Job summary
- Main area
- People and Culture
- Grade
- Band 9
- Contract
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full time - 37.5 hours per week
- Job ref
- 455-NLFT-8265078
- Employer
- North London NHS Foundation Trust
- Employer type
- NHS
- Site
- Trust Headquarters - Centro Building
- Town
- London
- Salary
- £121,528 - £138,529 per annum inclusive of HCAS
- Salary period
- Yearly
- Closing
- 15/09/2026 23:59
Employer heading
Deputy Chief People Officer
Band 9
Thank you for your interest in North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT).
As of 1 April 2026, NLFT has formally merged with Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust—marking the start of an exciting new chapter. This is a unique opportunity to join a forward-thinking organisation at a time of transformation, where we are strengthening access to mental health services, responding more effectively to complex and specialist needs, and advancing our work in education, research and innovation.
By bringing together our combined expertise, we are building a stronger, more collaborative Trust—one that delivers consistent, high-quality care and improved outcomes for the diverse communities we serve.
At the heart of our approach is The North London Way. We are committed to:
- Working collaboratively at every level, guided by our shared values
- Shaping a positive, inclusive culture where staff and service users thrive
- Empowering our teams with the skills, tools and autonomy to drive meaningful change
- Delivering excellence and continuously improving the quality of care we provide
- Embedding research, innovation and technology across our services
- Taking a trauma-informed approach in everything we do
We are proud to be an inclusive employer that values diversity. We actively welcome applicants from all backgrounds, particularly from our local communities, and are committed to creating opportunities for everyone—including apprentices, veterans and care leavers.
The North London Way to deliver: Better Mental Health, Better Lives, Better Communities.
Our trust website is: https://www.northlondonmentalhealth.nhs.uk/
As a values‑driven Trust, we recruit through our values. Our selection processes focus on behaviours, attitudes, and examples that reflect our organisational values and commitment to compassionate, high‑quality care.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is a set of technology that can perform various tasks that typically required human intelligence. Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role.
We recognise that AI tools can support accessibility, equity and confidence for applicants. However, it’s important that examples and responses genuinely reflect your own experience and abilities, as these will be explored further during the selection process. AI must not be used to provide misleading or false information during any stage of the application journey.
Further guidance can be found in the NLPSS Applicant Toolkit https://royalfree.pagetiger.com/cuuomnr/1.
North London NHS Foundation Trust is committed to ensuring that its recruitment processes are carried out with integrity, transparency, and fairness for all applicants. To help maintain these standards, we ask candidates to provide accurate and truthful information throughout the recruitment process.
If incorrect or misleading information is identified, this may affect the progression of an application, any employment offer, or continued employment. As part of our due diligence, the company may verify the information provided by applicants and take appropriate action where necessary.
We do not charge applicants any fees at any stage of the recruitment process, including applications, interviews, sponsorship arrangements, pre-employment checks, or employment offers. All vacancies are advertised through TRAC/NHS Jobs and candidates are assessed solely on their skills, qualifications, experience, and suitability for the role. If you are asked to make a payment in connection with an NHS job opportunity, please treat this as suspicious and contact the organisation directly using the details published on our official career's website.
Applicants can refer to the Fraud Act 2006 for further information: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2006/35/contents
Job overview
Join us on the North London Way
We are the North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) providing high-quality mental health care to local people across the London Boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey and Islington.
We serve diverse communities across North Central London supported by a workforce of almost 7,000 colleagues. Created through the coming together of three respected organisations, our Trust has successfully navigated a period of significant transformation and growth. We now have a unique opportunity to build something special: a shared culture that reflects who we are today and who we aspire to be tomorrow.
This is an exciting opportunity to help shape the future of a newly restructured People and Culture Directorate, designed to deliver exceptional support to our staff and enable the delivery of outstanding care. Working closely with the Chief People Officer, Executive Team and senior leaders across the Trust, you will play a key role in forging a modern, high-performing and values-led people function that places staff experience, inclusion and culture at the heart of everything we do.
As Deputy Chief People Officer, you will provide strategic leadership across a broad portfolio of workforce and organisational development responsibilities, leading significant programmes of transformation and improvement.
Main duties of the job
You will act as a trusted adviser to senior leaders, build strong partnerships with trade unions and staff networks, and support the delivery of our ambitious People Strategy and the North London Way.
This is a highly visible role offering the opportunity to influence Trust-wide priorities whilst helping to shape the next chapter of our People and Culture Directorate.
