Job summary
We are seeking a values-led, compassionate, and capable senior lead with a demonstrable commitment to improving and supporting mental health, learning disabilities, and autism services. The successful candidate will deliver high-quality, robust programmes, drive strategy, and manage relationships at all organisational levels. This role is pivotal in championing partnership working, particularly with the VCSE sector, and ensuring effective collaboration to deliver outstanding mental health services across North West London. The postholder will have contact with a wide range of stakeholders, including service users, carers, local authorities, and voluntary sector partners.
Main duties of the job
The Senior Community Partnership Lead plays a pivotal role in driving strategic delivery and fostering strong, collaborative relationships with a wide range of partners, particularly within the VCSE sector. The postholder leads on the engagement and management of the mental health VCSE contract portfolio, ensuring that all partnership work aligns with divisional and Trust priorities,. This involves proactively building and maintaining relationships with community partners, championing co-production, and embedding community collaboration into all aspects of service transformation. The role requires identifying gaps in provision, influencing commissioners, and ensuring that the impact and outcomes of VCSE contracts are clearly demonstrated and aligned with population health needs.
In addition, the postholder is responsible for leading the end-to-end procurement process for VCSE contracts, working closely with procurement, contracts, and finance teams to ensure robust governance, value for money, and quality outcomes. They oversee contract management, monitoring, and reporting, addressing any underperformance and ensuring that all contracts operate within agreed budgets.
Ultimately, the Senior Community Partnership Lead is expected to provide clear leadership, represent the Trust externally, and ensure that partnership working delivers tangible improvements in mental health services across the community
About us
This is a senior lead position within the Jameson Strategy, Transformation, and Partnerships team, working across the Jameson and Goodall Divisions.
Our Vision:Wellbeing for life: We work in partnership with all who use our services to improve health and wellbeing. Together, we look at ways of improving an individual's quality of life through high-quality healthcare and personal support.
Our Values:
- Compassion: Led by compassion and care.
- Respect: Valuing diversity and creating an inclusive environment.
- Empowerment: Involving and empowering patients, service users, carers, and staff.
- Partnership: Working closely with partners for the best outcomes.
CNWL is committed to providing quality services tailored to individual needs, delivered close to home. We value our employees, offering clear roles, personal development, and a supportive environment free from discrimination.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please review the attached Job description for more detail about the role.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic Delivery, Engagement, and Relationship Building - Lead partnership working and third sector engagement, informed by population health data and community collaboration.
- Build relationships with VCSE partners and influence the development of community partnerships.
- Scope existing community assets and identify gaps in provision, raising these with commissioners and funders and building cases for investment.
- Monitor performance of external providers, addressing underperformance through escalation and improvement processes.
- Ensure robust governance for partnership working, supporting shared learning and responsibility for care pathways.
- Research and share good practice in third sector partnerships and support peer support workforce development.
Contracts, Procurement, and Budgetary Planning
- Lead procurement for the VCSE portfolio, ensuring compliance with NHS regulations.
- Oversee contract management, monitoring, and reporting for VCSE contracts.
- Ensure governance structures for contract and procurement issues.
- Deliver value for money, quality, and safety from VCSE contracts.
- Maintain cost and budget plans, supporting funding proposals for commissioning VCSE and other partners.
Managerial Responsibility
- Act as a senior team lead, providing leadership, supervision, and performance management.
- Manage staff and external support to achieve deliverables.
- Make decisions to meet tight and changing timescales.
- Control and manage budgets in accordance with Trust policy.
Personal and Organisational Expectations
- Maintain the highest standards of care and service.
- Follow national and local codes of practice and maintain professional registration where required.
- Protect confidentiality and keep accurate records.
- Ensure compliance with health and safety standards and attend mandatory training.
- Safeguard and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
- Support equality, value diversity, and respect human rights.
- Engage in decisions affecting services and contribute to service improvement
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please review the attached Job description for more detail about the role.
Main Duties and Responsibilities
Strategic Delivery, Engagement, and Relationship Building - Lead partnership working and third sector engagement, informed by population health data and community collaboration.
- Build relationships with VCSE partners and influence the development of community partnerships.
- Scope existing community assets and identify gaps in provision, raising these with commissioners and funders and building cases for investment.
- Monitor performance of external providers, addressing underperformance through escalation and improvement processes.
- Ensure robust governance for partnership working, supporting shared learning and responsibility for care pathways.
- Research and share good practice in third sector partnerships and support peer support workforce development.
Contracts, Procurement, and Budgetary Planning
- Lead procurement for the VCSE portfolio, ensuring compliance with NHS regulations.
- Oversee contract management, monitoring, and reporting for VCSE contracts.
- Ensure governance structures for contract and procurement issues.
- Deliver value for money, quality, and safety from VCSE contracts.
- Maintain cost and budget plans, supporting funding proposals for commissioning VCSE and other partners.
Managerial Responsibility
- Act as a senior team lead, providing leadership, supervision, and performance management.
- Manage staff and external support to achieve deliverables.
- Make decisions to meet tight and changing timescales.
- Control and manage budgets in accordance with Trust policy.
Personal and Organisational Expectations
- Maintain the highest standards of care and service.
