South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
Chief People Officer
The closing date is 09 March 2026
We are seeking to appoint a permanent Chief People Officerto join an ambitious, values driven and well-established board of directors who want to make a difference and deliver our aim of providing outstanding physical, mental and social care in a modern health and social care system.
The successful candidate will bring with them the capability and enthusiasm to support our ambitious vision within the context of significant change, transformation and opportunity, both within the organisation, the region and the wider NHS. The successful candidate must also be able to demonstrate experience of working in or with large, complex organisations, and an ability to engage positively and collaboratively at all levels. They will also bring strong relationship management and influencing skills, have experience of making autonomous decisions, have a passion for delivering quality and excellence, and, importantly, embrace the values of the Trust.
You must have an excellent track record of success at director or at a senior level, together with experience of partnership working across complex systems. Added to this we want an exceptional and inspirational leader with a passion for delivering high quality care, continuous improvement, and a commitment to enhancing our strong reputation.
Main duties of the job
As an executive director you will make a very significant contribution to the strategic leadership and direction of the Trust overall, whilst being responsible for providing strong professional leadership to the Trusts People Services.
Reporting directly to the Chief Executive and a key member of the Board, you will provide strategic leadership across all aspects of our People and Organisational Development agenda. You will drive workforce transformation and delivery, ensuring the Trust is future‐ready and our people are supported to deliver exceptional care.
We are aware that an increasing number of applicants are using AI technology to generate responses on NHS Job application forms. Over reliance on AI‐generated content in application forms is strongly discouraged and we will conduct a thorough screening process before selecting candidates to progress to the next stage. If you are using AI to enhance your application, please disclose this in your NHS Jobs application form.
At the time of advertising, this role does meet the minimum requirements set by UK Visas and Immigration to sponsor candidates to work in the UK. We look forward to receiving your application.
About us
We are a specialist NHS Foundation Trust that provides community, mental health and learning disability services for the people of Barnsley, Calderdale, Kirklees and Wakefield. We also provide low and medium secure services and are the lead for the west Yorkshire secure provider collaborative.
Our mission is to help people reach their potential and live well in their communities; we do this by providing high‐quality care in the right place at the right time. We employ staff in both clinical and non‐clinical services who work hard to make a difference to the lives of service users, families and carers.
We encourage and welcome applications from all protected characteristic groups, we valuediversity and want our workforce to be reflective of our communities.
Being a foundation Trust means we're accountable to our members, who can have a say in how we're run. Around 14,300 local people (including staff) are members of our Trust.
Join us and you will be one of over 4,500 staff committed to supporting and improving the mental, physical and social needs of the thousands of people we meet and help each year.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults and expect all colleagues and volunteers to share this commitment.
We do reserve to right to close vacancy before the advertised closing date if necessary, so please apply as soon as possible.
Job responsibilities
Job Summary
As a role model for the Trust's vision and values, the Chief People Officer is responsible for the design, development and implementation of the Trust's People Strategy and strategic workforce plans that support the Trust's purpose, direction and objectives.
The postholder will advise the Trust Board and Chief Executive on complex national and local employment matters, policy decisions, strategies, and targets. This will include advising and ensuring compliance with the Trust's statutory obligations as an employer and ensuring that the Trust has effective training and education structures and processes to support the delivery of safe, compassionate and modern services.
As an executive member of the unitary Trust Board and the Executive team, the postholder will be expected to support the development of an open, engaging and inclusive culture for service users and staff that encourages excellence in clinical practice, facilitates team working and multi‐disciplinary delivery of care.
The Chief People Officer also plays a crucial role as a partner in each place and integrated care system the Trust operates.
For full details of the role please see the supporting documents attached.
Key Result Areas are summarised as follows:
Executive Director Responsibilities. Providing strategic leadership at Board level, as a member of a unitary Board, ensuring effective governance, financial sustainability, and delivery of organisational objectives while maintaining accountability for all workforce, OD, and EDI matters.
Strategic HR. Leading the development and implementation of a transformative People Strategy that strengthens employee experience, workforce innovation, employer reputation, partnership working, and compliance with national standards.
Workforce Planning. Strategic oversight of comprehensive workforce planning to ensure future focused workforce models, strong talent pipelines, and alignment of workforce requirements with strategic and financial plans.
Talent Management and Succession Planning. Ensuring robust talent management, succession planning, and Board and senior leadership development programmes.
Education and Learning. Strategic oversight of the teaching, learning, and development agenda to build leadership capability, ensure high quality training for all staff, and strengthen partnerships that support future workforce needs.
Human Resource Management. Professional leadership for HR, OD and EDI functions, ensuring inclusive, evidence based policies, practices and processes, which support our organisational values and behaviours.
Organisational Development. Strategic oversight of OD plans, to enable a compassionate, inclusive and improvement focused culture.
Modern and Effective People Services. Ensuring high quality, digitally enabled People Services that use data and modern systems to drive organisational performance, workforce insights, and improved employee experience.
Employee Health and Wellbeing. Strategic oversight of a comprehensive wellbeing agenda that promotes compassionate leadership, psychologically safe teams, fair practice, and data informed actions that enhance health and wellbeing, attendance, and employee experience.
Person Specification
Qualifications
* Masters degree or further postgraduate professional qualification (or equivalent gained through experience) in a related subject.
* Evidence of continuous and proactive professional, leadership, and personal development.
* Chartered Fellow CIPD.
Personal Attributes
* Acts as a role model for NHS and Trust values.
* Acts with integrity, honesty and self-awareness.
* Visible and approachable.
* Demonstrates a commitment to continuous improvement.
* Able to travel to Trust sites as required.
Special Knowledge/Skills
* Able to successfully lead transformational change and organisational development.
* Excellent written and oral communication skills to: articulate their vision clearly and credibly; explain often complex information clearly to a range of audiences; and to successfully engage and influence stakeholders across a range of communication channels.
* Able to create and sustain effective, collaborative partnership relationships with a range of stakeholders.
* Ability to make sound judgements in the face of competing priorities and complex scenarios.
* Robust analytical skills, assimilating and using complex data to make data-driven decisions.
* Able to inspire, motivate, and lead others at all levels.
* Able to work effectively as part of unified executive team and a unitary Board.
* Able to establish and maintain professional credibility amongst peers and with key stakeholders.
* In depth knowledge and understanding of: the NHS Long Term Plan; oversight and regulatory frameworks; the NHS People Promise; and key national people issues.
* Understanding of different environments in which the Trust operates – ability to assess opportunities for innovation, revenue generation, partnership and enhanced care.
Experience
* Previous, successful senior people and organisational development leadership experience at or just below Board level in a highly complex organisation.
* Substantial senior leadership experience in a complex healthcare, public service or other public‐facing, regulated organisation.
* Proven experience of successfully leading service development or change management in a complex organisation.
* Experience in the development and delivery of transformational OD interventions.
* Proven track record of successfully building, leading and managing high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams.
* Substantial experience of effective budget management, managing significant size budgets across multiple services.
* Proven experience of successfully working in partnership both internally and with external partners and stakeholders.
* Proven experience of promoting and delivering equality, diversity and inclusion.
* Experience of successful system leadership or leadership across multiple or multi‐site organisations.
* Experience of working with partners to develop or lead shared service models.
Employer name
South West Yorkshire Partnership NHS Trust
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