Job summary
We are seeking an experienced and dynamic Operations Assurance Director to provide strategic leadership across our organisation, ensuring the effective, efficient, and high-quality delivery of health and care services.
This pivotal role will be central to fostering a culture of trust, collaboration, and accountability within the operational division. You will ensure that day-to-day performance standards are consistently achieved while leading transformation and improvement programmes that align with our strategic priorities. Working closely with colleagues, partners, and system stakeholders, you will translate strategic ambition into tangible operational excellence.
As Operations Assurance Director, you will oversee the coordination and provision of safe, high-quality clinical services across all areas, ensuring capacity aligns with demand 24/7 and that all contractual, regulatory, and performance requirements are met within budget. You will also play a key role in maintaining financial sustainability, driving complex change, and embedding a patient-centred culture across the organisation.
This role offers an outstanding opportunity to shape the strategic and operational future of integrated health and care delivery within a progressive, values-led organisation. You will be part of an Executive Team that champions innovation, collaboration, and service excellence, ensuring that every decision made enhances patient care and community wellbeing.
Main duties of the job
- Provide strategic and operational leadership across all service areas to ensure the delivery of safe, effective, and high-quality care.
- Oversee operational performance, governance, and quality assurance frameworks to maintain compliance and consistency across all services.
- Drive transformation, innovation, and improvement initiatives that enhance outcomes and align with organisational strategy.
- Lead capacity and demand planning, ensuring services operate efficiently and responsively 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
- Collaborate with internal and external partners, including system stakeholders, the Executive Team, and Non-Executive Directors, to deliver integrated, patient-focused services.
- Ensure sound financial management and the effective use of resources to achieve best value and sustainable performance.
- Promote a culture of accountability, learning, and continuous improvement across all operational teams.
About us
At HUC, we're proud to invest in our people by offering a wide range of exciting benefits that support your personal, professional, and financial wellbeing:
Exclusive Discounts: Unlock savings on shopping, travel, and more, through our Discount Hub, Blue Light Card, Tickets for Good, and more. From everyday essentials to special experiences.
NHS Pension Scheme: Secure your future with the NHS Pension, offering peace of mind and long-term financial benefits for all our staff.
Wellbeing Support: Your health matters! Enjoy access to counselling services, personalised health plans, meditation guides, energising fitness routines, and delicious recipes to keep you thriving every day.
Recognition and Rewards: Your hard work won't go unnoticed! Celebrate your achievements with peer shout-outs, special awards, and exclusive event vouchers that show how much we appreciate you.
Financial Perks:Take the stress out of money matters with free financial advice, a healthcare cash plan to cover everyday expenses, and smart savings options through our Credit Union.
Career Growth: Build the future you deserve with our My Academy training programs, exciting internal vacancies, and regular updates to keep you in the loop with HUC news and opportunities.
Office Comforts: Stay refreshed with unlimited tea and coffee, enjoy the ease of free parking, and recharge in our dedicated relaxation areas. Plus, join in on engaging team events that make every workday more enjoyable!
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information about this role, please see our attached candidate brief which contains more details.
Job description
Job responsibilities
For further information about this role, please see our attached candidate brief which contains more details.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Degree Level Education- typically in healthcare management, business administration, operational management or a related field
Desirable
- Master's degree - in health services management, MBA or equivalent
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Demonstrated experience of managing a range of complex integrated clinical services operating 24/7 at a senior level and with proven experience of complex decision making.
- Evidence of significant experience in operational management of services
- Proven track record of implementing a culture of high performance and high quality throughout all services with visible accountability at levels
- Proven successful history of innovation, talent development and performance improvement, generating a 'can do' approach with proactive approach to performance and quality
- Track record of successfully leading new service mobilisations, ensuring budget, solution and timescales are all delivered as per agreed specification
- Effective management of professional colleagues from a range of healthcare backgrounds
- Established capability in budget management, cost controls and departmental transformation to generate efficiencies
- Substantiated experience with working with the NHS, and wider health sector at a senior level with experience of developing and maintaining partnerships within the political landscape
- Ability to successfully deal with a wide range of challenging demands, timescales and diversity of challenges
- Demonstrable commitment to, and understanding of, equity, equality, diversity & inclusion.
