Chief People Officer (Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM) - People - The Princess Alexandra Hos[...]

Employer The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

Employer type NHS

Site The Princess Alexandra Hospital

Town Harlow

Salary Salary is dependant on experience

Closing 27/03/2025 23:59

Chief People Officer

Executives / VSM: Executives / VSM

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) provides a full range of general acute, outpatient and diagnostic services at The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping.

Our values

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) promise to our patients, as identified by our three values which will contribute to improving our patients’ experiences, is:

Patient at heart – Always holding the patient and their wellbeing at the centre of our thoughts and efforts.

Everyday excellence – Sharing and celebrating our successes, being honest when we get it wrong, giving us the ability to learn from both.

Creative collaboration – Knowing strength comes from diversity, we combine our experiences, skills and talents, working together to find new and better ways to care.

Job overview

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT) is at a pivotal stage in its development, and our next Chief People Officer will play a fundamental role in shaping the future of our workforce, ensuring our people feel valued, supported, and empowered to deliver outstanding care to the communities we serve. Alongside the appointment of Thom Lafferty as our new CEO, this is an exciting opportunity to join our executive team.

This is a crucial time for PAHT as we embark on the development of our new Clinical Strategy and continue our journey towards a state-of-the-art new hospital, a once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform healthcare for our community. While construction has been delayed until 2032, our commitment to modernising our services, improving patient care, and fostering a thriving workforce has never been stronger. The Chief People Officer will be instrumental in driving this transformation, ensuring that our people strategy is aligned with our evolving needs and that we remain an employer of choice.

Interviews will take place on Wednesday 23 April 2025.

Main duties of the job

As an anchor institution in West Essex, we play a vital role in employment, skills development, and economic growth in the region. We take pride in our position as a lead employer for West Essex, working collaboratively with system partners to build a flexible, skilled, and sustainable workforce that meets the challenges of today and the future. Our new Chief People Officer will lead this agenda, working in partnership to deliver workforce transformation, leadership development, and staff wellbeing initiatives that create a culture of inclusion, collaboration, and excellence.

This role will also be instrumental in delivering national NHS workforce priorities, including the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the People Promise, and EDI agenda. The successful candidate will champion a compassionate and inclusive culture, ensuring that our people feel supported, engaged, and empowered to develop their careers within a high-performing, forward-thinking organisation.

Working for our organisation

We are a district general hospital at the heart of our community, with over 4,000 dedicated staff providing services across The Princess Alexandra Hospital in Harlow, the Herts and Essex Hospital in Bishop’s Stortford, and St Margaret’s Hospital in Epping. Working closely with our partners across the Herts and West Essex Integrated Care System, we are committed to transforming the way healthcare is delivered to a population of over 500,000 people. Our vision is to be modern, integrated, and outstanding in all that we do, underpinned by our PAHT 2030 strategy and the core values of patient at heart, everyday excellence, and creative collaboration.

Detailed job description and main responsibilities

We are looking for a dynamic and strategic leader who can bring fresh thinking, strong collaboration, and a clear vision to our people agenda. The successful candidate will have extensive experience in workforce leadership within a complex healthcare or public sector setting, with a track record of driving cultural transformation, workforce modernisation, and financial sustainability. They will be a visible and inspiring leader, with the ability to build strong relationships internally and externally, influencing national and regional workforce policy while ensuring that PAHT remains at the forefront of NHS workforce innovation.

This is a rare opportunity to make a lasting impact on the future of our people, our organisation, and the communities we serve. If you share our ambition and are passionate about shaping the future of workforce leadership in the NHS, we encourage you to speak with our partners at Alumni Global.

Person specification

Education and qualifications

• Master’s degree or equivalent experience in Human Resources (HR), Organisational Development (OD) or a related field.
• Membership of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development or equivalent
• Postgraduate qualification in Leadership, Organisational Development, or Workforce Strategy.

Experience

• Extensive Board-level experience leading workforce, HR, or organisational development functions within a complex healthcare, public sector, or large-scale organisation
• Proven leadership experience in developing and delivering multi-year workforce strategies, aligned with national workforce policies and systemwide healthcare transformation
• Previous executive-level experience within the NHS, social care, or a comparable large-scale public sector organisation

What we can offer you:

• Full induction and onboarding process in our organisation
• Free car parking for our staff
• Structured pay scheme, including additional living supplement to your basic salary
• Minimum 27 days’ annual leave plus bank holidays (pro rata for part time staff)
• Access to our Alex Lounge, our staff only rest area with free tea and coffee
• Access to NHS Pension scheme
• Flexible working options available, in line with our flexible working policy
• Onsite creche facilities
• Annual appraisals with career pathways
• In-house training courses
• Discounted hospital restaurant
• Staff health and wellbeing health services and complimentary health provision