Job summary
Director of Operations - Band 9, 1 WTE (Full Time), up to 6 months Secondment Opportunity
Are you ready to make a real difference at a pivotal time for healthcare in Devon? We are seeking an inspiring Interim Director of Operations to provide dynamic strategic and operational leadership across Devon. In this high-impact role, you will oversee the System Operations Centre, Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response (EPRR), Urgent and Emergency Care (UEC), and Elective Performance, ensuring our commissionedservices remain effective, resilient, and centred around patient needs.You will be at the forefront of shaping innovative approaches to service delivery, particularly as we meet the challenges of winter and drive forward key operational priorities. This is a fantastic opportunity to join a passionate, forward-thinking team where your leadership will directly influence the quality of care for our communities. Priorities will be agreed with you on appointment, giving you the chance to help set the agenda and leave your mark on the future of healthcare in Devon.As Interim Director of Operations, you will play a crucial part in developing a system-wide strategy, championing solutions and innovation. Your focus will be on delivering high-quality, cost-effective care through strategic planning, commissioningand robust evaluation of outcomes.
Main duties of the job
You will lead efforts to shift the focus from acute to community-based care, prioritise prevention, harness digital solutions, and tackle health inequalities ensuring improvements in population health and service efficiency.
To excel in this role, you will bring substantial senior leadership experience within health and care, with a proven ability to drive innovation and reform. You will be skilled at building effective relationships, influencing stakeholders, and leading teams in complex and dynamic environments. Political acumen, sound judgement, and the confidence to make autonomous decisions on challenging and complex issues are essential.
We understand the importance of flexibility and work-life balance, which is why we offer hybrid work arrangements for this role. You'll have the opportunity to work remotely for part of the week, while spending the other part in our welcoming office at Aperture House, Exeter. This approach allows you to collaborate in person with your team, while also providing the flexibility to manage your work in a way that suits you and the role.
If you are seeking a unique opportunity to make a significant impact, please do get in touch. For an informal conversation about the role, please contact Libby Ryan-Davies, Chief Strategic Commissioning, Strategy and Planning Officer via l.ryan-davies@nhs.net
About us
NHS Devon Integrated Care System
As an Integrated Care System (ICS), we recognise now more than ever that we can only provide the care that people really need by working together. Together for Devon therefore represents a partnership where health and care services work together with local communities to improve peoples health, wellbeing and care. It aims to transform health and care services so they are clinically, socially and financially sustainable.
Our vision is simple: equal chances for everyone in Devon to lead long, happy and healthy lives. To achieve this, we have set out six ambitions for the next five years that will help us transform services including: Effective and efficient care, embedding the Integrated Care Model, the Devon deal (a citizen-led approach to health and care), Children and young people, Digital Devon and ensuring Equality.
About NHS Devon
As part of the Devon ICS, NHS Devon Integrated Care Board is responsible for the majority of county's NHS budget, and develops a plan to improve peoples health, deliver high-quality care and better value for money. The organisation is led by a diverse board, with an aim to improve peoples lives in Devon wherever they live, to reduce health inequalities and make sure we can deliver these services for the long term.
For more information, visit our website www.onedevon.org.uk
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the attached Job description and person specification for full details of the role and responsibilities
Eligibility to Work in the UK Important Information
NHS Devon does not currently hold a sponsorship license to support visa applications. We have been able to successfully meet our recruitment needs without the requirement for visa sponsorship. As such, we are only able to consider applications from candidates who already have the appropriate legal right to work in the UK at the time of application. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce and welcome applications from all qualified individuals who meet this requirement. Thank you for your understanding.
- Where the post is a temporary position there may be a possibility of the post becoming permanent.
- Vacancies may close early if a high volume of applications are received.
Job description
Job responsibilities
Please see the attached Job description and person specification for full details of the role and responsibilities
Eligibility to Work in the UK Important Information
NHS Devon does not currently hold a sponsorship license to support visa applications. We have been able to successfully meet our recruitment needs without the requirement for visa sponsorship. As such, we are only able to consider applications from candidates who already have the appropriate legal right to work in the UK at the time of application. We are committed to fostering an inclusive and diverse workforce and welcome applications from all qualified individuals who meet this requirement. Thank you for your understanding.