- Evidence of delivering strong and challenging departmental objectives to drive change, improvement, and transformation
- Able to collaborate constructively with internal and external partners to create conditions for successful system working approach
Desirable
- Experience in the successful delivery of NHS 111, primary care and urgent care services
- Mobilisation of new, complex services in very tight timescales and budgets
- Practical experience of project management processes and systems
- Experience in supporting and contributing to strong integrated governance, learning and improvement
- Ability to demonstrate understanding and behaviours associated with HUC values
- Experience of large-scale change management and service redesign projects
- Experience of NHS procurement processes and responding to development opportunities
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Strong leadership and motivation skills, acting with integrity whilst valuing diversity; ideally an individual working at a senior level with experience gained within both the NHS, commercial and not- for-profit healthcare sectors.
- Skills, capability and demonstrate experience is managing complex service change, service transformation, care pathway development and implementation of new and innovative models of care.
- A natural influencer, good communicator / presenter with proven negotiation skills, comfortable debater with sound business and technical reasoning plus commercial awareness with the ability to anticipate alternative scenarios and prepare according
- Ability to display a sound and comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of many stakeholders, collaborating with colleagues at all levels and building successful trusted working relationships internally and externally
- A problem solver who provides solutions that make a difference with the ability to evaluate complex decision-making processes and ensure outcomes are clearly understood and acted upon
- Strong use of data to understand problems, find solutions and evaluate success
- IT literate with proven use of Office 365 products
- Personally driven by high performance results by constantly measuring and evaluating the organisation's impact in achieving its KPIs and strategy.
- Proven track record in implementing and delivering on strategic projects working to tight deadlines
- A role model in maintaining the highest integrity and credibility, particularly gaining and / or has good senior knowledge of the healthcare sector Interested in the use of technology to improve the efficiency of services, patient experience and sustainability the trust and confidence of the senior leadership team
- Flexibility to adapt ensuring achievement of objectives within constantly changing situations and environments
- Strong sense of personal and team accountability, with a clear understanding of the boundaries relating to delegated authority
Desirable
- Display resilience, courage and curiosity Service performance management, transformation and change
- Evidence of experience in A natural influencer, good communicator / presenter with proven negotiation skills, comfortable debater with sound business and technical reasoning plus commercial awareness with the ability to anticipate alternative scenarios and prepare according. Ability to display a sound and comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of many stakeholders, collaborating with colleagues at all levels and building successful trusted working relationships internally and externally. A problem solver who provides solutions that make a difference with the ability to evaluate complex decision-making processes and ensure outcomes are clearly understood and acted upon. Strong use of data to understand problems, find solutions and evaluate success IT literate with proven use of Office 365 products Personally driven by high performance results by constantly measuring and evaluating the organisation's impact in achieving its KPIs and strategy. Proven track record in implementing and delivering on strategic projects working to tight deadlines. A role model in maintaining the highest integrity and credibility, particularly gaining and / or has good senior knowledge of the healthcare sector
- nterested in the use of technology to improve the efficiency of services, patient experience and sustainability
Other
Essential
- Full valid UK driving licence with access to a car or willing to use public transport where appropriate.
- Flexible to travel to other sites across the HUC geographical footprint.
Person Specification
Education and Qualifications
Essential
- Degree Level Education- typically in healthcare management, business administration, operational management or a related field
Desirable
- Master's degree - in health services management, MBA or equivalent
Knowledge and Experience
Essential
- Demonstrated experience of managing a range of complex integrated clinical services operating 24/7 at a senior level and with proven experience of complex decision making.
