced specialist development, or equivalent advanced theoretical and practical knowledge acquired through substantial postgraduate development and senior strategic experience.
• Evidence of senior leadership development (e.g. NHS Leadership Academy programmes or equivalent).
• Advanced theoretical and practical knowledge across ambulance operations, urgent and emergency care systems, strategic planning, performance management, workforce planning, financial management and large-scale service transformation.
• Detailed knowledge of the national, regulatory and system context governing ambulance operations, patient flow and urgent and emergency care.

Experience
Essential

• Substantial senior leadership experience with accountability for a large, complex, high-risk and continuously operating emergency or urgent care service.
• Extensive experience of leading large operational services through senior and middle managers, with accountability for performance, workforce, finance, quality and resource deployment.
• A sustained record of delivering national and local performance standards and leading formal recovery where services have been off plan.
• Experience of leading strategic workforce planning, forecasting, establishment planning, deployment and abstraction control within a demand-led 24/7 service.
• Experience of leading large-scale service improvement, transformation, rota redesign or organisational change and delivering measurable benefits.

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.

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.

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.