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Job summary

Main area
Psychology
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 8d
Contract
Permanent
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Job share
  • Flexible working
37.5 hours per week
Job ref
395-CC434-25
Employer
NELFT NHS Foundation Trust
Employer type
NHS
Site
Phoenix House
Town
Basildon
Salary
£91,342 - £105,337 per annum pro rata plus HCAS and on call allowance
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
25/01/2026 23:59
Interview date
02/02/2026

Employer heading

NELFT NHS Foundation Trust logo

Deputy Director of Psychological Professions

NHS AfC: Band 8d

Joining #TeamNELFT means you’ll become part of a welcoming and supportive working environment. We’re CQC rated Good, and we want you to join us on the journey towards an Outstanding rating. NELFT has sites across North East London, Essex, Kent and Medway. We provide community and mental healthcare services to adults and children within these areas.

The Trust has award winning equality and diversity initiatives and staff health and wellbeing activities. We invest heavily in your development, because when you are valued and supported, we provide the best care to our patients. We are a Level 3 Disability Confident Leader, have been featured in the Working Families Top 10 Employers benchmark for five consecutive years, and we have achieved a Carers UK Level 1 Accreditation. Along with our staff networks and training opportunities, we work hard to embed a just and compassionate culture here at NELFT.

Find out more about NELFT careers and what makes our Trust a great place to work, in this video

Job overview

About the Role

We are seeking and experienced and visionary psychological professional to join NELFT as Deputy Director of Psychological Professions for Essex. This senior leadership role offers the chance to shape and oversee psychological services across the county, working as part of NELFT’s most senior psychological leadership team.

You will report to the Director of Psychological Professions and work alongside peers covering Redbridge, Havering, Waltham Forest, Barking & Dagenham, Talking Therapies, and our Acute & Rehabilitation Directorate. The role includes strategic oversight of all psychological provision in Essex, with a substantial portfolio in children’s neurodevelopmental services and mental health services. You will also be a core member of the directorate’s multidisciplinary senior leadership team.

Location: Essex
Closing Date: 25.1.26
Interview Date: 2.2.26 PLEASE ENSURE AVAILABILITY ON THIS DAY

Main duties of the job

Now is an important time to join us. NELFT is a patient and clinically led organisation, operationally enabled, and committed to delivering high-quality, inclusive care. Our vision for Psychological Professions focuses on:

  • Coproduction and partnership working
  • Trauma-informed care for service users and staff
  • Building a community of psychological professionals
  • Promoting inclusion and parity of access
  • Reducing health inequalities and addressing social injustice

We are looking for a senior psychological professional who can provide strategic leadership and drive innovation. You will have:

  • Professional registration (e.g., HCPC, BABCP, BPS)
  • Significant experience in senior leadership within psychological services including neuro developmental services
  • A track record of service development and transformation
  • Strong commitment to inclusion, coproduction, and trauma-informed care
  • Proven ability to lead and inspire multidisciplinary teams

Working for our organisation

Our Values 2025 - 2030

 

Working with our colleagues, patients and carers we have coproduced three new values that we aim to embed within our culture here at NELFT.

 

They are:

 

We are kind.

We are respectful.

We work together with our communities.

 

These three values help us to strive to provide the best care by the best people.

 

Probationary Period

This post will be subject to a probationary period. Internal applicants are exempt from the probationary period (unless you are an internal applicant currently part way through a probationary period or currently a bank member of staff).

 

High Cost Area Supplement – Fringe

This post also attracts payment for High Cost Area Supplement of 5% of the basic salary (with a minimum of £1,303 to a maximum of £2,198 per annum (pro rata for part time).

Detailed job description and main responsibilities


Key Responsibilities

  • Provide strategic leadership for psychological services across Essex
  • Oversee children’s neurodevelopmental and mental health services
  • Contribute to organisational transformation and integration of care
  • Work collaboratively within a multidisciplinary senior leadership team

Essential Requirements

  • Professional registration (e.g., HCPC, BABCP, BPS)
  • Significant senior leadership experience in psychological services
  • Expertise in neurodevelopmental and mental health services
  • Proven track record in service development and transformation

We strive to provide individualised, timely care and work with integrity, authenticity, and courage to deliver the best possible psychological support.

In recent years, NELFT has invested significantly in Psychological Professions and clinical leadership, resulting in a major transformation. This includes:

  • Creation of an Executive Director of Psychological Professions, Allied Health Professionals and Social work ensuring that psychological professions voice is heard at the highest level in the organisation
  • Creating parity in banding for psychological professionals across services
  • Embedding trauma-informed approaches for service users and staff
  • Integrating previously siloed psychological care into multidisciplinary teams
  • Developing an accountability framework through coproduction with clinical and operational colleagues

This is an exciting time to contribute to shaping the future of psychological care within NELFT.

 

Please see the attached job description and person specification for more information about this role and working at North East London NHS Foundation Trust. We encourage you to refer to this when completing your application.

We welcome your application even if you do not meet all the criteria listed in the person specification. Please apply as soon as possible as some posts close early to limit the number of applications.

 

Certificates of Sponsorship

Although we are a registered sponsor organisation, we are unable to offer sponsorship for all job roles. Please check your eligibility under the UKVI points-based system. When calculating the basic salary for sponsorship, HCAS (High-Cost Area Supplement) is not included to ensure fairness and consistency within our Trust.

 

Use of AI

Please see attached document regarding acceptable use of AI during the recruitment process.

Person specification

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Post-graduate qualification in psychology or a psychological therapy (e.g. clinical or counselling psychology, child and adolescent psychotherapy, family therapy or cognitive behavioural therapy) and appropriate professional registration

Knowledge

Essential criteria
  • Detailed and advanced knowledge of a range of evidence based therapeutic interventions and their practical application in a range of mental health therapeutic settings
  • A robust and broad understanding of national health and social care strategy and policy, in relation to developing services for secondary care
Desirable criteria
  • Knowledge of strategic planning process
  • Comprehensive knowledge of mental health policy

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Evidence of leading groups of psychological professionals working in NHS services
  • Open, participative, dynamic and supportive leadership and management style
  • Ability to build alliances and secure ownership of proposals across organisational boundaries
  • Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, featuring: breadth of outlook and political skill necessary to establish effective working relationships with staff at all levels within and outside the organisation
  • Ability to identify, define, promote, communicate and achieve clear organisational values and goals, effective management processes and rational and timely decision making
  • Ability to work in partnership with other key professionals within and outside the organisation and a partnership approach to work across agencies
  • Ability to analyse complex issues, to think and plan to achieve both tactical and strategic objectives and to exercise sound judgement in the face of conflicting pressures
  • Effective in conflict resolution and management
  • Ability to present complex information to a diverse audience
Desirable criteria
  • positive outcomes of service

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Employers for CarersApprenticeships logoAge positiveDisability confident employerHappy to Talk Flexible WorkingDefence Employer Recognition Scheme (ERS) - GoldEmployers Network for Equality & InclusionTop 10 Employer 2023

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

This post is subject to the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 (Exceptions) Order 1975 (Amendment) (England and Wales) Order 2020 and it will be necessary for a submission for Disclosure to be made to the Disclosure and Barring Service.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Rachel Hussey
Job title
Director of Psychological Professions
Email address
[email protected]
Telephone number
07976743863
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