- Where the post is a temporary position there may be a possibility of the post becoming permanent.
- Vacancies may close early if a high volume of applications are received.
Person Specification
Qualifications and training
Essential
- Educated to masters' level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
- Significant evidence of continued professional development.
Knowledge and skills
Essential
- Demonstrated expertise in a Healthcare environment.
- Commissioning expertise in healthcare environment to include commissioning.
- Awareness of relevant public and private sector business management best practice.
- Dynamic personality and the ability to build trusted stakeholder relationships and wide support networks in a political context.
- Strong external communications skills in a politically sensitive environment and experience in handling media.
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
- Ability to analyse highly complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
- Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making
- Ability to analyse numerical and written data, assess options and draw appropriate initiatives.
- Leadership, vision, strategic thinking and planning with highly developed political skills.
- Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
- Ability to provide informative reporting on finances and impact to Board management
- Ability to delegate effectively.
- Ability to work effectively between strategic and operational activities where required.
- Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.
- Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues.
Experience
Essential
- Proven and significant leadership experience in strategically transforming services in commissioning at an equivalent level.
- Significant management experience at senior level in the NHS or other public healthcare related industry.
- Proven Board level experience of leading and delivering complex change and strategy development programmes in a politically sensitive and complex environment.
- Proven record in transferring processes and roles between locations.
- Significant experience and understanding of proven implementation of project management methodologies.
- Experience and/or understanding of the local Health Economy.
- Extensive experience of delivering presentations to large groups of stakeholders in often pressured and politically sensitive environments.
- Experience of successfully operating in and delivering priorities in a partnership environment.
- Experience of managing and prioritising a large budget.
- Experience of using project and programme management techniques
- Experience in leading a major change initiative with entrepreneurialism in a challenging organisational environment.
- Experience of creating a new team and motivating and inspiring staff to work together to achieve a common objective.
Person Specification
Qualifications and training
Essential
- Educated to masters' level in relevant subject or equivalent level of experience of working at a similar level in specialist area.
- Significant evidence of continued professional development.
Knowledge and skills
Essential
- Demonstrated expertise in a Healthcare environment.
- Commissioning expertise in healthcare environment to include commissioning.
- Awareness of relevant public and private sector business management best practice.
- Dynamic personality and the ability to build trusted stakeholder relationships and wide support networks in a political context.
- Strong external communications skills in a politically sensitive environment and experience in handling media.
- Ability to prepare and produce concise yet insightful communications for dissemination to senior stakeholders and a broad range of stakeholders as required.
- Ability to analyse highly complex issues where material is conflicting and drawn from multiple sources.
- Demonstrated capability to act upon incomplete information, using experience to make inferences and decision making
- Ability to analyse numerical and written data, assess options and draw appropriate initiatives.
- Leadership, vision, strategic thinking and planning with highly developed political skills.
- Demonstrated capability to plan over short, medium and long-term timeframes and adjust plans and resource requirements accordingly.
- Ability to provide informative reporting on finances and impact to Board management
- Ability to delegate effectively.
- Ability to work effectively between strategic and operational activities where required.
- Demonstrated capabilities to manage own workload and make informed decisions in the absence of required information, working to tight and often changing timescales.
- Ability to make decisions autonomously, when required, on difficult issues.
Experience
Essential
- Proven and significant leadership experience in strategically transforming services in commissioning at an equivalent level.
- Significant management experience at senior level in the NHS or other public healthcare related industry.
- Proven Board level experience of leading and delivering complex change and strategy development programmes in a politically sensitive and complex environment.
- Proven record in transferring processes and roles between locations.
- Significant experience and understanding of proven implementation of project management methodologies.
- Experience and/or understanding of the local Health Economy.
- Extensive experience of delivering presentations to large groups of stakeholders in often pressured and politically sensitive environments.
- Experience of successfully operating in and delivering priorities in a partnership environment.
- Experience of managing and prioritising a large budget.
- Experience of using project and programme management techniques
- Experience in leading a major change initiative with entrepreneurialism in a challenging organisational environment.
- Experience of creating a new team and motivating and inspiring staff to work together to achieve a common objective.
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.
