Job summary
- Main area
- Digestive Diseases
- Grade
- Band 8a
- Contract
- 12 months (Fixed Term/Secondment for 12 months)
- Hours
- Full time
- Part time
- Flexible working
- Job ref
- 180-A-CVA443
- Employer
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Addenbrookes Hospital-Division A
- Town
- Cambridge
- Salary
- £55,690 - £62,682 p.a. pro rata
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 02/03/2026 23:59
- Interview date
- 13/03/2026
Employer heading
Deputy Operations Manager
Band 8a
Job overview
We are recruiting a Deputy Operations Manager within Digestive Diseases, with a primary focus on Endoscopy services, GI cancer pathways, and supporting effective patient flow across the Directorate. This role is central to ensuring the safe, efficient and high‑quality delivery of care in these fast‑moving and high‑profile areas.
We are seeking an experienced and motivated operational manager with a background in acute hospital services. You will be confident working within complex pathways, delivering national performance standards, and balancing day‑to‑day operational demands with longer‑term service improvement.
Strong analytical, organisational and problem‑solving skills are essential, along with the ability to understand and respond to the operational and regulatory requirements of Endoscopy and cancer performance. You will work closely with clinical and managerial colleagues to improve pathways, enhance patient flow and support the delivery of key targets.
You will bring excellent interpersonal and communication skills, with the credibility to influence and collaborate at all levels. Experience in driving improvements, supporting innovation and delivering measurable outcomes will be highly valued.
There will also be opportunities to rotate across the wider Digestive Diseases Directorate, enabling you to broaden your operational experience and further develop your leadership skills across a diverse range of services.
Main duties of the job
The primary focus of this role is to deliver high‑quality operational performance across Endoscopy diagnostics and GI cancer pathways, ensuring the Directorate meets its key objectives and organisational targets.
The postholder will lead the operational management of Endoscopy services, including diagnostic capacity planning, waiting list oversight and delivery of national endoscopy standards. A key responsibility will be supporting ongoing JAG compliance, ensuring robust data quality, structured audit processes, responsive workforce planning and a consistently high‑quality patient experience.
They will also oversee operational performance across GI cancer pathways, ensuring timely patient progression, effective MDT coordination and full compliance with national cancer waiting time standards.
The postholder will contribute to service improvement initiatives focused on enhancing diagnostic efficiency, optimising pathway performance and improving patient flow. They will support performance planning, capacity modelling and work closely with multidisciplinary teams to optimise service delivery.
They will be responsible for ensuring services operate within available resources, contributing to strategic and annual business planning, and supporting governance, quality and risk management processes within their areas of responsibility.
Working for our organisation
Our Trust
Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) NHS Foundation Trust comprises Addenbrooke’s Hospital and the Rosie Hospital in Cambridge. With over 13,000 staff and over 1100 beds the priorities of the Trust focus on a quality service which is all about people – patients, staff and partners. Recognised as providing ‘outstanding’ care to our patients and rated ‘Good’ overall by the Care Quality Commissioner, is testament to the skill and dedication of the people who work here. CUH’s values – Together - Safe, Kind, Excellent – are at the heart of patient care, defining the way all staff work and behave. The Trust provides accessible high-quality healthcare for the local people of Cambridge, together with specialist services, dealing with rare or complex conditions for a regional, national and international population.
CUH is committed to promoting a diverse and inclusive community - a place where we can all be ourselves. We value our differences and fully advocate and support an inclusive working environment where every individual can fulfil their potential. We want to ensure our people are truly representative of all the communities that we serve. We welcome applications for all positions in the organisation irrespective of people’s age, disability, ethnicity, race, nationality, gender identity, sex, sexual orientation, religion or belief, marriage and civil partnership status, or pregnancy and maternity status or social economic background.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Please see the attached Applicant Information Pack (combined Job Description and Person Specification) for key duties and responsibilities.
Please note:- Internal applicants on permanent contracts can apply for this post as a secondment or fixed term contract. For secondments, you must have the approval of your line manager before applying. If you are an internal applicant currently on a fixed term contract, you are able to apply for this as a fixed term position.
This vacancy will close at midnight on the 2nd March 2026.
Interviews are due to be held on the 13th March 2026.
Benefits to you
At Cambridge University Hospitals, we want to do all we can to support good working days. We offer development opportunities and a wide range of benefits, including on-site leisure facilities, shopping concourse and day nurseries. Our good work programme currently includes providing reduced cost Stagecoach bus travel to and from Cambridge University Hospital site. Park and Ride bus journeys between Babraham Road and Trumpington sites are free, as is the route to and from Cambridge train station and our hospitals. We also subsidise the cost of parking on site for eligible staff.
On CUH campus, hot food is available 24/7 and at a reduced cost for colleagues. Recently we launched the first of our staff pod break spaces. Located in the Deakin Centre, we have a purpose-created colleague-only café, with free tea and coffee, a break space and private outside area for colleagues to rest, refuel and recharge. Just one of the ways we are working hard to support good working days at CUH.
CUH is committed to assisting employees in achieving a good work-life balance irrespective of role or personal circumstances. Flexible arrangements may include, but are not limited to, part-time working, job-share, term-time working and flexible start and finish times.
Please note if you would like to discuss the required hours of this role further, you should approach the contact given. In some cases, alternative working hours will be considered.
We welcome applications from the Armed Forces.
Person specification
Qualifications
Essential criteria
- First Degree or equivalent professional qualification.
- Recognised management qualification.
- Evidence of continuous professional development.
Desirable criteria
- Relevant postgraduate qualification in health service management.
Experience
Essential criteria
- Substantial experience of managing a clinical, social or equivalent service.
- Success in working collaboratively across professions and services.
- Demonstrable success in planning and managing change.
- Delivering service level change in clinical practices.
- Commissioning and service planning.
- Significant budgetary management experience.
- Significant experience of managing a large workforce.
Desirable criteria
- Research experience.
- Audit experience.
- Public sector.
Knowledge
Essential criteria
- Commissioning partnership working and service planning processes.
- Clinical Governance and patient safety.
- National policy development.
- Principles of lifelong learning, education and training.
- Workforce planning, recruitment and retention.
- Patient and public involvement.
- Change management and service development techniques and approaches.
Skills
Essential criteria
- Leadership and ability to motivate and empower others.
- Excellent communications skills including: I. interpersonal skills II. Liaison and negotiation skills III. Writing and presentation skills.
- Influencing clinicians and managers for service improvement.
- Budget and resource management.
- Risk Management Developing and implementing policies, guidelines and projects from initiation to completion.
- Computer literacy.
- Ability to prioritise work, meet tight deadlines and work independently.
- Positive and effective team worker.
- Need analytical skills – be able to interpret and use data effectively.
- Need to be a facilitator.
Additional Requirements
Essential criteria
- The ability to understand and behave at all times, towards patients, visitors and colleagues according to the Trust values of safe, kind, excellent.
Employer certification / accreditation badges
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Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Robert Altringham
- Job title
- Associate Operations Manager
- Email address
- [email protected]
- Telephone number
- 01223 808042
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