Job vacancy: Director of Nursing- Clinical Quality, NHS England, Nationally

Job summary

Main area: Directors
Grade: ESM 1
Contract: Fixed term: 4 months (until 31 Mar 2026 (Secondment only for current NHS employees))
Hours: Part time - 24 hours per week
Job ref: 990-NEY-18466-E

Employer: NHS England
Employer type: NHS
Site: Any North East and Yorkshire Region
Town: Nationally
Salary: £100,000 pro rata
Salary period: Yearly
Closing: 12/11/2025 23:59

Director of Nursing- Clinical Quality

ESM 1

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.

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.

Secondment

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

Qualifications

Essential criteria

Current registration with the Nursing & Midwifery Council
Relevant Master’s degree or equivalent

Desirable criteria

Management qualification

Experience and skills

Essential criteria

Significant experience as a senior nurse at board level or equivalent within a provider NHS trust/ foundation trust, SHA, or PCT or an Arm’s length body.
Experience of working with regulators
High level of understanding of the NHS and care system, political environment and evidence-based approach to decision making
Understanding of the political and cultural complexity of the NHS
Significant board / senior management level experience in the NHS

Desirable criteria

Experience or knowledge of training and education

Knowledge

Essential criteria

Knowledge of the regulatory clinical frameworks, including nursing, and experience of managing complex professional regulatory issues
Knowledge of clinical, including nursing, practice and education policy
Knowledge of safety systems, including reporting and monitoring systems and associated policies / guidelines.
Knowledge of quality assurance and improvement methods and their application
Knowledge of the FT application processes, NHS I compliance regime and quality framework and CQC compliance framework
Knowledge of adult and child safeguarding
Knowledge of IPC practice and policy
Knowledge of how to apply different approaches to change across the health service
Extensive knowledge of clinical, including nursing, practice and a strong understanding of the concepts which underpin approaches to improving the delivery of compassionate care to patients within health and social systems
Knowledge of national and international developments in improvement, and large-scale change
Knowledge of the national compassionate care agenda, and levers for change in the NHS system
Extensive experience of developing and delivering national strategies
Experience of leading and managing disparate multidisciplinary staff including virtual and home working employees
Extensive networks across the NHS
Extensive experience of developing and successfully implementing regional and or national strategies and initiatives
Experience of working with local/national politicians and national media, particularly in times of crisis

Our commitments to you

We are passionate about creating an inclusive workplace that promotes and values diversity. We know that different ideas, perspectives and backgrounds create a stronger and more creative work environment that delivers better patient outcomes. We strive to ensure our people feel trusted, valued and empowered. We’re passionate about nurturing and developing people. When you join us, we want you to grow and excel, and we offer many opportunities for you to do that. We welcome your talent and enthusiasm irrespective of age, disability, neuro-divergence, sex, gender identity and gender expression, race or ethnicity, religion or belief, sexual orientation, or other personal circumstances. We have policies and procedures to ensure that all applicants are treated fairly and consistently at every stage of the recruitment process, including the consideration of reasonable adjustments for people who have a disability and/or who are neuro-divergent.

We welcome applications from disabled candidates. If you meet all the essential criteria, you will be guaranteed an interview.

Your application is your opportunity to demonstrate to us how you meet the requirements of the role. Whilst we appreciate that you may have had support with your application (e.g., using AI technology or guidance from a trusted individual), it’s important that the information contained within your application reflects your own knowledge, skill, and experience and we trust that you apply on that basis.

If applying for this role on a secondment basis, please make sure you have obtained prior agreement from your current line manager to apply for this position.

Please note that we currently do not accept applications via recruitment agencies.

To comply with the HM Government Functional Standard GovS 007, and specifically the Personnel Security Standards 2024, individuals employed or contracted by NHS England may be required to undergo a Baseline Personnel Security Standards check, dependent on the role.

The NHS Business Services Authority is responsible for the processing of your application; a privacy notice is attached to advise you on how we will process your personal data.

If you have applied via NHS Jobs, your submitted application will be imported into our preferred third-party recruitment system. All subsequent information regarding your application will be generated from apps.trac.jobs. If you are appointed to a post, information will also be transferred into the NHS Electronic Staff Records system.

You will not be able to track the progress of your application or receive messages through NHS Jobs, and furthermore, as an employer, we will not be able to respond to any emails sent to us via NHS Jobs. If you have a query relating to your application, please contact the recruitment team on [email protected] or 0300 330 1369. You can view our Privacy Notice here.

NHS England