- Evidence of significant experience in operational management of services
- Proven track record of implementing a culture of high performance and high quality throughout all services with visible accountability at levels
- Proven successful history of innovation, talent development and performance improvement, generating a 'can do' approach with proactive approach to performance and quality
- Track record of successfully leading new service mobilisations, ensuring budget, solution and timescales are all delivered as per agreed specification
- Effective management of professional colleagues from a range of healthcare backgrounds
- Established capability in budget management, cost controls and departmental transformation to generate efficiencies
- Substantiated experience with working with the NHS, and wider health sector at a senior level with experience of developing and maintaining partnerships within the political landscape
- Ability to successfully deal with a wide range of challenging demands, timescales and diversity of challenges
- Demonstrable commitment to, and understanding of, equity, equality, diversity & inclusion.
- Evidence of delivering strong and challenging departmental objectives to drive change, improvement, and transformation
- Able to collaborate constructively with internal and external partners to create conditions for successful system working approach
Desirable
- Experience in the successful delivery of NHS 111, primary care and urgent care services
- Mobilisation of new, complex services in very tight timescales and budgets
- Practical experience of project management processes and systems
- Experience in supporting and contributing to strong integrated governance, learning and improvement
- Ability to demonstrate understanding and behaviours associated with HUC values
- Experience of large-scale change management and service redesign projects
- Experience of NHS procurement processes and responding to development opportunities
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Strong leadership and motivation skills, acting with integrity whilst valuing diversity; ideally an individual working at a senior level with experience gained within both the NHS, commercial and not- for-profit healthcare sectors.
- Skills, capability and demonstrate experience is managing complex service change, service transformation, care pathway development and implementation of new and innovative models of care.
- A natural influencer, good communicator / presenter with proven negotiation skills, comfortable debater with sound business and technical reasoning plus commercial awareness with the ability to anticipate alternative scenarios and prepare according
- Ability to display a sound and comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of many stakeholders, collaborating with colleagues at all levels and building successful trusted working relationships internally and externally
- A problem solver who provides solutions that make a difference with the ability to evaluate complex decision-making processes and ensure outcomes are clearly understood and acted upon
- Strong use of data to understand problems, find solutions and evaluate success
- IT literate with proven use of Office 365 products
- Personally driven by high performance results by constantly measuring and evaluating the organisation's impact in achieving its KPIs and strategy.
- Proven track record in implementing and delivering on strategic projects working to tight deadlines
- A role model in maintaining the highest integrity and credibility, particularly gaining and / or has good senior knowledge of the healthcare sector Interested in the use of technology to improve the efficiency of services, patient experience and sustainability the trust and confidence of the senior leadership team
- Flexibility to adapt ensuring achievement of objectives within constantly changing situations and environments
- Strong sense of personal and team accountability, with a clear understanding of the boundaries relating to delegated authority
Desirable
- Display resilience, courage and curiosity Service performance management, transformation and change
- Evidence of experience in A natural influencer, good communicator / presenter with proven negotiation skills, comfortable debater with sound business and technical reasoning plus commercial awareness with the ability to anticipate alternative scenarios and prepare according. Ability to display a sound and comprehensive understanding of the complex needs of many stakeholders, collaborating with colleagues at all levels and building successful trusted working relationships internally and externally. A problem solver who provides solutions that make a difference with the ability to evaluate complex decision-making processes and ensure outcomes are clearly understood and acted upon. Strong use of data to understand problems, find solutions and evaluate success IT literate with proven use of Office 365 products Personally driven by high performance results by constantly measuring and evaluating the organisation's impact in achieving its KPIs and strategy. Proven track record in implementing and delivering on strategic projects working to tight deadlines. A role model in maintaining the highest integrity and credibility, particularly gaining and / or has good senior knowledge of the healthcare sector
- nterested in the use of technology to improve the efficiency of services, patient experience and sustainability
Other
Essential
- Full valid UK driving licence with access to a car or willing to use public transport where appropriate.
- Flexible to travel to other sites across the HUC geographical footprint.
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.