- Follow national and local codes of practice and maintain professional registration where required.
- Protect confidentiality and keep accurate records.
- Ensure compliance with health and safety standards and attend mandatory training.
- Safeguard and promote the welfare of children and vulnerable adults.
- Support equality, value diversity, and respect human rights.
- Engage in decisions affecting services and contribute to service improvement
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or equivalent relevant experience
- Masters or Post Graduate degree in management or equivalent years of demonstrable experience in a relevant programme management role
Desirable
- Programme Management qualification
- Procurement or Commissioning Qualification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of team management, facilitating supervision, appraisal and personal development.
- Experience of leading NHS procurement processes and commissioning in healthcare
- Experience of leading contract and performance management and setting up supporting governance and oversight structures
- Experience of delivering services in partnership with/as a VCSE organisation
- Experience of and commitment to co-production
- Experience of working across multi-organisational boundaries and with a wide range of professional groups at a senior level.
Desirable
- Experience of using population insights to inform contract acquisition and delivery
- Experience of commissioning in healthcare
- Experience of working in/with mental health services
- Experience of successfully managing programmes of work/projects
- Experience of delivering training and presentations
Knowledge
Essential
- A strong understanding of NHS procurement regulations and processes
- A strong understanding of contract and performance management
- A strong understanding of the ambition of the NHS 10-year Plan for mental health care and implication for service transformation and delivery
- A good understanding of the changing NHS environment at national and local levels
- Expert knowledge of partnerships, community engagement and successfully influencing change
- A strong understanding of budget management
- Expert knowledge of managing complex communication and engagement across multiple channels in a dispersed organisation
- Strong stakeholder engagement experience, including developing engagement plans, running stakeholder groups and incorporating feedback into the service delivery process.
Desirable
- Knowledge of population health insights to inform contract and procurement requirements and deliverables
- Knowledge and understanding of community collaboration approach, personal recovery, social inclusion and peer support and their application to service delivery
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Ability to mentor, team build and prioritise
- Experience and knowledge to plan over short term, medium and long term timeframes
- Ability to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information, and present sensitive information to large groups.
- Ability to develop strategy from scratch, and ability to design problem solving solutions
- Ability to build a credible reputation amongst, senior management teams, clinical staff and peers
- Ability to develop and maintain communication with people about difficult matters and/or in difficult situations, varying language and style as appropriate
- Ability to have challenging conversations with external partners regarding underperformance, and to negotiate and implement improvement plans
Desirable
- Excellent excel, data analytics and basic modelling skills
Personal disposition
Essential
- Ability to make difficult decisions working to tight and often changing timescales
- Ability to travel across the CNWL geographical area
Person Specification
Qualifications
Essential
- Degree or equivalent relevant experience
- Masters or Post Graduate degree in management or equivalent years of demonstrable experience in a relevant programme management role
Desirable
- Programme Management qualification
- Procurement or Commissioning Qualification
Experience
Essential
- Experience of team management, facilitating supervision, appraisal and personal development.
- Experience of leading NHS procurement processes and commissioning in healthcare
- Experience of leading contract and performance management and setting up supporting governance and oversight structures
- Experience of delivering services in partnership with/as a VCSE organisation
- Experience of and commitment to co-production
- Experience of working across multi-organisational boundaries and with a wide range of professional groups at a senior level.
Desirable
- Experience of using population insights to inform contract acquisition and delivery
- Experience of commissioning in healthcare
- Experience of working in/with mental health services
- Experience of successfully managing programmes of work/projects
- Experience of delivering training and presentations
Knowledge
Essential
- A strong understanding of NHS procurement regulations and processes
- A strong understanding of contract and performance management
- A strong understanding of the ambition of the NHS 10-year Plan for mental health care and implication for service transformation and delivery
- A good understanding of the changing NHS environment at national and local levels
- Expert knowledge of partnerships, community engagement and successfully influencing change
- A strong understanding of budget management
- Expert knowledge of managing complex communication and engagement across multiple channels in a dispersed organisation
- Strong stakeholder engagement experience, including developing engagement plans, running stakeholder groups and incorporating feedback into the service delivery process.
Desirable
- Knowledge of population health insights to inform contract and procurement requirements and deliverables
- Knowledge and understanding of community collaboration approach, personal recovery, social inclusion and peer support and their application to service delivery
Skills and Abilities
Essential
- Ability to mentor, team build and prioritise
- Experience and knowledge to plan over short term, medium and long term timeframes
- Ability to provide and receive highly complex, sensitive or contentious information, and present sensitive information to large groups.
- Ability to develop strategy from scratch, and ability to design problem solving solutions
- Ability to build a credible reputation amongst, senior management teams, clinical staff and peers
- Ability to develop and maintain communication with people about difficult matters and/or in difficult situations, varying language and style as appropriate
- Ability to have challenging conversations with external partners regarding underperformance, and to negotiate and implement improvement plans
Desirable
- Excellent excel, data analytics and basic modelling skills
Personal disposition
Essential
- Ability to make difficult decisions working to tight and often changing timescales
- Ability to travel across the CNWL geographical area
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.
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).
Additional information
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.
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).
