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Job summary

Main area
Deputy Chief Midwifery Officer
Grade
NHS AfC: Band 9
Contract
Secondment: 14 months (until 31 October 2026)
Hours
  • Full time
  • Part time
  • Home or remote working
37.5 hours per week (Part time will be considered)
Job ref
990-NUR-16046-E
Employer
NHS England
Employer type
NHS
Site
Wellington House
Town
London
Salary
£113,557 - £129,443 per annum (inclusive of London Weighting)
Salary period
Yearly
Closing
16/07/2025 23:59

Employer heading

NHS England logo

Deputy Chief Midwifery Officer

NHS AfC: Band 9

Our Organisation

The NHS is building a culture that is positive, compassionate and inclusive – and we all have our part to play.

As employers we are committed to protecting and promoting the physical and mental health and wellbeing of all our colleagues. This underpins our values as set out in the NHS Constitution and supports us to be an Employer of Choice, while helping our colleagues to deliver high quality services for our patients and communities.

As a flexible employer, we want to support you to work in a way that is best for the NHS, our patients and you. Talk to us about how we might be able to accommodate a flexible working arrangement whether that’s a job share, part time, hybrid working or another flexible pattern. In addition, although the role advertised may have a ‘home’ office base indicated, we remain committed to supporting flexibility around workplace locations. If it works for the service, we will do our best to make it work for you.

We are an accredited Living Wage Employer which means that every colleague working for our organisation and third-party contractors will earn a real Living Wage.  We are one of over 15,000 organisations, who voluntarily chose to pay the real Living Wage.

Job overview

This is an exciting opportunity to join the national team as Deputy Chief Midwifery Officer for England.

You will work with the Chief Midwifery Officer for England, her wider team, the Maternity and Neonatal programme team, Department of Health and Social Care and Specialised Commissioning colleagues providing strategic leadership and professional guidance across all areas of maternity care and policy. Coupled with your clinical expertise and knowledge, you’ll use your experience and skills to build excellent relationships with stakeholders across the health system to develop midwifery leadership to support a culture of safety, compassion and equity in maternity services and to realise the ambitions outlined in the Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services.

We are focussed on collaborative, multi-disciplinary and compassionate working to deliver sustainable improvements across maternity and neonatal services.

Main duties of the job

As the Deputy Chief Midwifery Officer for England, the post holder will support the Chief Midwifery Officer to provide strategic leadership and professional guidance nationally, working with key stakeholders across the health system to ensure that the NHS ambitions are realised through the commissioning and provision of safe and effective maternity services.

Key responsibilities include: 

  • Providing strategic professional midwifery leadership and expert guidance on the commissioning and provision of safer, and more equitable maternity services. 
  • Clinical leadership of the strategy and delivery of the Maternity and Neonatal Programme (MNP), and the 10 year plan for health.  
  • Supporting the development, growth and value of the midwifery workforce, including leadership capacity and capability across the NHS in England.  

Working for our organisation

The NHS England board have set out the top-level purpose for the new organisation to lead the NHS in England to deliver high-quality services for all, which will inform the detailed design work and we will achieve this purpose by:

  • Enabling local systems and providers to improve the health of their people and patients and reduce health inequalities.
  • Making the NHS a great place to work, where our people can make a difference and achieve their potential.
  • Working collaboratively to ensure our healthcare workforce has the right knowledge, skills, values and behaviours to deliver accessible, compassionate care
  • Optimising the use of digital technology, research, and innovation
  • Delivering value for money.

If you would like to know more or require further information, please visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/.

Colleagues with a contractual office base are expected to spend, on average, at least 40% of their time working in-person.

Staff recruited from outside the NHS will usually be appointed at the bottom of the pay band.

If you are successful at interview, we will run an Inter Authority Transfer (IAT) in the Electronic Staff Record system (ESR). This transfer gathers valuable information from a previous or current NHS employer to support the onboarding process, including; statutory and mandatory competency status, Continuous Service Dates (CSD), and annual leave entitlement.  You will have the opportunity throughout the recruitment process to inform us if you do not consent.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

You can find further details about the role, including key responsibilities and accountabilities, alongside the organisational structure and person specification in the attached Job Description and other supporting documents.

Due to the ongoing re-structure of NHS England, secondments can only be considered at this time for this role. Please apply having considered the length of your notice period to allow for you to start this secondment as soon as possible. Full and part time hours will be considered, alongside the option of home working or any NHS England base. 

Secondments

Applicants from within the NHS will be offered on a secondment basis only, agreement should be obtained from their employer prior to submitting the application.

Person specification

Values and behaviours

Essential criteria
  • Championing women and families at all times, particularly in relations to matters relating to equality, personalisation of care, and the importance of hearing service user voices in our work.

Skills

Essential criteria
  • Influencing and negotiating skills, across departmental and organisational boundaries.

Experience

Essential criteria
  • Operating at a senior level in a politically sensitive environment.
  • Clinical leadership at system, Board and team levels.
  • Delivery of large and/or high-profile programmes.

Qualifications

Essential criteria
  • Current UK NMC Midwifery qualification and registration without sanction.
  • Educated to Masters level or equivalent level or equivalent experience of working at a senior level in specialist area.

Employer certification / accreditation badges

Apprenticeships logoMindful employer.  Being positive about mental health.Disability confident committedStep into healthAccredited Living Wage Employer

Applicant requirements

You must have appropriate UK professional registration.

Documents to download

Apply online now

Further details / informal visits contact

Name
Hannah Mason
Job title
Senior Advisor to Chief Midwifery Officer
Email address
[email protected]
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