We are looking for someone who:
- Is an experienced senior People leader with a track record of delivering strategic workforce and organisational change.
- Can build credibility and influence at Board, Executive and system level.
- Is passionate about staff experience, organisational culture, inclusion and wellbeing.
- Has experience of leading large teams and delivering high-quality People services within complex organisations.
- Brings a collaborative and compassionate leadership style, with the resilience to operate in a fast-paced and evolving environment.
- Is committed to creating an inclusive workplace where all colleagues can thrive.
Working for our organisation
North London NHS Foundation Trust (NLFT) is committed to improving mental health care across North London to deliver excellent services to our local people.
Our Five-Year Strategy:
- We will provide consistently high-quality care closer to home.
- With our partners in North London and each borough we will ensure equity of outcome for all
- We will offer great places to work, providing staff with supportive environment to deliver outstanding care.
- We will be more effective as an organisation by pioneering research, quality improvement and technology.
Why NLFT?
- We develop and retain our staff through leadership behaviours and managers programme and many more opportunities.
- We promote flexible working and support staff with a range of health and wellbeing initiatives.
- NHS Discounts, generous annual leave and NHS pension scheme
- Excellent internal staff network
The post holder will be aligned with our values:
- We Are Kind
- We Are Respectful
- We Work Together
- We Keep Things Simple
- We Empower
- We Are Proudly Diverse
In order to meet the needs of the Trust you may be required from time to time to work at different locations to your normal place of work. This may mean that you are required to work at any location that fall under Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Haringey or Islington. The Trust reserves the right to require staff to work at such other places or locations as it considers reasonable and necessary on a temporary or permanent basis.
Detailed job description and main responsibilities
Why Join Us?
This is a rare opportunity to:
- Help design and embed a newly restructured People and Culture Directorate.
- Work at the heart of a large, innovative and ambitious NHS Trust at a unique moment in time
- Lead major people and culture transformation programmes.
- Make a tangible difference to the experience of thousands of colleagues and the communities they serve.
- Develop your leadership experience whilst working alongside an experienced and supportive Executive Team.
If you are an ambitious, values-driven leader who wants to help shape the future of people, culture and organisational development in one of the NHS's most exciting organisations, we would love to hear from you.
Join us and help create a workplace where our people can be at their best, so they can deliver their best for our service users and communities – the North London Way.
Interviews are to be held week commencing 5th October 2026
Person specification
Qualifications/ Registrations
Essential criteria
- Chartered Member CIPD (Chartered MCIPD) or equivalent
- Master’s degree in HR, Employment Law, Business, Public Administration, Organisational Development, or related field or equivalent senior level experience
- Evidence of ongoing CPD
Desirable criteria
- Chartered Fellow CIPD (Chartered FCIPD) or equivalent.
- Employment law qualification
- Mediation, coaching, or OD related training
Skills/ Abilities
Essential criteria
- Able to take difficult and challenging decisions that support strategic aims and long-term vision
- Lead a large team successfully and build staff capacity and capability
- Ability to maintain personal resilience and exhibit high levels of emotional intelligence
- Examples of positive use of disruptive innovation to deliver sustainable change
Experience/ Knowledge
Essential criteria
- • Senior HR leadership in a large and complex organisation
- • Experience of providing strategic and technical HR&OD advice to the NHS or comparable organisations
- • Track record of delivery at Director/Senior management level, including exposure at Board
- • Track record of delivering large scale change and knowledge of quality improvement methodologies and evidence
- • Experience of large budget management
- • Tactical understanding of employment law issues NHS policy and regulatory frameworks
- • People systems procurement experience e.g. rostering
- • Knowledge of digital transformation and sustainability in health services.
Personal Qualities
Essential criteria
- • A commitment to the highest ethical and professional standards, the values of public service and the NHS and the core values and behaviours of the Trust.
- • Excellent communication skills both verbal and written and the ability to represent the Trust in front of staff, patients, the public and the media.
- • A high degree of self-awareness of own emotions, the impact on the emotions and behaviours of others and being sensitive to the needs, values and beliefs of others in personal interactions.
- • Show caring and well-informed management of our most important resource, our staff, including proper involvement, support, personal development and sensible delegation
Documents to download
Further details / informal visits contact
- Name
- Reena Bass
- Job title
- PA to Chief People Officer
- Email address
- [email protected]
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