Head of Operations - Paddock Wood

Job Overview Are you an experienced operational leader ready to influence healthcare delivery at scale? South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is seeking an exceptional Head of Operations to provide strategic and operational leadership across a large and diverse locality. This is a highly influential senior leadership role with responsibility for leading operational performance, workforce management, financial stewardship and service transformation. Working as part of the senior leadership team, you will play a key role in shaping the future of urgent and emergency care services, ensuring patients receive safe, effective and responsive care. At SECAmb, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We provide emergency, urgent care and NHS 111 services across Kent, Surrey, Sussex and North East Hampshire, serving millions of people every year. We are committed to creating an inclusive workplace where everyone feels valued, respected and supported to succeed. Main duties of the job As Head of Operations, you will provide strategic, operational and professional leadership across a designated locality, ensuring services are delivered safely, effectively and in line with national, regulatory and organisational standards. You Will

• Lead and support operational managers and frontline teams to deliver high-quality patient care.
• Hold overall accountability for operational performance, workforce planning and financial management within the locality.
• Drive service improvement and transformation programmes, ensuring benefits are realised and embedded.
• Ensure robust governance, risk management and regulatory compliance arrangements are in place.
• Develop effective partnerships with system colleagues and external stakeholders to improve patient outcomes and service delivery.
• Lead workforce initiatives that promote engagement, wellbeing, inclusion and high performance.
• Provide leadership during periods of operational pressure, major incidents and business continuity events.
• Contribute to Trust-wide strategic objectives as a senior leader within SECAmb. The successful candidate will bring substantial experience of leading large, complex operational services, with a proven track record of delivering performance improvement, managing significant budgets, leading organisational change and developing high-performing teams. Working for our organisation
• Option to join NHS pension scheme
• A minimum 27 days' holiday each year, increasing after 5 years' service.
• Personal and professional development and training opportunities.
• Salary Sacrifice schemes for cars or push bikes.
• Access to occupational health and counselling services.
• Award winning wellbeing hub
• Access to NHS discounts, offering NHS employees a range of money-saving deals. Other than in exceptional circumstances, the starting salary for staff new to the NHS will be the bottom point of the band to which they have been appointed. Please note that the salary range noted on the vacancy is in line with agenda for change (AFC) pay scales. All successful applicants would be placed automatically at the bottom of the banding, unless proven, relevant NHS or equivalent experience can be demonstrated. Following the revision of current national legislation (Vaccine as a Condition of Deployment), the Trust has reviewed our requirements relating to staff uptake of the SARS-COV-2 (COVID-19) vaccination. Going forward, for patient facing positions, we strongly recommend that new starters will be appropriately vaccinated unless medically exempt in order to offer greater protection against exposure to the virus for front line staff. In line with this recommendation, if you are successful in your application for a front line post, we will seek information from you in relation to your vaccine status, including exemption status, as applicable. Please note, all positions come with a Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check relevant to the post. This will either be a basic, standard, or enhanced check depending on the role. The level of check will be outlined in the conditional offer letter sent to successful applicants. As part of the application process, you will be asked to declare any unspent/unfiltered convictions. If you are shortlisted you will then be sent a self declaration form, which must be completed prior to attending interview. for any queries relating to declarations, please contact the Recruitment Advisor listed on the vacancy. The Equality Act 2010 protects disabled people - including those with long term health conditions, learning disabilities and hidden disabilities such as dyslexia. If you tell us that you have a disability we can make reasonable adjustments to ensure that any selection processes - including the interview - are fair and equitable. We are a committed to offering opportunities to individuals with disabilities and offer on-going support, should you be successful, with any adjustments you may need when performing your role. When completing the application please use your name as it appears on your passport and please ensure you include email addresses and contact numbers for your referees to avoid delay in the recruitment process. Please note that under our Trust policies, we're unable to employ anyone under the age of 18 years old. The majority of our roles will include some travel between sites for business purposes. If the vacancy you're applying for includes work related travel, you will be required to ensure that you hold and have covered the cost of suitable car insurance to support this. Should you require an application form in an alternative format including large print or braille, please contact recruitment@secamb.nhs.uk stating the vacancy reference number and we will be happy to provide this. When completing the reference section, please include details to cover the last three years' history. Due to the high volume of applications at SECAmb, we regret that we will only be able to contact those applicants who are shortlisted for interview. If you have not heard from us within 10 working days of the closing date, then please assume you have not been shortlisted for interview on this particular occasion. Please note that we contact all applicants via Trac Jobs and would advise you check your Trac Jobs account regularly. Follow our recruitment on Twitter @SECAmbRecruit and check out our Facebook page - SECAmb NHS Recruitment. You can also find us on Linkedin under South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust. We understand that AI tools can be useful for generating ideas or structuring your application. However, any content submitted must reflect your own experiences, skills, and understanding. Applications that are generated wholly or in large part by AI, without personalisation or accuracy, may be excluded from consideration. We value honesty, authenticity, and integrity in the recruitment process and expect all applicants to uphold these principles. If you are a current SECAmb employee, by applying for this position, if successful you will move to the terms and conditions associated with the post. Any unsocial hours payments will be paid under the Section 2 agreement of agenda for change. Section 2 unsocial hours will need to be claimed via your monthly timesheet. More information regarding section 2 can be found in the Agenda for Change handbook and on the our dedicated Section 2 page on The Zon e.