Chief Operating Officer

Job overview

Chief Operating Officer Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust

Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust (GOSH) is seeking an exceptional Chief Operating Officer to join its Executive Team and lead excellence in operational delivery at one of the world's leading centres for babies, children and young people with rare, complex and difficult-to-treat conditions.

As Chief Operating Officer, you will be a Board-level Executive Director and the senior accountable officer for the delivery, performance and productivity of GOSH's services. Reporting to the Chief Executive, Karl Munslow Ong, and working in close partnership with the Chief Medical Officer and Chief Nurse and your executive colleagues, you will be a convening, partnering leader, influencing every part of GOSH: NHS services, research, private and international care, education and corporate teams. You will be Senior Responsible Officer for the cancer transformation programme, Lead Director for Emergency Planning Resilience and Response, and Senior Information Risk Owner for the Trust.

This is a role for a leader who builds capability, followership and energy. As GOSH develops a more distributed model of leadership, you will grow the leadership capacity of our care groups, devolve real decision-making, and create the conditions in which operational and clinical leaders take accountability for improvement themselves.

Main duties of the job

You will put in place a performance framework that informs and empowers rather than simply polices, and you will bring an outward, horizon-scanning perspective and a curiosity around innovation and adaptation, anticipating how shifts in demand, technology, workforce and the wider system will shape children's healthcare, and positioning GOSH to meet that future rather than react to it.

You will also help navigate a genuine tension: a growing national emphasis on community-based care that does not always align neatly with GOSH's role as a specialist tertiary children's hospital.

We are looking for an accomplished, credible and values-led operational leader with significant senior management experience in an NHS Trust, and a track record of leading improvement and change in operational health services of real complexity, through cross-organisational working, under pressure. You will bring demonstrable success in developing clinical operations leadership teams, and the ability to sustain improvement through periods of significant disruption, such as a major capital project. You will combine strong operational grip and a determination to deliver the best possible services for patients with a nuanced leadership style that flexes to circumstance, and you will lead through influence, partnership and collaboration with world-class colleagues, in clinical specialties and across the organisation.

Working for our organisation

GOSH is committed to recruiting the best person for the job, based solely on their ability and individual merit as measured against the criteria for the role; through a process that is fair, open, consistent and free from bias and discrimination.

We are committed to being a diverse and inclusive employer and foster a culture where all staff are valued, respected and acknowledged. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, colour, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, age, disability status or length of time spent unemployed.

We particularly welcome applications from BAME communities, people with disabilities and/or long-term health conditions and LGBT+ community members.

We have policies and procedures in place to ensure that all applicants and employees are treated fairly and consistently. We are proud to be accredited as a Disability Confident Employer, a member of Business Disability Forum and a Stonewall Diversity Champion.

We have active and Executive supported BAME, LGBT+ and Allies, Disability and Long-Term Health Conditions and Women's staff networks. Staff networks are employee-led groups formed around interests, issues and a common bond or background. Staff network members create a positive and inclusive work environment at Great Ormond Street Hospital by actively contributing to the Trust's mission, values and efforts specific to inclusion. All of our staff networks are open to any employee.

Person specification

GOSH Culture and Values

Essential criteria

• Our values | Collaboration| Curiosity | Respect
• Demonstrable commitment to, and evidence of, promoting and championing equality, diversity and inclusion, supported by tangible examples of impact
• Demonstrates and promotes accountability and integrity, and leads by example

Additional employer information

Please be advised that:

The recruitment process for all admin and clerical roles at Bands 2-4 will be a two stage recruitment process whereby shortlisted candidates will undertake an online literacy, numeracy, ICT and typing test. Only those candidates who pass the competency test will proceed to a formal interview.

The closing date given is a guide only. There may be some occasions where we have to close a vacancy once sufficient applications have been received. It is therefore advisable that you submit your application as early as possible to avoid disappointment.

Only those candidates who clearly demonstrate how they meet the person specification criteria for this post will be shortlisted. Please note that where high volumes of applicants have been received, additional criteria may on occasion be used to determine the final shortlist.

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).

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer.

Applicant requirements

The postholder will have regular contact with vulnerable people and as such this post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and as such it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service to check for any previous criminal convictions.

Documents to download

• Job Description and person specification (PDF, 634.0KB)
• Staff Benefits Leaflet (PDF, 108.2KB)
• Our GOSH Values (PDF, 516.8KB)